moving my lathe out of the garage and into my spare bedroom?

allen levine

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new york city burbs
is this a mistake?
I havent touched my lathe in well over a year, maybe more like 2? not sure.
Even though I have it mounted on a mobile table, I have to spin the table around and move all the other machines in the garage to access it, so I just dont.

I have a small extra bedroom, that is currently my finish room,(but the room is hardly used as a finish room) not worried about dirtying or whatever in there, but Im concerned about getting dust and chips tracking throughout the entire house.

The room has a brand new AC,naturally its heated, so I can try turning again,anytime, or should I say, start turning, during an evening, whenever, the noise wouldnt bother my wife whos upstairs.

is this something Im going to regret? too messy for in home? Id clean up the mess each time I use it, as to avoid most of the dust going anywhere.

anyone have a lathe in their homes? not garage or basement?
 
Allen,

As you know, turning and sanding can be very dusty. I don't see a problem with the lathe in your spare room as long as you can keep the dust down for when you are finishing. I had 2 lathes in a bsement room that is about 10' x 12' and had a dust collector in there too. There was also my laundry folding table and a lot of my wife's storage. It was tight in there! But warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
 
That would be the cats meow IMO :D
if your heating is forced air, you'd probably have to do something about the cold air return, dust-wise. Might also look into those self-adhesive draft sealer thingy's for use around the door jamb{s}...of course you'd also be closer to the frig which makes for tuff one handed gouge control :D
 
Dust would be my biggest concern. Given the amount of shavings and dust generated in turning and how hard it is too contain.
Even with finishing in there. Allen you circulating the off gassing fumes with the forced air system.


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there is no forced dry air heat. It is all hot water radiators(havent you guys seen all the radiator covers I made for my house? Am I not posting enough pictures?:D)
bob, no intention of buying another dust collector and cluttering up the small room. The noise would make it an issue, and my daughter lives with us now during the school year, so Id rather not disturb her or my wife.

my really only concern, is the dust and shavings.
Its not like Im going to be turning chunks of wet wood all night long. Im thinking more along the lines of a bowl or pen every now and then.

rob-Ive been finishing my furniture in my house for 2 years now, longer, counting my den area that I used to cover up and set up tables.
I open windows and even at night, leave them open a bit with the locks on so fresh air circulates all the time, including the dead of the winter.
Its only a few times a year Im using stains or poly, so its only a week or so at a time.
(besides, Im beginning to use water based now and spraying in my garage, so I dont think Ill be doing much finishing in the house anymore)
 
well allen if it would make you more room in the shop i would go for it,, the dust from sanding could be controlled by a fan out a window to some extent. like aold furnace fan sucking it away from the lathe.. the chips would be just a dust pan job.. they do make small DC,s that could be used in your room to control things better
 
I would do this if my wife would give up one of the spare bedrooms. With the lathe I wouldn't have the problem of moving big pieces of wood downstairs, and the front basement bedroom has an electric baseboard heater. And dust? That's what shop vacs are for. ;) It would allow me to do turning n the winter, which I can't do now.
 
Dust and chips from the lathe are my biggest problem in the shop. I tried a Big Gulp; it did not even begin to do the job. I have the PennState 2hp DC2000 B dust collector. It works fine on the other machinery and the lathe is tremendously better than before I installed this DC. However, I still get dust and a dirty floor. I wear a dust mask; in fact it is essential with the lathe.

All of my ducting is 6 inch Sewer and Drain Schedule 35. My turns are gentle. I have a slight downward slope towards the DC proper. My ducts are all clean inside. The unit works. However, it just cannot handle the lathe properly.

My concern is this. I cannot control the dust adequately with my 8 foot tall, 2 hp, 1 micron unit. Unless you have an even larger unit, you are going to have dust circulating into the house. Unless you seal the lathe room off completely and enter and exit from outside everyone is going to get dust into their lungs.

This picky old goat is going to shut up now---I've probably said too much already anyway.

Enjoy,

JimB

Yep! I did say too much. So I went back and deleted some stuff.
 
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my wife came home this afternoon from her day out with the girls, and walked into the garage as I was rounding over edges on a bunch of spanish cedar chairs.
She asked me how I dealt with all that dust, and I explained its only that wood and a couple others that make that fine dust.
It wasnt the right time to further discuss it with her.
Im pretty sure before the winter, Im taking the lathe indoors and start teaching myself how to make pens again.
Ill start small. see how it works out.
 
you guys are always picking on me.

its lack of anything else that allows me to focus when I work.

I dont worry about anything anymore, dont work, so when Im in the garage, Im totally focused, but Im not that fast, and my hours of actual work time have dwindled down to a max of 4 hours a day worktime.

I did best myself the past few days, I managed to cut and totally machine(TS, mitre saw, bandsaw cuts,rout over all edges) all pieces to size, no assembly yet, 6 adirondack chairs. Im going out to assemble 4 now, and 2 will be put away for a few weeks.
Ive got it down to a science now, grouping all similar cuts, never leaving one machine to go to another, it works well timewise.
 
she actually said to me, before she saw all the dust, if I move it into the spare room, would I teach her how to make a pen.????????
first I have to figure out how to do it all again, but Id get a kick out of her trying to make something.

we discussed it, so after I stain up a few pieces of trim for my sons window, within a few weeks, Im going to have my son bring the lathe inside, along with the extension, and make a small bench for it on the wall furthest from the AC.
The AC is below a window, and I dont want the filter to clog instantly with all the sawdust.

Now I have to go find my mandrel and all my lathe stuff.(all the tree logs I was saving from the downed tree next door have tons of checks and lines, so I might toss it.)

My only fear indoors in a small 8x10 room like that, is that if something flies off, there isnt much space for it to launch, so it might be like inside a pinball machine, or maybe take out a window.
guess I learn soon enough. I look foward to turning the machine on again, its been like 18 months or more maybe?
I have a total of 3 hours lathe time.
 
there ya go allen! teach her how to make pens and pencils, and you'll have more shop time, as she will be too busy to make up any allen-do lists. take her shopping for all the fashionable turning attire, face mask, apron, etc. then, the next thing you know, it will be her lathe, and you'll be able to get a bigger lathe, so it all works out in the end!
 
dan, she has issued me a want list, a to do list, to last me 6 years after Im dead.
My daughter informed me today, after the contractor left my sons home, that she is expecting me to offer her(give her) the same amount of time and work Im doing for my son. so now I should be busy for 22 years after Im dead.
 
dan, she has issued me a want list, a to do list, to last me 6 years after Im dead.
My daughter informed me today, after the contractor left my sons home, that she is expecting me to offer her(give her) the same amount of time and work Im doing for my son. so now I should be busy for 22 years after Im dead.


Ahhh, sibling rivalry, something I'm quite familiar with :rofl:
 
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