Lathe dust extraction

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morpheus83uk

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Hello,

I am currently in the process of purchasing some dust extraction for my lathe which has around 1500m3 airflow. I am looking at different things and I have no idea what sort of setup to go for. As I am just starting out it will be things like pens and bowls but I want to get it right first time if possible. But there are extraction hoods with wide mouths, small mouths, ones which clip to the machine, ones which free stand. I have no idea what to look for to remove the dust and chippings from the lathe. Axminster said to get the variable height dust hood but reviews for it arnt great both light and heavy duty it seems as the hood mouth is too small. People say the big wide mouths have issues as well.

And where to even place the thing? Some people say at the front others over the top some af the back? Does it depend on what's happening as to where it goes?

I know its alot of questions but it does seem very complicated. I'm sure it's probably not but it is at least to me very confusing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

James
 
A few points based on my experience.

1. You need as much airflow volume as possible to entrain the fine dust.
2. Any chippings extraction achieved is a bonus but will always be a small percentage of that produced.
3. Position the entrapment hood to the rear or at least in a position that draws fresh air past your face and body, taking dust away from yourself as much as possible.
4. Be prepared for the noise generated at the hood mouth to be enough to drown any lathe noise and above normal shop radio level if it's going to be effective.


As an indication, my 100mm extractor system will happily consume a 50mm cube of wood back as far as the steel extractor fan. I have to fit a mesh grill over duct mouth when handling small items and sanding sheets to stop them disappearing.
(grills are no good when general turning, they rapidly clog with shavings)

My dust mask filters still need attention to clean out ambient shop dust that does not get entrained.
 
This is my shop made lathe extraction the hood is made from ply & redwood with 2 x 4” ports


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I made an adjustable stand to hold the hood that stands behind the lathe

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I made a sealed MDF box that sits under the lathe with the 4” pipes that go to the hood permanently fixed & a removable 6” pipe that connects the box to my extractor

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This is it in action, I added a chicken wire cover after a mate was using my lathe & accidentally let a small offcut get sucked into the extractor which the impeller definitely didn’t like :?

1A35A420-27FC-4996-98DE-61BE4D984EB0.jpeg


Being able to move the hood so it can be bought up to the work piece is good as is having the air flow over a wide area, the hood is purposely shallow as I found a previous deep hood offered little suction.
Whilst sanding I try & direct the dust towards the hood by adjusting the way I hold the abrasive, something that comes with experience, so far this has been the best of the set ups I’ve used.
HTH
 

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Hood details depend upon how your workshop/ lathe position is set up.
My lathe is on a bench, as the bulk of my turning is headstock related the extraction hood is mounted on the lathe headstock with limited adjustment Fore & Aft to keep as close to the work as possible.

The shape of the hood does effect the entrapment flow of the air, some experimentation/development may be prudent to suit your needs.
 
Hi,

Thank you all for your quick responses.

Based on what people have said the extractaction is at the back away from me. The question now is what to go for...

https://www.axminster.co.uk/heavy-duty- ... ood-410073

https://www.axminster.co.uk/light-duty- ... ood-950030

https://www.axminster.co.uk/big-mouth-dust-hood-200114

https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-w ... ood-508480

The above are what I have seen and I am wondering if anyone would suggest one to start with and why?

As for dust in the air I have an air filter in the garage and always wear a mask when doing woodwork anyway as I like my lungs.

Thanks

James
 
I remember smiling when the first time I got a gouge working properly and threw a continuous shaving over my right shoulder from one end of the blank to the other.
No extractor will catch more than a fraction of your turnings.
But they are useful when you sand on the lathe, and that's more dangerous dust.
Get as powerful an extractor as you can (high volume low pressure) and fix the inlet as close to the workpiece as you can get. Simple rule of thumb is that the suction effect from an inlet hose reaches as far out as the diameter of the hose, so not much and you need to get it close to the work to do any good.
Position it towards the back. Try up or down to see what works for you as long as is pulls the dust away from you. Don't waste your time trying to catch turnings that come off towards you as the extraction won't be effective enough to do that.
A mask is important and ambient air filters (thor, etc) can help.
 
Sideways":3cy53wpu said:
Get as powerful an extractor as you can (high volume low pressure) and fix the inlet as close to the workpiece as you can get. Simple rule of thumb is that the suction effect from an inlet hose reaches as far out as the diameter of the hose, so not much and you need to get it close to the work to do any good.

Not heard it put like that but I do agree with sideways comment above, as it’s only used when sanding I’d add that a fine filter on a HVLP extractor is also preferable.

I used to have a similar hood to the big mouth dust hood you linked to & because of the depth of the hood suction was negligible at the rim of the hood infact dust would accumulate on the rim, I eventually cut it down to reduce the depth but still wasn’t happy with the results, my present hood is only 2” deep to try & maximise the suction.

Of the 4 you linked to the last one would be the best of a bad bunch for me, thought it would still be too deep for my liking, I’d also want to know before buying how strong the support arms are as a 4” flexible hose is quite heavy.
 
These work pretty well if you fancy making up your own and for a lot cheaper than £80 this is rectangular and there are square available as well with the bonus of having an easily detachable grill to stop small bits. Only downside is the outlet is 110 but it's simple enough to adapt to pipe to fit.
https://www.screwfix.com/p/floplast-rec-hopper/90316

I have one that's around 120 x 300mm with the outlet pipe in the centre, just haven't set it up yet. :oops:
 

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morpheus83uk":3ei71b0z said:
Hi,

Thank you all for your quick responses.

Based on what people have said the extractaction is at the back away from me. The question now is what to go for...

https://www.axminster.co.uk/heavy-duty- ... ood-410073

https://www.axminster.co.uk/light-duty- ... ood-950030

https://www.axminster.co.uk/big-mouth-dust-hood-200114

https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-w ... ood-508480

The above are what I have seen and I am wondering if anyone would suggest one to start with and why?

As for dust in the air I have an air filter in the garage and always wear a mask when doing woodwork anyway as I like my lungs.

Thanks

James

I have used #2 and #3 from those.
But I also invested about £50 in a small dust meter (reads 10um, 2.5um and 1um) - and spent a little time with it strapped to my chest to see what worked.
As others have said, the bigger shavings will escape everywhere anyway - a broom and floor vent best for those.
The dust was interesting. I originally tried with the slot mouth positioned close to the workpiece. However, it turned out less effective than the widemouth positioned underneath. I think the key thing is to have a large volume of clean air flowing past and down your face. I'm thinking about changing the lathe duct to 6" for that reason (my extractor has a 6" port but I'm currently using 4" as it routes through a cyclone).
You're already wearing a mask so that's good.
I have the big mouth mounted on a frame directly under the lathe (Union Graduate).
As set ups and lathes and speeds and woods vary, probably the one bit of all the ramble above I would salvage is - invest in a meter and try out some arrangements.
 
None of the commercially made hoods are as good as a bell mouth hood. You can make and turn one yourself, form one from PVC using a wood form you turned and a heat gun, buy a speaker port audiophiles use when they make speakers. The speaker ports are available in 4" and 6" sizes but the 6" are hard to find. Make sure the size is of the inside of the tube and not the lip of the bell mouth. They smooth out the air flowing into the duct and increase the reach of the duct by up to 15%. Here is a link to a 6" bell mouth hood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjtHCmR-N3M

Pete
 
Thank you all for your suggestions I have decided to do with the heavy duty extraction hood as it can be moved around freely and will support the extraction while working out the the way.

Thanks

James
 

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