Indoor repair workshop inquiries

K

KUKABUKA

Active member
Hello, I'm headed to a new home and have a good sized workshop in the basement. I'd like to put my lathe there as opposed to the garage but am of course concerned about 1) safety and 2) cleanliness. The workshop has a smooth concrete floor but much of the house is carpeted and I don't want to be tracking leather/plastic/dust through the home.

I primarily do tips, shaft cleaning, ferrules, stacked leather, joint protectors, but have also made some CF shafts from blanks. In my previous garage setup I felt comfortable using a shop vac, natural ventilation and full-face industrial respirator when required. If I do go ahead and setup in my basement I will likely stop any CF dust work.

Do any of you have experience with an indoor setup? What kind of precautions did you take with regards to dust collection etc? The house does have a central vac system so cleaning "chips" is manageable but tedious after every use. Is a basement setup too risky or just infeasible in your opinion?

Thank you very much

KUKABUKA
 
I have very similar questions. I am having a house built right now with a dedicated shop. I have purchased the JET filtration devices to hang from the ceiling and clean the air but I am now looking for exhaust options to remove the fumes from chemicals, paints, sealers, etc. So, I have resolved the dust issues from the nasty wood dusts (cocobolo, walnut, etc.) but not the fumes from urethanes, clear coats, etc.
 
KUKABUKA said:
Hello, I'm headed to a new home and have a good sized workshop in the basement. I'd like to put my lathe there as opposed to the garage but am of course concerned about 1) safety and 2) cleanliness. The workshop has a smooth concrete floor but much of the house is carpeted and I don't want to be tracking leather/plastic/dust through the home.

I primarily do tips, shaft cleaning, ferrules, stacked leather, joint protectors, but have also made some CF shafts from blanks. In my previous garage setup I felt comfortable using a shop vac, natural ventilation and full-face industrial respirator when required. If I do go ahead and setup in my basement I will likely stop any CF dust work.

Do any of you have experience with an indoor setup? What kind of precautions did you take with regards to dust collection etc? The house does have a central vac system so cleaning "chips" is manageable but tedious after every use. Is a basement setup too risky or just infeasible in your opinion?

Thank you very much

KUKABUKA
Click to expand...
I would not take your chips through your home central vac system unless you go through a separator first. I use a two-stage separator between my chip source and vacuum intake. It is amazing how much you can spin out of the waste flow and drop into a bag before it even gets to the vacuum bag. I didn't want to risk any dust at all from entering my home so I went with a stand alone unit.
 
I'm looking for exhaust fan sources. I intend to put two intake grates in the ceiling, connected above the ceiling in a "Y", to an inline exhaust blower that vents through my roof. I'm shooting for a full turnover of air every 5 minutes.
 
tg_vegas said:
I would not take your chips through your home central vac system unless you go through a separator first. I use a two-stage separator between my chip source and vacuum intake. It is amazing how much you can spin out of the waste flow and drop into a bag before it even gets to the vacuum bag. I didn't want to risk any dust at all from entering my home so I went with a stand alone unit.
Click to expand...
Sounds like you'll have a nice setup. Your standalone unit is a 2-stage separator to a vacuum (or DC or ?) independent of the home? What style are you going with for that?

I'm pretty happy with the shop vac as far as post work cleanup goes and more than likely wouldn't use the central vac at all. I do wish the shop vac was better at collecting the heavier bits as they're flying off the work piece.
 
If you can build a shed outside and put a good dust collector in there and pipe it into the house, that would be an excellent start.
Also a strong exhaust fan to the outside. You basically want a vacuum (venting to the outside) in there anytime you're working to keep dust from being borne into the rest of the house.
 
Sheldon said:
If you can build a shed outside and put a good dust collector in there and pipe it into the house, that would be an excellent start.
Also a strong exhaust fan to the outside. You basically want a vacuum (venting to the outside) in there anytime you're working to keep dust from being borne into the rest of the house.
Click to expand...
What I’m trying to decide is how many cfm I need for exhaust and where to get my make up air. The shop is temp and humidity controlled so I’m concerned about bringing warm humid Florida air in as makeup for the exhaust which I’m considering at 1000cfm
 
There are heat recovery systems that heat or cool the incoming air . They are not that expensive to run, but the initial up front costs are higher than a small vent running and the ac running to compensate.
The pathways in the shop need to be clean and I have slip on shop shoes that stay in the shop, and a matt that stays in the shop to wipe feet on when changing to inside footwear. So far it has been good over 3.5 years, but I have not done much as I am often ill sadly.
The slightly low pressure with a fan slowly running venting to the outside, keeps the workshop smell out of the house. Machine tools do smell. I have heatpump ac unit that keeps the workshop 40m2 around 20 to 21c year round at about 50 to 55% humidity . I never turn off the work ac unit. It is either predominantly heating in winter , or cooling in summer. It just sorts itself out. I have no idea how much air the fan moves in a day.
 
If your shop is part of the house, I would be extra concerned with dust and smell, noise might be an issue to..
A air filtration unit is a good place to start, but you will still have a lot of dust collecting on every surface, so a downdraft table for sanding and a dust collection hood right by the lathe is key. Shop vacs are loud, so I would spend the extra money on a unit that is a bit more refined, like the Laguna Flux or similar units. As for chemical smells from sanding sealer, epoxy and especially clear laquer you will need a dedicated spraybooth/hood and a extractor fan, possibly connected to a chimney, so you don't vent the fumes out on ground level.
Breathing quality air filtration units hooked up to a fresh air mask is amazing compared to the regular 3M masks.
I have a ANI 3 stage filter and an Iwata air fed mask, I can spray clear and smell no fumes at all.
 
I would build a shop separate from house and eliminate all and any of the concerns you have.
Especially if you have family in the house with you.
No matter how hard you try to keep dirt, dust and chemical vapors creeping from the basement into the living area it'll be a challenge.
You can minimize it but you'll never be able to eliminate it completely from infiltrating.
JMO.....
Stay safe.
 
I have two 450cfm JET air filtration units hanging from the ceiling and settled on two ventilation grates in the ceiling connected to a 1000cfm inline exhaust fan that vents out through the roof of the house. My shop is on ground level. I also spec'd that both doors be fire rated and weatherstripped. Makeup air comes from outside. HVAC is a dedicated unit for shop only with humidity control. I'm hoping this does the trick.
 
tg_vegas said:
What I’m trying to decide is how many cfm I need for exhaust and where to get my make up air. The shop is temp and humidity controlled so I’m concerned about bringing warm humid Florida air in as makeup for the exhaust which I’m considering at 1000cfm
Click to expand...

I have a basement shop as well. Make sure you research the impact on your furnace (and HVAC) if you plan on extracting large volumes of air to the outside, especially in the winter.

I don’t use the nasty chemicals in the basement but have been able to manage wood dust using dust collection systems at the tool and hanging from the ceiling. But I’m just a hobbyist and don’t have much output.

I’ve found plastic sheeting and other physical barriers are helpful for containing dust when I’m running my router. Search for JC (coos cues) videos as he has some amazing enclosures.
 
I have HVAC experience.

I would question how it's heated/cooled/vented. I would seperate the basement from the main house. If you have any open vents in the shop. I would have them sealed off. It will bring dust into the rest of the house.

I would look into maybe an air cleaner venting out of the house from the basement.

As far as temperature. I'm not sure how comfortable of a tempature you are looking to have it down their?
 
kling&allen said:
I have a basement shop as well. Make sure you research the impact on your furnace (and HVAC) if you plan on extracting large volumes of air to the outside, especially in the winter.

I don’t use the nasty chemicals in the basement but have been able to manage wood dust using dust collection systems at the tool and hanging from the ceiling. But I’m just a hobbyist and don’t have much output.

I’ve found plastic sheeting and other physical barriers are helpful for containing dust when I’m running my router. Search for JC (coos cues) videos as he has some amazing enclosures.
Click to expand...
 
Zerksies said:
I have HVAC experience.

I would question how it's heated/cooled/vented. I would seperate the basement from the main house. If you have any open vents in the shop. I would have them sealed off. It will bring dust into the rest of the house.

I would look into maybe an air cleaner venting out of the house from the basement.

As far as temperature. I'm not sure how comfortable of a tempature you are looking to have it down their?
Click to expand...

I unfortunately know nothing about HVAC. If my basement shop had no vents from the main AC and furnace (it’s cooled and heated just by air passing through the interior doorway), could i potentially add a dust exhaust (to the outside), an air inlet (from the outside far away from the exhaust), and then close/seal my interior door to prevent any impact on the rest of the house?

It seems like that would create a mostly separate system where I’m not drawing air away from the rest of the house?

Thanks!
 
KUKABUKA said:
Hello, I'm headed to a new home and have a good sized workshop in the basement. I'd like to put my lathe there as opposed to the garage but am of course concerned about 1) safety and 2) cleanliness. The workshop has a smooth concrete floor but much of the house is carpeted and I don't want to be tracking leather/plastic/dust through the home.

I primarily do tips, shaft cleaning, ferrules, stacked leather, joint protectors, but have also made some CF shafts from blanks. In my previous garage setup I felt comfortable using a shop vac, natural ventilation and full-face industrial respirator when required. If I do go ahead and setup in my basement I will likely stop any CF dust work.

Do any of you have experience with an indoor setup? What kind of precautions did you take with regards to dust collection etc? The house does have a central vac system so cleaning "chips" is manageable but tedious after every use. Is a basement setup too risky or just infeasible in your opinion?

Thank you very much

KUKABUKA
Click to expand...
Shop Vac..... worthless without a HEPA filter. Use a "dust collector" that’s made for your situation.
 
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