99% of Beginners Don't Know How to Set Up Dust Collection (properly)

Dust collection for woodworking can be confusing and intimidating. These are basic tips and tricks for setting up dust collection in small shops for beginner woodworking.

*Video To Watch Next*

Tools in this Video:
Air Filtration Units

📲 Text DEALS to 1 [phone] I send out regular texts to let you know about great tool deals.

Other Tools/Equipment I Use and Recommend:

You can also join via channel memberships to get access to the perks:

Some product links are Amazon and other affiliate links, meaning if you buy something, we'll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support my channel so I can continue to make content like this.

0:00 Dust Collection for Small Shops
0:24 Best Dust Mask for Woodworking
1:15 Best Shop Vac for Woodworking
2:20 Problem with Shop Vac for Dust Collection
4:01 Woodworking Project Tracking
5:00 Shop Vac vs None
5:35 Connect Shop Vac to Small Tools
6:55 Rockler Issue
8:20 Collect Dust from Big Tools
9:33 Mullet Dust Collector
10:42 How Cyclone Separator Works
11:20 Static in Dust Collector Hose
12:45 Why Use a Dust Separator
14:23 Shop Vac vs Dust Extractor
16:00 Best Shop Vac for Dust Collection
16:40 Best Air Filtration for Woodworking
17:22 Best Dust Collector for Woodworking
18:00 Dust Collection Secret I Use

#woodworkingtips #woodworking #dustcollection

[Woodworks]

▼EXPAND FOR TOOL LINKS and INFO▼
Tools in this video:
Air Filtration Units

(If you use one of these Amazon and other affiliate links, I may receive a commission)



Some other useful links:

[ginawhite]

I love all of these tips and tricks, I started refinishing furniture with my mother when I was a young girl and I still love doing it today I'm just now getting into woodworking, I built a gorgeous little playhouse for my grandson in the back yard out of pallet wood, and I'm so impressed that I did that by myself. To be honest, I learned a lot of the things that I built from YouTube. What my husband calls, YouTube University, and I love it. Even he was impressed with the playhouse.

[JamesOKeefe-US]

I am an older dude, new to woodworking and I am floored that every question I have you already have a video for. I truly love your channel, I have learned so much from these videos. Thank you and cheers from North Carolina !!

[robertkerby]

I loved your video on "...Dust Collection..." which I desperately need in my small garage shop!
I really appreciate how you made your information so easily digestible!
Well done, Sir!

[michaelpatrick]

Pretty good video showing some fundamental things to start out with in a shop. I designed industrial pneumatic conveying and dust control systems in hazardous environments (both for explosive and toxic dusts) for some time so I can't go by a shop dust video without stopping for a look.

Don't get too hung up on "suction power". Being able to lift a bowling ball with your shop vac is not an indicator of whether or not it will control dust. Shop vacs, as you stated, are not primarily designed for dust collection. But rather, like most vacuums, they develop a high vacuum so they can lift dense things like welding slag or suck something out of a 3-foot-deep hole. Or power through when someone dunks the hose into a pile of something.

The most important parameters are air volume and conveying velocity. Shop dust collection would be classified as a very dilute phase pneumatic conveying system. Even in systems strung out in a 2500 s.f. shop, it's easy to keep system pressure drop to a few inches of water.

In my current shop, I have a 650 cfm Delta single stage unit and a no-name 400 cfm unit that is 40 years old. Both are only capable of about 7-8 in W.G. suction but that is more than enough for even a poorly laid out system---like mine. When I moved into my current basement shop, I had to agree to downsize to only about 650 s.f. so my stationary machines are hooked to the Delta with 4" hose laying on the floor in a network with blast gates.

The farthest run is about 15' and it produces a pressure drop of about 1". I have Powertec 1-micron bags on top and bottom of both collectors, so I have a back pressure of 1-1.5" of W.G. making the total pressure drop 2-2.5" W.G. (all checked with a manometer). Both units can still move about 80% of their rated volume at that dP. In 4" hose that that's over 5500 ft/min at the pickup. And, since it's a vacuum system, the velocity is increasing as it gets closer to the fan as the pressure decreases. The Delta unit has enough capacity to successfully power a 6" system if it's well designed.

Saw dust or even chips off of a planer/jointer only need a pickup velocity of about 2700 fpm to be conveyed. As a rule of thumb, you want a minimum 2.2 cf/lb of conveyed material and no non-commercial woodworking machine can produce dust fast enough to approach that for even the smallest fan driven dust collector. The 40-year-old unit was my only one for 10 years and it never clogged up extracting dust from my 13" planers. The most critical thing is how the dust generating point is collected.


I have 5 shop vacs of various sizes that are used for sanders, routers, drill press and the dust port on my miter saw. The rest of the time they're used for clean-up of fugitive dust.


Again, good advice.

[garymiller]

After watching your video, I immediately ordered the Rockler adapter kit. It was on sale for $39.95, a $10 savings. I can't wait to try it! 😃😃😃❤❤❤

[jacktrotter]

I use rigid shop vac 16 gallon with green HEPA filter, generic dust bags, Oneida low profile dust deputy ( costs about 1/2 that of mullet ), can fill the 5 gallon Oneida collector and wish I had 10 gallon when using planner and jointer on local saw mill rough wood. Easy to disconnect the 5 gallon bucket, walk out to large rolling garbage can and dump) . I had a huge shop with central Oneida cyclone and loved it .
Currently in 2 car garage .

[feuby]

I looked up the mullet, and it's 500$ in canada. I loled... I made my own cyclon with a 5 gal bucket and 2-3 hoses attachements that i made myself with cookie saw in spare woods that we all get, and voila, it worked perfectly.

Yes this is not mobile with the shopvac, but, and that's a big BUT, I used the lincoln street woodworks tips about dust collection : making a moving arm... Thus the only thing which moves in my area is that arm, above my head that I can attach to anything I'm doing. This is honnestly the perfect thing as I don't have a lot of space and as moving the shopvac is kinda painfull.

It is so easy to build, and so cool to use, I even put an electrical outlet at the end of the arm so I can power anything (mainly my sander) and do my job anywhere I need in the shop depending on what I'm building.

and then the big, big thing : as my shopvac isn't moving, I used vaccumm pipes to build an extract pipe from the shopvac to an outside vent, so any extra fine dust not filtered gets outside. Nothing left in the shop except what was not picked by the shopvac. Let met tell you that everything is really neat. If you have any venting outside that is running close to you, that's what i'd recommand.

[btbinnovationsllc]

I bought the mullet dust collection a few years ago, it didn't seem to pick up quite as much as the dust deputy did but I do like its solid one piece design. Back then it also came with a piece of metallic tape that you fastened to the collection bucket where the intake hose fastened, for static discharge purposes.

[Thomllama]

Yes, I use a leaf blower! Daily pretty much! Also, another option, I use a central vac! You can mount and plumb it like a big 4+ inch but use smaller 2” which takes less room and costs WAY less than 4” pipe. It has a butt ton more suction than a shop vac or an extractor! Down side is the affordable ones are loud, but can easily be mounted behind a wall or something to negate the noise. Add a smaller, less expensive cyclone, with a larger trash can than like that mullet thing and you got longer term use before emptying is needed. They aren’t cheap but way less than equivalent 4” setups, and cheaper even than extractors in general. Near perfect for small shops. I use mine on my CNC even.!

[ctenos]

Great video Matt. I just had an electrician wire the room I am going to use as my workshop, for a CNC and track saw.

I’ve been looking at dust collection and you provided some valuable info.

[rudispruell]

Matt, the Mullet looks interesting. I work in mill shops for movie and TV productions. Lots of MDF and masonite, as well as conventional wood products.

A couple of years ago, I got the Oneida Dust Deputy to add to my shopvac for routers, etc, used around my fab-table. It uses two, stacked 5 gallon buckets. The bottom one holds your ballast, because it's top-heavy and tippy. It was amazing, the difference. Like you, almost nothing in the vac cannister. All in the bottom of the cyclone.

I went to the CleanStream GoreTex HEPA filter. Just knock it, and it's clean to go again. I think it has a lifetime warranty, if you don't wet it.

Two moving units was a hassle, so I made a shelf on the feet of my vac, added a swivel caster, and problem solved. Dust Deputy side-car. In the back.

Keep up the good work, AmigoBuddyDude!

[MansterBear]

I'm a "do my cutting at the end of the garage with the big door open" type dust collector myself. Followed by the leaf blower technique lol

But after this bathroom remodel, I've decided my next big project is garage makeover. Building new work benches, hanging shelves, shop vac + dust deputy dust collection, etc. I'm tired of climbing over things and searching all over the garage for tools and fasteners I need. It adds probably 15%+ time to every project having to hunt for what I need, or having to move stuff to get to it.

Now the trick is not convincing myself I need everything that every professional wood worker needs lol

[mr.lynnrosaasen]

Hi, I installed the Oneida cyclon on a 30 gal. Drum. Works great!

[chapbix]

Bought an Oneida Dust Deputy for my garage woodshop. Upgraded it with a 32 gal. trash with the Rockler cyclone dust ports when I bought a Delta 735 thickness planer to collect the larger chips. Bought the 2 hp. Harbor Freight dust collector & added it to my shop built in 2021.

[severedmetal]

Decibels are on a logarithmic scale. For example, if something is measured at 10 dB, to get to 20dB would make it 10 times in intensity. 30dB would be 1, 000 times the intensity than 10dB and so on. So, moving up and down a few decibels is actually a big change overall.

[derekhawley]

I use a Dyson vac and a homemade cyclone interceptor (a plastic bucket with a couple of 3D printer nozzles in the lid) ... total cost £30. The Dyson has HEPA filters (hardly anything gets to the vac). Referencing the importance of dust masks ... I ended up in A&E when I emptied my dust collection vessels (bucket and the vac). The inside of my mouth and my tongue swelled up. So, masks are very important while working and cleaning. Love your videos. Derek (UK).

[upnorth]

I love the project book! I'll save mine after I fill it up but I will purchase another. I remember all my loose pages and project files... What a blessing this book is!

[silenthorizons]

Thanks for all the great information! I do use a leaf blower to clean up at the end of the day too. Works great!

[BenjaminAlex]

You are the first person I've been able to find that's covered the static issue, specifically to that planer. I can't find another good solution. I've run every type of static tape and can't seem to dissipate all the static from the planer.