Scrolling In Baement

[Reaper]

Hey Guys, Question? I had enough of freezing my hands out in my cold garage in the winter or not scrolling at all. I have room in my basement for my saw. The problem being. My hot water heater and my furnace are not to far away. Any ideas of how to get rid of the dust before it gets to them? Any ideas will help. Tired of freezing. I think I asked the same question a long time ago and never did it. Must have erased the replies. Thanks in advance.... Dave

[Danny]

Hey there Dave....  I am Happy you started this type of Post as I have also been thinking the same as you.  Scrolling and any type of Woodworking is in my blood.  Winters are COLD.  Have given some thought to bringing my Scrollsaw into my garage which is insulated and I have a Great wall heater.  Now peoples....How would you solve Daves Question?  Tks....  Danny  :+}

[Rapid Roger]

Buy one of those cheap plastic painters drop cloths and hang it from the ceiling between your work area and the furnace area all the way to the floor.
They are clear, light weight and dust proof and are large enough to make a good sized wall.
It may cost you three or four dollars but, you can hang them with thumb tacks or staples so that it can be removed with out too much damage next spring. 

Rog

[jeff44]

I scroll in my basement.  Both the water heater and the furnace are about 30 to 40 feet away and I have had no problems. while finishing I crack the outside door.

[KarlB]

I know it can be done since Sheila Landry does it inside her house!  Maybe she will pop in with some advise for you.

Karl

[jerry1939]

I would vote with Rapid Roger.  However, I do carving & scrolling.  Quit scrolling in the unheated garage in the winter and carve at the kitchen table in the winter.

I carve basswood.  It has a horrible sticky, oily like sawdust.  I saw the carving blanks with a band saw in the garage.  I made a tarp enclosure around 1 garage corner, hung with 2X4s lag screwed into the ceiling.  The tarp also is sandwiched between 2 boards at the bottom, on both sides to make it hang straight.

Be darn sure you keep vacuuming.  The wife wouldn't like it if you blew up the house.  Women are like that.     

jerry in Iowa

[DWSudekum]

Hey Guys, Question? I had enough of freezing my hands out in my cold garage in the winter or not scrolling at all. I have room in my basement for my saw. The problem being. My hot water heater and my furnace are not to far away. Any ideas of how to get rid of the dust before it gets to them? Any ideas will help. Tired of freezing. I think I asked the same question a long time ago and never did it. Must have erased the replies. Thanks in advance.... Dave

Ok folks this is my type of scrolling.  I work out of my basement in a corner 10' square in it I have my drill press, my saw, a workbench, 12 in disk sander, flat belt sander, a sandflee knockoff ( homemade ), a dust collector ( 1 HP Dust Collector ) similar to the one by Rikon, 2 box fans with filters taped to them ( air filtration ) My furnace and Hot Water Heater are right next to my work area while there is some dust that makes it past my air filters and dust collector it is not enough to worry about.  The main thing that keeps most of the sawdust limited to what the air filters can handle is the collector.  I highly recommend you look into one.  The good ones are fairly quiet.  I have not heard the ones that Harbor Freight sells so I can not tell you about those.   I used to not have the dust collector, got it at an estate sale.  Before the dust collector my air filters could not keep up with the saw dust.  I was constantly either replacing the filters or taking them outside to blow out, anyway since the dust collector was installed I have not had to do this but once and it has been 2 years.  So the key at least for my situation is having that dust collector and using it.  Once you realize the amount of saw dust that it captures that you are no longer breathing you will be amazed, I was.

Btw the 1 hp dust collectors - new - about $350

DW

[Kepy]

For over 10 years, I had my shop in the basement with the water heater and gas furnace.  During that time I did a lot of woodwork from that shop.  It was an oversized one car garage so when the weather was nice could open the garage door but it was enclosed all winter.  During that time I used a table saw, 2 bandsaws, 2 drillpresses, 6" belt sander as well as several palm sanders, planer, several routers and multiple scroll saws.  During all that time I never used any type of dust collection as it served to soften and insulate the concrete floor and never had a problem.

[mlwmerk]

The idea of hanging a highly flammable plastic sheet close to and around the furnace and, I assume, gas water heater gives me the willies.  The plastic sheet also might limit the amount of air needed by the furnace and water heater combustion units.  I think minimum code requirements are to have drywall covered walls enclosing furnaces and flame water heaters.  The drywall, as I understand it, will slow any fire spread in the event of an unfriendly fire.

My scroll saw happens to have a dust port hook up for a vacuum which catches about eighty percent of the dust.  As dust accumulates outside of the tool, I simply unhook the vacuum hose and clean up the area.  At present I am using a small shop vac dedicated to the scroll saw.  You could fashion a dust pick arrangement for the scroll saw or hang a dust collector and a fan close to the saw.  Keep a dust pan and brush handy.

[MOONIE]

I built a standard wall in my basement, wall to wall, ceiling to floor ...  it's semi-tight.   At the opposit end of the basement the oil fired furnace and water heater sit.   Generally I keep the doors closed and 2 box fans running; when sanding or using the table saw I kick in the Dewalt portable air cleaner.  I leave the shop for 20 minutes, on return, the air is clean.  The table saw (used very little) creates the most dust compared with the scroll saw, drill press and sanding machine (sanding maching is used sparingly).   I've had no complaints from my better half about dust migration.  Scrolling is my passion, year around. 

[Dan26]

I scrolled for about 5 years in my basement within 10 feet of the gas furnace. Nothing between me and the furnace and never had an issue. I did check the furnace filter every week or two to make sure sawdust hadn't accumulated on it. I found that most of the dust fell within three feet of the saw. If you want to see where the dust is going, place some white paper on horizontal surfaces near places you want to monitor and check the paper every week or so to see what has accumulated. I did eventually put a box fan/filter set-up near the scroll saw and it did remove most of the dust from the air. I still wear a dust mask to protect my lungs.