Dust be Gone

Well I caved and we got a dust collection machine. Some early Christmas money came my way and instead of the router table I’ve been pining for, we went for the dust collector. It was really unpleasant working last weekend and this was something Tom had really been pushing for. A happy husband = a wife free to spend quality time in her shop!

We went to the store with the intention of purchasing a dust collection machine, which attaches to tools and sucks up large stuff, and an air cleaning machine, to filter the small stuff out of the air. After a long chat with the sales guy, he convinced us only the collector was required and if it wasn’t enough, a canister/filter thing could be purchased for the top at a later date that would help even more with the small stuff. This was great for the budget; the estimated cost of $700 was down to $250!

So the dust collector and 10 feet of hose came home with us. After putting it together (harder than it had to be as the instruction were crappy) we had fun testing it around the workshop. It is on wheels so will be easy to hook up to any of the machines and is surprisingly quiet.

With a few hours left before dinner I worked on my chairs some more. Using my new pocket hole jig I drilled holes on all the frame pieces except the arms. The pocket holes would be visible if I used them on the arms so I will be trying dowel joints for those. Using a new jigsaw blade I finished the cuts in the corners of the back rails and I even got some assembling done. The 2 sides and the front are now attached for both chairs.

And now we know: the sales guy gave us the greatest recommendation; built a downdraft table for sanding. It’s a box with pegboard for the top and you attach a port on one side to connect your dust collector to. When you sand overtop, the dust falls into the box and is sucked up by the collector. What an amazing idea, I am building one asap!