A cyclone dust collector is great, but it can be noisy and it’s hard to tell when the dust bin is filled without lifting the lid. But if you overfill the system and clog the ductwork, it takes an inordinate amount of time to disassemble, clean, and then reassemble the system. I solved both of those issues when I designed my new shop.

I built a special closet for the dust collector that deadens the sounds via noise-reducing insulation in the walls (www.soundprooffoam.com). I also added an incandescent light fixture behind the hose that connects the dust bucket to the cyclone unit. The light makes it easy to see when the dust bucket is getting filled. The light switch is right next to the dust-collector switch on the outside wall of the closet. This technique has worked very well, and I have not had an overfill problem in my new shop.

Drawings by Jim Richey

Drawings by Jim Richey

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