Expert: Jamie Yocono - 2/14/2005

Question
I have a workshop in my unfinished basement, with a 10" radial saw near one corner.  The sawdust it generates has become a real problem, with two aspects: First, there is the sawdust and chip blizzard from the cutting operation itself.  Crosscutting shoots it up against the wall, where some of it lays on the cinder block, and most of it falls to the floor.  Ripping, however, guarantees me a spray pattern up to ten feet on either side of the saw.  Then there is the second problem:  Hours after the sawing operation is complete, the sawdust keeps settling on everything in the basement, no matter how far from the saw.

I have seen two types of sawdust collectors advertised.  One is essentially a mega-vacuum with a dust bag the size of an elephant.  The other is a squarish air filter that can hang from the rafters.  The vacuum model would seem to take care of the locally generated sawdust storm, but do nothing about the after-dust.  The filter model would seem to take care of the dust problem, but leave me to continue sweeping the wall and floor around the saw.

What do you recommend?  Note that floor space is limited in my basement.  Also, can I believe the advertising about these devices, or is it mostly just hype?  Thanks for your response.

Answer
Hi Robert,

What a timely question for me to answer. I just bought one of those air cleaners for my woodshop 5 days ago.

I had the same problem as you; I have a 14" Radial Arm Saw (RAS) and you're right- they put out a buttload of dust. I've never ripped with mine; it's a little too dangerous for me, but I believe you when you say it puts out a lot of dust.

I think the issue here is the micron size of the dust, and where it is dispersed. I am not an expert in this by any means, but I can give you some pointers. The larger stuff is the stuff that the general dust collector will capture. But even then, a good dust collector hood still won't get all of it that a RAS is going to produce. The finer dust is the stuff that winds up on all the surfaces the next day, you can probably write your name in the dust that settles on the horizontal surfaces, right?

That's where the Air Filtration system comes in. Now for years, I did without one, or I should say- I had the poor man's solution of one. I found a HUGE blower motor/fan at a garage sale, and used that to blow all the airborne dust out of my woodshop. This fan was so powerful, you couldn't have any loose papers within 6 feet of it. It would suck up anything that wasn't nailed down right up and out the window where I had it mounted. I could cut wood all day, and when my woodshop filled with that sort of dust that just chokes you, I would turn on that fan and the air would be clean within 2 minutes.

If I were motivated, I could have put a furnace filter on the intake side of it, so that the dust would have been captured. Instead, I just shot it out of the window, into the woods where my woodshop was located. No harm, no foul. I'm sure if I had neighbors right next door, I wouldn't have been able to do that.

There is a great book on dust collection- you might want to check it out. It's called Woodshop Dust Control by Sandor Nagyszalanczy. I just checked on Amazon's website and you can buy a used copy for less than $9.00. He discusses the subject very well, and gives some plans for homemade dust devices, like floor pickups and so on.

As for me- I have a 3 step approach to dust control. I have a dust chute at every machine that makes major dust, like my planers, jointer, and wide board sander. The chute picks up the big chips. Then I supplement it with the air cleaner that I just bought. My old woodshop had large doors that I could keep open for fresh air, but I recently moved, and don't have that luxury. So an air cleaner is a necessity. It's just my opinion, but the air cleaner is probably the most valuable of the two. I'm not going to be able to suck the large sawdust particles (that come from the planer or jointer) up my nose, but it's the smaller micron stuff that'll kill you. Those lodge in your lungs and really do some damage. I know; I've had a cough for the last 2 years. Chest X-rays indicate I have a log of Walnut embedded in my lung. No, I'm just kidding, but the cough is nasty.

The third part of my dust control is just a ventilation fan in the eaves of my woodshop, that sucks out anything the other two have missed. I keep that running the minute I step foot in the woodshop.

I have a theory that any serious box fan, like the one's you see at Home Depot or Lowes, could be turned into an air cleaner quite easily. Say you buy a 20" box fan. Buy a 20 x 20 furnace filter, and when the fan is turned on, put the filter next to it on the intake side. There will be enough suction to keep the filter in place, and it will do a decent enough job of collecting some particles that would otherwise wind up in your lungs. Hey- it's a cheap solution, but better than nothing.

There are a few reasons people go for the air cleaners- they have 3 speeds, which is nice. (Most box fans do, too.) And they have timers, which is nice. I can set my air cleaner to run for 2 hours after I am done working for the day. The next morning, that telltale layer of fine dust is no where to be seen, which is nice. So the timer function is quite nice. Also, they come with a remote control which is great if you have it mounted way up in the ceiling. Who wants to climb on a ladder to turn it on?

I guess it boils down to the fact that your RAS is always going to make a lot of dust. Even a small vacuum cleaner connected to the blade hood will get some of the dust, but you're still going to have more. So if it bothers you enough, you're going to want some sort of finer dust control. Are the air cleaners as good as they're cracked up to be? Time will tell, but in the first 5 days of use, I'm pretty convinced it's doing a great job.

One last thing- I have heard that the replacement filters for the air cleaners are pricey and really are nothing more than two regular furnace filters stacked together. In my case, my air cleaner requires a 16" x 20" x 2" thick filter. So I bought 2 one inch furnace filters and when it's time to change the dirty one, I'll just go to using the less expensive ones. Can there be that big of a difference?

Good luck, I hope this helps. Feel free to write back with any other questions you might have after reading this.

Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV