Dust Collection For Mini Lathe?

[William Young]

I am curious to learn what methods different people are using for dust collection behind their lathes. I have both a DC and a large shop vac so suggestions for use of either one would be appreciated..
Do you build a special type of bonnet that is mounted up close to the lathe , or is there something commercially available that works best or ... .. or ... ..
Pictures of how you have yours set up would be just great to see .

W.Y.

 

[Doghouse]

DC is used on the mini with the PSI lathe hood. It save a lot of cleanup!

 

[William Young]

Thanks for the heads up Doghouse.
I did not know there was such a thing available but I went into PSI's site and found it.
I could probably make one that would work just as good (but not look as pretty). I have lots of thin baltic birch plywood that would probably work.
I may go out to my shop this afternoon and see if I can fabricate something like that.
I can't try pen turning until my mandrel arrives anyway.
W.Y.

 

[Doghouse]

Not a problem. A lot of people use HVAC vents, but it is hard to find anything that will fit 4", and crimping tools are as expensive as these plastic ones. My wife likes it because you can clamp the shield in place and only wear safty glasses when turning pens. She does not like the full face shields.

 

[cigarman]

I have a dust hood like that on my Jet and for a while used my shop vac to collect the dust. I dosn't do a bad job but I just bought a dust collector and it is at least 75% better.

 

[tipusnr]

I bought one and it's sitting, unused, in my shop as I couldn't figger out how to mount it. I bought it close out and it didn't come with instructions. Seems simple in the above picture but didn't look that way in real life. I also have a JET mini lathe.

Anybody got a clue what I missed?

 

[dw]

Bill,

I bought one like that from PSI. I too fiddled with it. Finally I bent the angle back considerably and clamped the whole thing onto the back of the lathe. It works fine. But!!! Sometimes it's too wide for turning short items (can't get the tail stock past the sides of the hood) and sometimes it's too narrow (can't move the tool rest base past the sides). If I had it to do again, I'd probably buy something like PSI's "Big Gulp" or fabricate my own. But all in all it clamps on quick and for almost all pen making operations it works dandy.

 

[William Young]

Thanks for the help on this topic.
Seeing as the pen mandrel is still in transit from a separate supplier I decided to make a dust hood for the lathe this afternoon. I got some ideas for it from the plastic one in the PSI catalog.
It certainly wont catch all the dust and shavings but it should catch quite a bit of it.
I purposely kept the hole for the DC to the left because most of my turning will be done towards that end.
I might install a slide in panel down from the top to make it lower for more suction when turning smaller items and take it out for doing larger ones.
It will be on the shortest run to my DC so that should give it lots of suction.
W.Y.

 

[Charlie in Garfield]

[]Hi Bill;
That is perty sharp. I think that will work super. Sorry you have to waite on the pen stuff. The goblet looks perty good, and good for the wife clameing it,LOL,been there and done that still do.I did see your post of 9:30, up most nights or mornings till 2-2:30.
Best of luck with the leath.
Just Charlie [][|)]

 

[William Young]

Thanks Charlie. I think that dust hood should work OK. I will soon know.

About the time.. I am west and you are east. When it is midnight here it is 3.00 AM there. I am sometimes typing while you are snoring

W.Y.

 

[Dominic Greco]

William,
Good job on the dust hood. Looks like you did a professional job on the assembly.

Just a tip here: You might want to install a piece of mesh in front of the inlet to stop large pieces from being sucked into the DC. I've had more than my fair share of chunks of wood hit the DC fan!

See ya,
Dominic Greco

 

[Doghouse]

It is not that bad to mount.

The easiest way was to clamp it.

The best way is to find where you want it to be.
Mark the lathe bed and drill 2 holes for thumb screws.
Tap the holes and use 2 thumb screws and washers. Works great and is easy to adjust.

 

[Scott]

Don't forget that we have a nice article right here at Penturners.org, by our very own Tim Daleiden:

http://www.penturners.org/content/shield.pdf

And I'd also like to invite William to consider putting together a little article on the dust hood he built, shown above! Think about it and let me know.

Scott.

 

[William Young]

Here is a little update. As I was also afraid of something being sucked in that shouldn't be , I made a simple criss cross wire screen with small brass screws and fine wire that will hopefully let most of the turning debris through.
In my first picture I had the hood connected to a long end line of my DC plumbing. Since then , I have re-arranged things and it goes to my DC only 6 feet away. It goes through the insulated wall right beside the lathe and hooks to the DC on the opposite side of the same wall of my insulated 4x8 room where my DC and my air compressor live. So I don't hear the DC at all but there is an awsome sucking sound through that 4" hole so I am quite certain that all sanding dust will be captured and it will be interesting to see how much of the shavings will also be taken away.

Scott;
Regarding the little article. How does a person go about doing that? Does somebody put it into a PDF file ? I am not capable of doing the PDF thing. Email or here would be fine on that.
I still want to do a modification for a removeable panel for small turning and larger faceplate turning like bowls and plates etc.
W.Y.

 

[Scott]

Hi William,

Well, write the article up the best you can, and send it and any pictures (pictures are good!) to me in an E-Mail. I will edit it a bit, and then when you've approved it, we'll send it on to Jeff, who converts it to PDF and posts it on the site. So think of me as editor, and Jeff as publisher, and you've just been invited to write an article for us!

Scott.

 

[William Young]

Thanks Scott;
Pretty busy this time of year but I will do a little modifying on it and take pictures and put it on my gottagetaroundtoit list.
W.Y.