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I am endeavouring to eliminate as much dust as possible when woodworking in my shed. The first step was to enhance the dust collection ducting of my Dust Extractor (detailed in another topic) the second part of that was to build a bench top Down Draft Sanding Table to capture dust when I am sanding projects.
The got the design ideas from a YouTube search on dust extraction, it is nothing more than a box with a bottom, a top with holes (in this case Pegboard), sloping panels internally to channel the dust and have a smaller area to increase suction and a vacuum port on the back.
I cut the front, back and side pieces to size to make a box 850mm x 600mm x 140mm high.
I used a Dado Blade stack on my table saw to rebate 15mm x 5mm rabbets in all of the panels to hold the bottom and top sheets and also 25mm x 15mm rabbets on the ends of the front and back panels to accept the sides.
I chose to be a bit cute and engraved a name on the LH side of the front panel and also cutout a 100mm hole in the back panel for the dust oulet.
Then I glued and clamped the front, back and sides together - no mechanical fasteners used at all.
Next I measured up and cut some 7mm Ply Wood sheet that I had on hand to make some sloping panels internally, this reduces the overall internal voume which increases the suction.
I then ran a bead of silicone around all the edges and also silisoned in the rear duct adaptor.
The overall size was too great to simply fasten the pegboard to the top and it would have sagged, so I made a simple frame out of pine with 2 cross strips to strengthen the pegboard top. This was glued and bradded together then just bradded to the main body.
I screwed the peg board top in place and made a mess because the screw heads fluffed up the screw holes. I have since sanded those high points down and have placed some UMHW plastic tape around the perimiter and the two cross strips. I didn't want raised screw heads scratching or damaging what ever I was sanding.
All done! I simply attach my quick connect dust hose to the port and sand away.
It really makes a huge difference. When sanding you will usually see dust on the surfaces where you are sanding but additionally there is fine dust that circulates in the air and it is this fine dust that it is pulling in and away from my lungs.
Hi @NiftyNev,
Thanks for joining in the discussion. Great to see you have already received a helpful reply from Wayne.
I hope you find plenty of other useful advice, information and inspiration for your projects from Workshop community members. Feel free to post anytime you need a hand, and it would also be great if you could share some of your projects to inspire others.
Thanks again for joining us, and a very warm welcome to Workshop.
Jason
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