Ventilation Ideas for Sanding in a Small Apartment

[Glomar]

Hi All! 

All of my sanding is done by hand for model wooden ships, so there is no big shavings, but I am worried about fine dust particles especially since I do most of my work in my living room. I use a mask and try to sand with the windows open, but I live in a small apartment in a city so there is no real opportunities to work outside. Do I need to concerned about lingering dust particles from sanding and if so does anyone have any solutions or ideas? Most of what I am finding online is related to sanding with power tools and I have not been able to find too many solutions related to smaller projects like this hobby. 

I appreciate any advice/input! 

[Ian_Grant]

Yes, you need to be concerned about breathing in ultra-fine particles which will enter your lungs. Especially if a model has some exotic tropical wood species.

 

The trick is to collect the dust before it scatters into the air. Have you heard of "suction boards"? Basically you build a box with a perforated top surface and a dust port to connect to some sort of shop vac. Simply sit your piece on the perforated surface and sand away. Dust disappears into the collector before it has a chance to scatter.

 

Of course, this still requires a shop vac but some of the small units are relatively quiet. It must be able to filter sub-micron particles or it will send your collected dust straight back into your room.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Here is an example video:

 

 

[bolin]

I have a similar situation. No workshop, and do my work in a corner under the stairs. I try to avoid sanding and sawing as much as possible. Instead I use cutting tools, planes etc whenever possible. I also try to use scrapers to get smooth surfaces.

[mtaylor]

One thing (among several) I've found that works is window fan that blows out.  I open a window on the opposite of the apartment to help set up a draft.  When I can't open a window, I use portable air filter system.  I also run a shop vac set up where I'm sanding/cutting.   

[Charles Green]

I made a variation of the suction table shown in Ian Gant's video.  Home supply stores sell 2 x 4-foot sheets of plastic grid with 1/2-inch holes, used for fronts of fluorescent light fixtures.  This grid served very well for the top of the box and all I had to do is cut it to fit the sides of the box I made.  The noise and poor filtration of most small shop vacs is a problem.  I made a five-sided box, with a hole in the side for the hose, to lower over my noisy vac.  It contained most of the noise.  Since then, I have bought a Fien Turbo III shop vac.  Expensive, I have never looked back and it's the most-used power-tool in the shop.

[Ian_Grant]

Yes, every time I'm in Lee Valley I am impressed by the apparent quality of the Fein stuff, but the $$$ puts me off. My loss, probably.

[bridgman]

Another simplistic solution is to construct a dust collection system using a small box window fan and a furnace filter.

Find a window fan bout 24" square and a high efficient furnace filter of the same dimensions, tape the filter to the inlet side of the fan all around the filter.

Place the fan adjacent to your work area and run at the appropriate speed. Look for the quietest running fan. Several years ago, Wood magazine was evaluating 

dust reduction equipment for wood working shops and assembled the above contraption for comparison and found it to be 98% as effective as  the factory made equipment.

Bridgman Bob

 

 

[thibaultron]

https://www.grizzly.com/products/grizzly-hanging-air-filter-3-speed/g0738

[Eric1]

I made one with a furnace filter and a 120v 8 inch fan. has a lot of suck but very load. It also works for drawing air when I spray with my airbrush.

[Bill Hudson]

This is a little lap dust collector I have had for many years. I believe I purchased it through Woodcraft.  It set on your lap with the bag between your legs.

 

Bill