Sanding dust question

[CosmicQuest]

Do you guys do anything in particular to help mitigate sanding dust from getting on surfaces in your hobby area? I am occasionally finding the dust on surfaces around our apartment. Do you all think one of those airbrush sanding booths would help? Thank you in advance for any thoughts you may have on this!

 

[Astyanax]

I've used multiple different kinds of dust mitigation solutions, and most work to some degree.

Machine Sanding:

• A vacuum setup with booth and dust separator is pretty good, but not perfect. It'll still get everywhere, just not as much. Fun to set up, but noisy, ugly, and expensive. I can get into the details of my setup if you're interested. I don't use it much.
  
  
• Sanding outside only has been a pretty good solution for power sanding.

But for manual sanding, the game-changer for me was converting to wet sanding only! No dust, just messy clothes! Not only does water prevent dust, but it also rinses caked dust right out of the sandpaper.

Manual Sanding - Flat Surface:

I picked up this small block of granite from Amazon:

Amazon.com

And then I use self-adhesive sheets of sandpaper. With a wash bottle of water, I'll squeeze a teaspoon of water on the sandpaper, and it gives me a hard, perfectly flat, unyielding surface on with to flatten things very effectively! I use this all the time!



Manual Sanding - Fine Parts:

For fine-sanding, wet-sanding allows me to sand INSIDE AT MY DESK! I put a little indoor kit like this together:



And then I lay it out like this:



Just keep the sandpaper and sanding objects wet, and THERE IS NO DUST! Just a cloudy sludge that wipes right up!

Hope that helps! Happy to advise further.

Bill

 

[CosmicQuest]

Thanks Bill. I didn't even think of wet sanding! That might fit the bill perfectly. And a lot cheaper than the vent system. I'll give that a try. I was tempted to try an airbrush spray booth but was unsure how well that'd work. Thanks a bunch for your reply!!
Russ

 

[TazMan2000]

I do my heavy duty sanding in my garage.

TazMan2000

 

[CosmicQuest]

I do my heavy duty sanding in my garage.

TazMan2000

Thanks Tazman! That'll probably be a good option for some of the bigger stuff for me too.

 

[rbeach84]

One thing I do to contain plastic dust and debris (as in polystyrene parts) is to attach a cheap, kitchen apron to the edge of my work desk using clamps and then "wear" it while working by putting the loop over my head. It catches all the dust and also dropped parts (they don't get lost to the carpet monster any more!)
So, with the hem clamped under the desk edge, and the waist strings also wrapped around the clamps, it makes a nice pocket to keep the stuff together. When not using it, I loop the neck strap around one of the clamps to 'close' it and just periodically empty the contents in the outsite waste bin. Also, can wash it in the laundry so it stays clean (I got a two pack, so always have one in use in the 'rotation'.) Cheap, white cottone aprons, best trick I've devised in a long while for my 'dry' sanding. Clothes stay clean too!

Regards, Robert

 

[CosmicQuest]

One thing I do to contain plastic dust and debris (as in polystyrene parts) is to attach a cheap, kitchen apron to the edge of my work desk using clamps and then "wear" it while working by putting the loop over my head. It catches all the dust and also dropped parts (they don't get lost to the carpet monster any more!)
So, with the hem clamped under the desk edge, and the waist strings also wrapped around the clamps, it makes a nice pocket to keep the stuff together. When not using it, I loop the neck strap around one of the clamps to 'close' it and just periodically empty the contents in the outsite waste bin. Also, can wash it in the laundry so it stays clean (I got a two pack, so always have one in use in the 'rotation'.) Cheap, white cottone aprons, best trick I've devised in a long while for my 'dry' sanding. Clothes stay clean too!

Regards, Robert

That's a pretty cool idea!! I never would've thought of thar but seems like it would work pretty well.

 

[rbeach84]

Works well for me (well enough I've also shared with my local club-mates!) Biggest benefit has been not getting on my (old man) knees to find dropped parts... ha!
;^)
R/ Robert

 

[pengbuzz]

I use a bottle of water with a spray top to "knock down" the dust in the air, then use a shop-vac to vacuum it up.

 

[Duncanator]

One thing I do to contain plastic dust and debris (as in polystyrene parts) is to attach a cheap, kitchen apron to the edge of my work desk using clamps and then "wear" it while working by putting the loop over my head. It catches all the dust and also dropped parts (they don't get lost to the carpet monster any more!)
So, with the hem clamped under the desk edge, and the waist strings also wrapped around the clamps, it makes a nice pocket to keep the stuff together. When not using it, I loop the neck strap around one of the clamps to 'close' it and just periodically empty the contents in the outsite waste bin. Also, can wash it in the laundry so it stays clean (I got a two pack, so always have one in use in the 'rotation'.) Cheap, white cottone aprons, best trick I've devised in a long while for my 'dry' sanding. Clothes stay clean too!

Regards, Robert

I believe jewelers use an apron like that; not so much for dust, but for catching small objects and gems that get dropped. They land in the apron rather than getting lost on the floor, which could be quite expensive if it was a diamond that was dropped!

 

[Duncanator]

Rockler, Grizzly, Amazon and others sell small downdraft tables for sanding. You have to hook it up to your own vacuum, and it draws in the air and dust from your sanding. The sound of your vacuum running would have to be dealt with though.

 

[CosmicQuest]

I use a bottle of water with a spray top to "knock down" the dust in the air, then use a shop-vac to vacuum it up.

That's a good idea too. I'm thinking once I get a lot of the big body of my current build complete, I'll use some kind of wet technique to keep the dust out of the air. Thank you Pengbuzz!

 

[CosmicQuest]

Rockler, Grizzly, Amazon and others sell small downdraft tables for sanding. You have to hook it up to your own vacuum, and it draws in the air and dust from your sanding. The sound of your vacuum running would have to be dealt with though.

I've thought of that too but wasn't sure about cutting into my current hobby table? Definitely would still work pretty good and worth a look. Thank you Duncanator!!

 

[CosmicQuest]

I believe jewelers use an apron like that; not so much for dust, but for catching small objects and gems that get dropped. They land in the apron rather than getting lost on the floor, which could be quite expensive it it was a diamond that was dropped!

Would definitely be a good way to prevent little bits from getting into the carpet in my hobby room!

 

[JediMichael]

If you don't like the sound of a vacuum running the whole time, can sand a little, and then vacuum it up, and keep going like that, back and forth.

 

[pengbuzz]

That's a good idea too. I'm thinking once I get a lot of the big body of my current build complete, I'll use some kind of wet technique to keep the dust out of the air. Thank you Pengbuzz!

No problem! The water should cling to the dust and cause it to fall to the ground/ floor.

Just be careful of misting near electronics/ electrics.

 

[SCUDMAN]

I keep an air purifier in my workshop to help keep the dust down. I use a Honeywell HFD-120-Q QuietClean air purifier because it has washable filters instead of having to buy replacement filters. You can get them on Amazon and from Home Depot for $129. All the other advice you have been getting is also excellent.

 

[rbeach84]

I also sand resin using wet sanding papers/sanding sticks in the sink adjacent to my hobby space. Useful when working with small parts. Though, 'hogging out' something with the dremel presents a real challenge!

My apartment used to have a 'central vacuum' system, which uses a remote vacuum drawing through ports in the walls. Plugging in the long hose turned it on... too bad it doesn't work anymore! Would have useful for dust collection...
Regards, Robert

 

[Astyanax]

I also sand resin using wet sanding papers/sanding sticks in the sink adjacent to my hobby space. Useful when working with small parts. Though, 'hogging out' something with the dremel presents a real challenge!

My apartment used to have a 'central vacuum' system, which uses a remote vacuum drawing through ports in the walls. Plugging in the long hose turned it on... too bad it doesn't work anymore! Would have useful for dust collection...
Regards, Robert

Yes, when it comes to resin, one should NEVER NOT wet sand. You don't want that stuff getting into the air and lungs, especially in an apartment!

 

[CosmicQuest]

I keep an air purifier in my workshop to help keep the dust down. I use a Honeywell HFD-120-Q QuietClean air purifier because it has washable filters instead of having to buy replacement filters. You can get them on Amazon and from Home Depot for $129. All the other advice you have been getting is also excellent.

That is a good idea. I might look into that. Thanks SCUDMAN!