Reply To: Air filtration units
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I have dust collection in my garage shop which goes back to when I used only power tools. It is modest dust collection but worked well enough for me. Keep in mind, of course, that you may have to pay a small fortune to get rid of the really small particles that can do some damage to your lungs. I have a Delta AP200 Air cleaner and a Delta 50-760 Collection to hook up to machines. I never set up a full duct system or anything so have to move the 50-700 from machine to machine. I do not believe either machine is made any more.
One thing I did do is upgrade the filters on my AP200 air cleaner. It uses a rather basic first stage filter of the size you can buy in any hardware store. I do not use anything fancy there. But it also uses a second stage “pocket” filter. That needs to be replaced once in a while anyway, and after a number of years, I replaced it with one from wynnenv.com. They do tell you the MERV rating mentioned by Ed. The filters I bought are here. https://wynnenv.com/ambient-filters/ Note, they only report down to .5 microns.
Here is an old, but still useful, post on Lumberjocks about air filtration. http://lumberjocks.com/topics/5926. There is some comparison of collectors and some info on making your own.
Two final thoughts. First, I also recommend using a face mask for dust. I just use basic ones, but Paul used a very fancy one in his bandsaw video. Second, of course, Ed is right that the more dust you catch at the source, before it gets in the air, the better. If you scatter dust all over your shop with a bandsaw, you will be kicking up more dust from the floor and shelves every time you move. Air cleaners will not keep up with that. Even a band saw can create a lot of dust. I have a modest Craftsman bandsaw which has two dust collection ports, one for a full sized dust collector and one for a shopvac size, and I use them both.
I know, hand tool users do not want to be bothered with this sort of stuff: noise and price. It is all loud and and requires ear protection,, and even fairly modest stuff is costly. But if you follow Paul into bandsaws, you might want to avoid the worst of the dust.