Stop dust from coating everything in garage

[tomsmith]

Hi,

I've been doing work on wood and MDF and quickly realized I need to work in the driveway to stop dust from coating everything - and I mean everything The problem is:

1. Even working in the driveway and having my shop vac hooked up to my table saw, MDF dust gets blown back into the garage. Routing MDF is a whole other problem, I cannot believe the amount of dust generated .. even my pretty powerful shopvac can't grab everything and I have to clean out the filter every 30 minutes.

2. When it's cold outside, I don't like working in the driveway because the extra layers of clothing make it hard to move around (I live in Ontario and it's only going to get colder)

I also used a spray gun yesterday (titan turbine) and while I managed to paint 60 pieces of trim in 10 minutes flat (awesome finish as well BTW), the over spray was horrendous! I mean, apocalyptic .. word of advice for anyone spraying using this system, cover up anything in a 20 foot radius that you don't want painted.

Anyway, i thought of a potential way to get around this but I've hit a roadblock. I want to screw 2x4's into the garage ceiling, into the joists, and then attach 6-mil vapour barrier to the 2x4s. When I need to do anything involving paint or dust, I simply lower the plastic so I'm enclosed in a nice plastic square. Once i'm done, I pull on some rope and the plastic rolls up to the ceiling and out of the way.

I can't for the life of me figure out how I can build a system that would allow me to roll the plastic down on the 3 sides of the garage. The plastic will be around 20ft long and 12ft in height.

I'm thinking of a system like a boat sail unfurling (unrolling?) but haven't been able to find anything I can buy. I'm also stuck on DIY'ing a solution but I'm hoping someone here can provide some ideas?

 

[Corins]

How about something like a doctors office curtain setup. Have rails or whatever so it encloses the area you want and when not in use you can have it draped onto one wall out of the way. How would that work?

 

[tomsmith]

oh .. nice idea! I never thought of that That would be pretty cool .. I can pick up aluminum tubes from my local metal supermarket and hang them from the ceiling with brackets. Then I just need to put rings on the vapour barrier so it slides across .. kinda like a shower curtain.

Only thing is .. what about sag in a 20 ft run? Would the weight of the vapour barrier cause the aluminum rod to sink over time?

 

[don long]

There is a company (Goff curtain walls)
I believe in wisconson that has solved that problem in the body shop
business look them up.

It is a chanel that hangs from the ceiling and the plastic curtain hangs with rollers from the chanel The curtain has weights in the bottom to hold it down

 

[Boomer343]

I build a lot of cabinets out of MDF, usually the Super Light variety and know of your dust problems.

The plastic will drive you nuts with the static cling and not being able to clean it. It also cuts down on the light transmission a lot so you will need a light inside your tent.

If I need to router MDF then I try to make my cuts so there is the least material to router. Also using a router stand and working the piece face down makes for a lot less dust if you have it hooked up to a vac system.

Another trick I do with my 10 inch table saw when cutting sheet goods is to go to a quality 7 1/4 blade. Much narrower kerf and it doesn't scare the **** out of my helper like seeing a 10 inch blade....should have seen how quick she disappeared when I was cutting stainless steel wrapped around some mdf shelving...LOL

You might also want to lok at a better vac or see if a foam wrap is available as they are easier to clean. There are also drop buckets available, hook the vac to the bucket, the bucket to the tool and in theory the dust ends up in the catch bucket and not the vac.

As for the spraying.....my wife will never know why I spent a couple of hours polishing her BMW Z4 to get rid of some overspray.....and it was in the driveway and I was shooting in the garage facing away from the car....

 

[Wastedwagesracing]

http://www.zoneworks.com/prod_noninsul_scw.html

 

[Lkdelta]

They have roll up blinds, maybe get some junkers at the big box and hang those?

 

[ddawg16]

I feel your pain......not sure there is a solution....

When I'm doing a lot of wood working I just end up taking the leaf blower, starting at the back of the garage and just blowing it all out. I find that by doing this on a regular basis I keep my sanity.....

I'm browsing CL for a used dust collector....

While a shop vac works ok for the table saw....a dust collector has a lot more 'umph' and will do a better job.

 

[luvit]

oh .. nice idea! I never thought of that That would be pretty cool .. I can pick up aluminum tubes from my local metal supermarket and hang them from the ceiling with brackets. Then I just need to put rings on the vapour barrier so it slides across .. kinda like a shower curtain.

Only thing is .. what about sag in a 20 ft run? Would the weight of the vapour barrier cause the aluminum rod to sink over time?

hey, checkout my signature for the 1975 garage link.
i;ve recently posted some pics of my curtain assembly in progress and how easy a cable is vs a rod.

.

 

[wedge40]

I use to have plans for a dust filter made from a an old squirrel cage blower and some furnace filters. If you dont have a real dust collector not sure what to do. You have to catch most of it before it gets in the air.

Wedge

 

[tomsmith]

hmm, the cable system does look easier and cheaper than the rod. How easy do you find it to retract the curtains? QQ: If I were to use cable, how much tension would I have to use to get it somewhat straight (non-saggy) over a 20ft span and would that tension be too much if the turnbuckle thing was screwed into a 2x6? My house is framed with 2x6's but I'm worried that by putting that much load in a 2x6, it would either cause the turnbuckle to rip out of the wood (threads not strong enough), or the 2x6 might crack (less likely but I'm not sure)

The Goff system looks great but it also is likely well out of my budget. I'm thinking of replacing the vapor barrier with the welding blanet or the stuff they use to protect carpets when you're painting. That way, I don't have to worry about the static cling and I can take them down every few months and give em a good hose down.

I don't work with metal a lot, but I do have a welder and metal cutting saw so the welding blanket could serve double duty. Only prob is .. a 6x6 welding blanket from princess auto is $100! By the time I'm done, I'm also $1000 in just for blankets

 

[Dustin Echoes]

I've used these lids before, on rubbermaid garbage cans.they work great! The can will fill up with dust, and almost none ends up in the shop vac. Worth their weight in gold!

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=30282&cat=1,42401

 

[Angelfire]

I use a cyclone lid on a trash can as well and it works pretty well. I'm building a cyclone system which should work very well. I might add that an air filter is really the only way to capture the really fine dust once it's escaped from your tools. JDS. Makes a good ceiling hung unit

 

[Zeke]

You risk health and explosion problems once confined to a tarped off room. Be careful, especially if there is any source of heat.

MDF is horrendous stuff when it comes to dust. I call it "Maximum Dust Factor."

This little unit is probably good for the bulk of the dust:

The ceiling hung filter should do the rest.

I was going to suggest the roll up blinds type of hardware. It is simply a couple of dinky pulley blocks. Roll the plastic around a long dowel or 2 for weighting it down. I think PVC pipe would be good except for the bow it sometimes has. You can make a sleeve on the edge with a stapler.

 

[jlckmj]

I use a dust collector but that does not get all of the dust. When I am done with a project, I use an electric leaf blower. Start in the back, open the door, and work your way out.

As I am setting up my new garage, I am placing everything on casters so I can pull it all away from the walls and get under and behind them.

Jim

 

[miner]

SHop vacs are terrible as dust collectors since they don't have near enough CFM. You need a real dust collector/cyclone with good filters. A ceiling unit is also good for getting the small amount of dust in the air. If you do build a plastic box to do your work in I hope you have a good respirator.

 

[tomsmith]

Just to confirm, the plastic box would only be 3 sided .. it would be open at the front where the garage door is. The thinking is, I would open the garage door and let the dust blow out that way, but protect the sides and rear of the garage.

The dust deputy / lee valley cyclone lids look interesting. I never considered getting a dust collector, but it looks like that would be better than my shop vac

 

[srmofo]

A piece of unistrut and a tarp would make a cheap curtain setup, but i agree with others when they say you need a dusty collection system.. Find an old squirrel blower from a furnace and build a box with furnace filters. Bonus points if you plumb the air stream through a thein baffle first. Look thein baffles up if you are not familiar with them, they really work.

 

[Tim The Tool Man]

Dust collector is the way to go. I can cut and rout MDF all day with my set up and honestly get very little airborne dust. Table saw has dust collection at base and at the blade guard, same with my router. Then I have a ceiling mounted air filter/circulator. Finally an electric leaf blower helps me with any dust that settles...

 

[Mandres]

I'm in exactly the same situation as the OP, I feel your pain. There is MDF dust everywhere.

My next buy will have to be a big dust collector. The 2hp harbor freight unit seems to be well regarded.