Best dust collection?

[JawJacker]

I have looked around, still looking for the best dust collection DIY. How do you most deal with the fine dust. Is a water trap the best idea? whats the safest, EZ way

[Ray Rogers]

I use a Grizzly dust collector. HF has them too. They are sort of cheap but they work well enough. Still want to wear the respirator though ...

[jdale]

What does every one use as an attachment to make it safe to collect wood dust and medal dust at the same time?

[AUBE]

Originally Posted by jdale

What does every one use as an attachment to make it safe to collect wood dust and medal dust at the same time?

I don't currently have one hooked up here but I used to use a 5gal bucket half filled with water. I had a locking top on it and 2 entry pipes running to it. One went to the dust filter, one to the sander. The tubes came fairly close to the surface of the water so the larger, hotter sparks went straight down into the water, and only the lighter dust made it into the dust collection system The piping from the sander to the bucket was galvanized iron.

You could probably set up that system where the pipe coming from the sander is actually submerged in the water, and only the dust collection side is above the water. That way all dust coming from the sander would end up in the water. You'd need a strong vacuum and pretty tight seals.

At a different time I also had a water recycling setup where a submersible pump would constantly pump water onto the belt. Airborne dust was nil, and no chance of fire, but it sure was messy.

My current setup is less than ideal.....a water bucket, an ambient air filtration system, an exhaust fan, and a respirator. It gets the job done but not nearly as well. I'm too close to the neighbors to use a large dust collector.(they are noisy as heck)

[Ray Rogers]

If you have a commercial dust collector like the HF models or one from Grizzly the have an accessory for that problem. It's a custom garbage can lid - big plastic lid that has an inlet and outlet port for 4" dust collection hoses. Fits on top of an ordinary 30 gallon garbage can. The heavy metal dust settles in the can and the lighter dust passes through to the dust bag. You can set a large pan of water in the bottom of the can for extra safety if you wish....