So we are re-setting up the shop and looking at new ways to do things. What do you guys use for dust collection on reaming cork grips? Some of these are 15"-16" long musky grips. Am considering going to a pair of shop vacs properly set in place of the larger dust collector, as it's needing some money put into it, and it's so big and bulky.

We build quite a few rods, so a nice set up is worth the time. Open to all ideas!

Marc,
The very best thing to do with respect to dust collection to take care of dust and reaming cork rings, is to do the job in a location that is not part of your rod wrapping area.

Since you are only doing grips on mandrels, you do not need a big area. Likely a 5x5 closet to to speak will be completely adequate to take care of doing your grip turning. If you can not relocated your dusty area to a small enclosed room, can the job be done in a differnet building like a garage or a stand a long room outside the main property.

Otherwise, you can at least mitigate the dust to the grinding area, by making a dust collection room, with drop down curtains, that will keep the dust enclosed in a small area - with its own dust collection system.

My sister has a large shop where her daughter and friend do wood turning. They built a separate room of just an adequate size for the lathes and equipment. Then, they constructed a dust collection enclosure on the outside of the main building that was well sound proofed with 2 inch Styrofoam . Then, from the outside dust collection area, they brought in ducting to have drop down hoods for each of the dust generating tools.

This has worked out very well for them. With the dust collecting system vans and vacuums located in a separate outside the building that has been sound proofed, makes working in the wood turning area very nice. time indeed.

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Another big rod shop in the area moved to a different building a few years ago. When, they moved, they built a grip turning area at one end of the wrapping room with a sound insulated dust collection system, that has an excellent hood collectors and vacuum systems to keep the area pristine and free of any floating dust. Further more, the door between the wrapping area and the handle grip turning area is well insulated and well sealed to prevent the exit of any dust from the collection area to the wrapping area.

In my case, I do my grip turning out in the garage. I have a work bench at one end of the garage where my lathe is placed. It has excellent lighting and then, I use a good shop vacuum, with a hood collection system that is only a couple of inches away from the work being turned on the lathe. The largest of the sanding debris and dust is safely collected in the vacuum. But, at the end of any turning session, the area is cleaned up, high pressure air is used to blast off all of the adjacent ares of the lathe to be free of dust and the dust and debris are simply blown out the open garage door to join their living friends called trees that are outside the garage. Then, before any work is brought back to the rod building area, every piece is blown free of any dust and debris by high pressure air from the air compressor.

Summary,

If you want to turn grips, the best option is to do it in a building that is not part of the rod wrapping area. No turning in the rod wrapping area and no dust from the turning will get into the rod wrapping area.

2nd best option is to build a small room in the rod wrapping area to contain all dust generating items like lathes, vacuums, etc.

3rd best option is to use drop down curtains to contain any generated dust in that area and not have it get out to the rod wrapping area.

Best wishes.

Thanks Roger. I have a separate room for cork reaming, so I guess more specifically I am looking for ideas on collecting the cork dust and keeping the air clear.

Thanks,
Marc

Mac,
To keep the air clear, I use a simple stand to hold the end of a vacuum cleaner. i.e. a floor attachment that is of a nice size to collect the dust and grit from the wood turning. I put the floor attachment behind and just partially below the grip being turned, so that about 90% of the dust will be collected.

Then, a very simple way to keep the bulk of the air clear, is to take a 20 inch square box fan and set it at the end of the bench where the lathe is being used. Tape a furnace filter on the face of the @#$%& side of the fan. Then, any time that the lathe is turned on and creating dust, have both the shop vacuum turned on to collect the bulk of the grip turnings, and also turn on the box fan at the end of the bench to collect any dust that is in the air that may end up settling on items in the area.

Inexpensive and simple to make and use.

The stand that I made to hold the floor attachment from the vacuum is made from a 2x6 wood base and a 2x6 vertical base. I simply set the L shaped piece of wood in place and then hold the floor attachment in place to calculate the location needed for the mounting hole of the floor attachment. Then, I use a drill press and a hold saw of the appropriate size to allow the neck of the floor attachment to just fit through the hole in the vertical piece of wood to insure that the floor attachment remains stationary.

Then, to use, place the floor attachment through the hole in the vertical piece, plug in the shop vacuum hose to collect the dust and go to work.

By the way, if you do not have an extension hose and coupler for your vacuum, purchase one. Having a longer than stock hose will make this dust collection easier.

Take care

Take a look at the Big Gulp Dust Hood by Peachtree Woodworking. They are on Amazon for about $20 and work really well.

On our drill press, we made a bracket to hold the hood in line with the grip and reamer. Does a good job collecting the airborn dust. We have a separate air cleaner and other than normal particulate, it stays pretty clean and never has cork in it. That set up with the big hood does real well.

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Thanks Alex - they have some nice stuff! I think the box fan air cleaner may go a long way to get the loose dust I seem to miss.