[SML] Shop dust collection

[Jared Fortney]

Hi Bill, I'm currently working in the shop of the largest woodworking
school in North America.  We have every style of dust collection you can
think of in use in the shop.  There are a few things to think about as you
make your choices.  First, is the ability of your tools to actually collect
the dust into a DC.  If the tool doesn't make that possible, no system will
be great.

Second, there are advantages and disadvantages to the DC-per-tool
arrangement, which is how our shops are set up.  Noise is definitely a
major disadvantage.  Getting the machines on and off at the appropriate
moment is also a challenge. The biggest advantage is the ability to move
DCs around as we need to cover breakdowns and maintenance.  Also, getting a
replacement machine is an Amazon order away.  BTW, we run JET and
Powermatic DCs with the ultrafine paper filters.

I've worked in a shop with a central DC and it had some disadvantages.
Running the whole system just to use a miter saw was overkill.  Also,
keeping the blast gates open or closed was a challenge.  Finally, the
biggest challenge was routinely emptying the collected dust/chips.  Central
DCs can get really full and be a pain to empty unless you have an easy way
to handle a large quantity of waste material.

I don't have much experience with mechanical shop air filtration.  In the
last conversation I had about it with a scientist-woodworker, she
recommended making sure the unit filters down to 1 micron to be of actual
benefit.  She recommended the JDS units, but I have no experience with them.

BTW, we have a bunch of Festool vacs as well and use them directly on
tools.  They are great.

-Jared

On Wed, Sep 21, 2016 at 11:20 AM, Bill Potter via Stagecraft <
stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:

> We’re FINALLY adding dust collection to our scene shop and I thought I’d
> check in and see what folks like.
>
> At this point, I think we’d like to go with one overhead general ambient
> filter (with a remote) for general dust collection from the air and
> individual vacs for each stationary power tool. Any specific brands that
> you like (or ones to avoid) would be great to hear about.
>
> Cheers and thanks in advance,
>
> Bill Potter
> Arts TD, St. Paul’s School
> Concord NH
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