Saw in the Basement

[Graywolf]

I am thinking of moving my Scroll Saw into the basement. It is getting cold in northern IL. and no head in the garage. I tried moving my table saw to the basement last winter. HO Boy!! Saw dust through out the house. Turned the saw off, waited till spring and moved it back to the shop. In the winter my woodworking is shut down. The wife and I quilt in the winter, but I miss making saw dust. I am new to Scrolling and I notice that the dust is really fine and gets all over me and other things. What do you folks think about moving the saw to the basement???   
Thanks

Gary

[peterjf50]

Mine is in the basement of our condos (storage space) .  I have it hooked up to a dust collector, 2 inch port and then y split have one piece under the table to grab that and one piece above the blade on the opposite side of the blower nozzle.  (blower nozzle blows the dust to the collector port) Works VERY well.  Only dust now is around the bag seam of the collector itself and going to work on that.  1/2 HP collector (around $99) at harbor freight working great and quiet to boot.

[mrsn]

Absolutely, Move the saw to the basement. My husband moved most of my shop into our basement a few years ago, and I will never go back outside. My table saw and miter saw are still out in the garage.
I don't have a dust collection system (yet, it is on my christmas list) I have a shop vac that I hook up to my saw. I don't always run it (I probably should) but running it every now and then for clean up works well.
I have 2 scroll saws, drill press, spindle sander, belt/disc sander and band saw in my little shop. The sanders make way more mess then the scroll saw.

Try it in the basement, you will love it. My favorite part is that it is so easy to scroll for a little while. I can make a few cuts, then go make dinner, make a few cuts then do laundry, make a few cuts then do something else.

[Bill Wilson]

My shop is in my basement.  It's partitioned off from the rest of the basement, but I don't have a dust collector.  I use a shop vac to get as much as I can from various tools and I have a fan in the window with a furnace filter over it to help draw fumes & fine dust out of the air.  It's all pretty ineffective, but the scroll saw is probably the least serious offender when it comes to dust generating tools in my shop.

The one thing about a scroll saw, is that most of the dust stays localized within the footprint of the saw (and on the user  ), as opposed to other woodworking tools, such as a table saw or radial arm saw, or even a router. Without the benefit of dust collection, these will spew the fine dust into the air and chips all over the place, making cleanup much more difficult and fine, airborne dust more of a health concern. There are some relatively simple ways to keep the dust at bay in a basement shop.   I wear a dust mask and also wear  hospital scrubs over my clothes, so that I can just pull them off before going upstairs. 

If all you are using in the basement is the scroll saw, keep a broom and your shop vac handy and the dust problem shouldn't be too bad, comparatively speaking. 

[Graywolf]

Thanks a lot folks. I am worried about the dust, but my wet/dry vac is already their. So tommorowe she goes to the basement.

 

[tux_linux]

My wood shop is also in the basement. It's currently not separated, but as Bill already said, most dust stays around the corner the saw is located in. I also use a shop vac.

Please consider paper bags to collect the wood dust in the vac - the big filter is otherwise not living long.
Check ebay, I have made a great deal there for a 50 bag pack. I can vacuum with them until they are really full - completely full!!

[Dan26]

My saw is in the basement. I have a 20" box fan with a furnace filter strapped to it sitting about 8" to the right of my saw. The blower on my scroll saw blows in the direction of the fan. When the fan is on, it picks up about 90% of the dust. I also hung a shower curtain around where I saw to partition the basement a little. Seems to work well.

[wombatie]

Oh, you are making me sooooooo jealous, I wish we had basements over here, I would absolutely love it.

Marg

[Marcellarius]

two years ago we build a basement under our house just to get room for a workshop.
its so great working there. 
I have a special "inside filled/sound resistant" door with a special fall mechanism at the bottom that closes and seals the door so the rest of the basement/house is dust free.
I also have a band saw, table saw  in the basement. (and of course my scroll saw.)
most dust from the scrollsaw I clean with the shop vac. no problem there.
only when I use the belt sander or the table saw that's when the dust gets all over the place, even with the shop vac attached to the sander...

my "aka" Marcellarius comes from the Latin word cellarium for a basement.
the Cellarius was the master of the cellar....

[BilltheDiver]

Where we live a basement is called an indoor swimming pool!  I hit water at about 14 feet for my irrigation system.  Somehow I don't think it would be conducive to a shop

[yyyyyguy]

I live in S. Wi and I moved mine to basement last year and left it there through summer, it's warm in winter - cooler in summer, just put a good furnace filter on an old box fan and it really keeps the dust down!

[Judy Hunter]

I have a room in my house that used to be my creating jesters and painting studio.  I have turned it into my wood shop.  I have the 20" fan with the furnace filter and a NEW GREAT shop vac that turns on witht the foot pedel of my saw.  Yes there is a little dust but there was before I started sawing in there too. I can ignore a small amount of dust.  I like to be able to see where I have cleaned and dusted 

[Keefie]

In answer to BilltheDiver, thats what a treadle fretsaw and a snorkel were invented for, see, there is a way round most problems 

[Graywolf]

Thanks everyone for the advise. I moved the saw to the basement yesterday. The dust was very low, then I was wondering about the noise. My wife came down and said she didn't know I was running the saw until she came into the kitchen to make coffee (love coffee). This was great as she has great hearing. I am going to leave the Scroll Saw in the basement all the time. The table saw and sanders will stay in the garage.

Now I can cut all the time. I cut out a Tribet (wrong word, it's to hold a hot pan or dish) for my daghter. I have to be careful when I make something for her. She has a degree in fine art, so she really looks at my projects  . Her and our oldest son built he a deck this summer out of ceder and she gave me all the scraps, and told me I had to make her one of these. I have to sand it down and finish it today. I will post pitchures when I finish it.

Again thanks for all the advise.

Gary

[BilltheDiver]

Keefie, I guess I could break out my old scuba gear, but scrolling could get a little cumbersome under water.