Lathe Dust Collection Hoods

[ryanbp01]

Hi there-

I was looking through my Penn State Industries and Woodcraft online catalogs and found a couple of Lathe Dust Collection Hoods. Both are around $60.00, with an adapter hoser fitting that would reduce from 4" down to 2.5" for another $5.00 (more or less). My question is twofold: 1) has anyone out there using something similar and 2) does Shopsmith have something of comparable value? Both Lathe Dust hoods I'm looking at are 13 x 16 inches. As always, thanks for your input.
BPR

[dusty]

I don't do much turning but curiousity made me look. They say it fits any lathe but I don't see how. It is just a big hood with a hose to the collector.
Seems you could make this.

http://www.pennstateind.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?

[greitz]

I mostly turn small items, so the SS utility vacuum extension, part number 555582, works great for me. Yes, the hood is much smaller, but I'm not sanding table legs, either. If I were sanding table legs, I'd attach the support bracket to the carriage, then the vacuum extension can be moved (with the carriage) to whichever section you're sanding.

Dusty- I think the "fits any lathe" means that you can mount it to a post, roller stand, etc., and set it up behind the lathe, close enough to the work for dust collection to be effective. I bet they'll also sell you a fancy stand to clamp it onto.

Gary

[paulmcohen]

I have one I got from Shopsmith many years ago, sorry I don't remember the model but it mounts on the same kind of flexible arm as the Shopsmith lamp. I also have a large Penn State model that attached to a roller stand both have a 4" dust collection port. I would not consider connecting it to a 2.5" shop vacuum. The amount of air you need to catch chips coming off a lathe into a huge opening is more than a vacuum could handle and the chips could be large enough to jam the vacuum.

I do pens and bowls and am able to capture most of the chips and 90%+ of the dust.

[james.miller]

I have the one Penn State sells for $25.95. It doesn't catch all of the chips because they fly everywhere but it really helps catch the dust from sanding which is the dust that is harmful to your lungs.

[ryanbp01]

I guess I'm still up in the air about making this purchase. I would think the adapter to connect the hood to the SS Dust collector might have enough pulling capacity to catch the majority of chips and sanding dust while also improving time spent cleaning up.