: Thinking of turning my basement into my workshop (getting the boat out will
: be a good story). It will be a space about 11ft by 30ft. I have to be
: concerned though with dust collection. My furnace and water heater are in
: the basement (in another room) but a huge air intake is sucking air right
: out of my future workshop. So I am concerned about how to set up a dust
: collection system that actually does what it says it will do.

: My Woodcraft Catalog is loaded with dust collection doo-dads. My chief worry
: is getting a good fit around a router and a table saw. I can't for the
: life of me see how any dust collection system could cope with a thickness
: planer but I need to deal with that too somehow.

: How do you guys handle this? I have a very sweet wife and I'd really like to
: keep her that way - HELP!

: TIA Tim Eastman

I have a Jet dust collector. It actually works quite well with my thickness planer and router mounted in a router table. My contractor tablesaw is another matter. Due to the back of the saw being open, some dust will escape, but the larger chips are collected. I use one of the molded plastic dust collection accessories with a 4" fitting that fits the bottom of the saw. I've seen plans for a magnet mounted cover for the opening of contractor saws, but I haven't made one. Sawdust and chips that exit on top of the saw aren't collected. There are some aftermarket blade guards that incorporate dust collection, but they are expensive. Someday, I'd like to add one. I also have a Delta air cleaner that helps filter the fine particles out of the air. It appears to work ok because it doesn't take long for the outer filter to be covered in dust. Some routers incorporate a dust collection port into the base, but I haven't tried them. When I use a router free hand, I don't bother with the chips. I wear a dust mask though. The dust collector works really well with my Dewalt 6" sander. I wouldn't think of sanding without it. Sanding is the worst part of boat building and dust makes it less bearable. I recently purchased a Festool 5" sander which is reported to have the best dust collection and lowest vibration in the industry, but I don't see how it can be a significant improvement dust collection wise over my old setup. I mainly purchased it for the lower vibration. I will likely use the new sander for the first time this weekend. Even though my dust collection setup is not perfect, it is miles ahead of no collection. Hope this helps. Fire away if you have any questions.

Kurt