Dust Collection From Clothes Dryer

Wouldn't it be nice to work in a place where you didn't have to worry about sawdust? Ahh, yeah...that would be nice. Well wake up, 'cause that's not an option for us! That's why you are here right?

I got really tired of spending all my time cleaning up sawdust instead of making saw dust. Instead of spending all the moneys that I don't have on a dust collection system, I accepted the fact that I'm a hobbyist, (I know...I know, it's hard) and that I will only work with benchtop tools one at a time. I also decided I didn't want to keep sweeping up the sawdust and would rather have it all sucked up for me into a nice little bucket.

With that in mind, let me show you how I took the shop cart that I HATED. Added some trash, and turned it into my FAVORITE shop cart.

From the Junk pile: Junked clothes dryer, Junked bathroom partitions, Wood scrap, electrical outlet, switch, wires.

To buy: Casters, dryer vent, 2" dust collection hose, dust collection cyclone lid, 5 gallon bucket.

The shop cart I had was thrown together and modified over time, always with the intention of "making it better" someday. Well, someday is now.

First things first, I took the false bottom and lousy casters off the cart. I wanted to cover the cart with the restroom partitions, and to do that, I needed to cut the heads off the bolts, I needed to do this so the box would be air tight- something I later learned was not necessary. (Foreshadowing!)

In watching this video (along with others) by Matthias Wandel, I started thinking it would be a good idea to just have the dust collection in the lower section of the cart, so whatever bench top tool I am using can have the dust collected below.

I wasn't going to make my own blower or impeller, but I did have access to a junk dryer- and those move air..so let's take it apart and use that!

I closed in the cart completely with the restroom partition panels. I added a door to the front so I could access the inner partition. My intention was to create a vacuum inside the box, so I sealed all the edges with silicone, and put a foam seal around the door.

I also cut 2 holes for electrical boxes in the side, one for the switch- to control the dust collection, and the other for an outlet- so any tool I was using could be plugged directly into the box.

Something that happened probably more than a dozen times with this build, was screws breaking off in the restroom partitions. They are made from some kind of resin that is extremely hard. If the pilot holes were not big enough, the screws would snap right off...this caused some degree of heartburn during the build, but ended up being fantastic for drilling and tapping machine threads! The resin is so hard it cuts threads beautifully. Anything that needs to be added on to this cart in the future is easily done by drilling a hole and cutting threads for 10-24 or 1/4-20 machine screws.

The motor and blower from the dryer were mounted inside the cart, with the exhaust being pushed out the side. I cut a hole at the bottom and attached the dryer vent to the blower to exhaust the air. It moved so much air I thought the bucket would collapse from all the vacuum pressure.

On the other side of the cart toward the top I bought a PVC coupling/reducer to attach the dust collection hose. I did this because the PVC was around $1, while a dust collection hose flange was around $25...that's too much for this experiment, so the PVC along with a hose clamp worked great.

I wired up the motor inside the cart with some strain relief, this is a safety feature so if someone pulls really hard on the cord, it won't jerk any of the electrical connections apart.

When you plug in the cart, the outlet has power, so you can use tools and that outlet without the motor coming on. When you need dust collection, you flip the light switch and the motor kicks on and spins the blower creating the vacuum.

Let me just say here that dust collection is quite a controversial topic. I was tired of sweeping sawdust after all these year, but WOW- people get really fired up about dust collection.

In the end, after a lot of experimentation- use what works for you!

Here are some suggestions:

1. Work outside- if you have the space...enjoy it and mulch your lawn while you are at it.
2. Work inside and let the dust accumulate. Many people do this, though I don't recommend it for your health and the ability to find things...
3. Use a broom and dust pan and clean up after yo-self.
4. Use your household vacuum, and maybe get in trouble...I don't know.
5. Get a shop-vac. Combine it with a bucket cyclone and you won't have to worry about changing filters in your shop vac (you weren't worried about filters? Oh...me neither).
6. Get a cheaper dust collector instead of that next tool you want to buy- you don't need another router, get a dust collector.
7. Go all out and outfit every machine in your shop with it's own dedicated, piped, blast gate, HEPA 99, MERV 13, variable frequency overdrive- or buy a nice new vehicle.

I may be joking about a new vehicle, or am I...

The next step was to cut a notch in the frame to accept the filter. I used an HVAC filter to catch the fine dust and debris so it wouldn't get inside the blower. I was super excited to finally have a dedicated dust collection system. After using it a few times though, there were a few things I didn't love:

1. I had to hook up the tool, the bucket, and 2 hoses each time.
2. The bucket kept falling over.
3. The vacuum turned out to be underwhelming. It could pick up sawdust, but struggled to pick up large chips from the planer.

At this point it was time to re-visit...or give up.

Haha! I'm no quitter...though I probably should be sometimes. (NOPE!)

I decided that the entire box acting as a vacuum was hampering the efficiency. I went back to the dryer and pulled out the part that connects to the blower (where the lint trap is) and thought if I could connect a hose to that- I would increase the vacuum. So I tried to soften a piece of plexiglass in the oven to cover the opening...but realized I wanted the bucket INSIDE the cart, and that would not fit. I also let the Plexiglass go for too long in the oven while I was distracted and it curled...that wouldn't work.

I had recently acquired a hot glue gun (YOU NEED ONE) and used that to temporarily attach the hose to another piece of plexiglass. Well, that temporary test became a permanent solution. It provided more suction and gave me enough room to put the bucket INSIDE the cart- Yeah!

Now I am able to hook the 1 hose directly to the tool I am using and it works much better. One thing I learned through all this was that clothes dryers only move around 200 CFM, and commercial dust collectors move 600-3,500 CFM! So while I thought my motor/blower was moving a lot of air- it actually wasn't compared to commercial units. I also realized that I could get a used vacuum with a 2 part separator (most family vacuums nowadays) at the thrift shop for $7. Just remove the bottom portion and the top handle and you are left with a canister and hose- that works AMAZING. Hook that up to a couple tools and you are good to go. It doesn't get better than a $7 solution that works great. In the future I will add one inside to this cart, or use a blower I have from an old inflatable bouncy castle- that moves a lot of air as well!

Happy dust collecting!