All About Dust Collection

Collecting and exhausting dust at its source, before it reaches you, is the most efficient way to deal with wood dust. That’s why woodworking machines—from table saws to disc sanders—come with exhaust hoods or ports.

There are two main types of dust collectors: single-stage and two-stage. Two-stage collectors draw air first into a separator, where the chips and larger dust particles settle into a bag or drum before they reach stage two, the filter. That keeps the filter much cleaner and free flowing, improving suction. That means a two-stage system can accommodate a much finer filter than a single-stager, which is better for your lungs.

The most effective kind of two-stage system is the “cyclone,” which uses a funnel-shaped drum as the separator, or first stage. Dust spins around the outside, which gives bigger particles more of a chance to settle out before the smaller stuff escapes to the filter stage. If you can afford one, buy a cyclone dust collector. The first cyclones for small shops were big, expensive, stationary machines, requiring long hose or rigid-duct runs to reach all four corners of a shop.

If you can’t afford a cyclone dust collector, buy the most powerful single-stage collector you can afford, with a bag or cartridge filter that will trap particles as small as 2 microns. Connect it to every machine in your shop. If it is big and powerful, you can connect it to multiple machines permanently, using a series of hoses and junctions, with blast gates to direct the airflow where you need it. With a smaller collector, you can roll it around and connect it to the machine you’re using. Long hoses sap suction, so keep the hose short with smaller dust collectors.