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DIY: PCShutters Home Renovation Projects

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  • Dec 9th, 2023 1:48 pm
Sr. Member
Feb 26, 2019
626 posts
739 upvotes
Ottawa
Filling cabinets with stuff...did we miss a milestone? Does this mean you have now been able to move into the house?
Deal Addict
Sep 5, 2011
1265 posts
2315 upvotes
Toronto
exrcoupe wrote: I'm constantly amazed at how you keep your shop so clean?!?! There's not a speck of sawdust anywhere!!!
I always try to collect the sawdust at the source. Whatever doesn’t get collected by my dust collector gets picked up by my dust extractors and air cleaner immediately so I don’t drag it all over the shop. A few seconds here and there eliminate the need to do total shop clean up at the end of the day.
Deal Addict
Sep 5, 2011
1265 posts
2315 upvotes
Toronto
Jerico wrote: Thats a real thing. My first house I bought a small dedicated dust collector and piped the entire place. It was amazing. The only time I made dust was when drilling in the middle of the floor. Everything had its own dedicated hookup and gate.
Have never been able to 100% duplicate that since
Dedicated hookup and gates cost a lot of money and space. Especially when I try to run 6” pipe everywhere. Totally worth it but I can’t deny that is not always feasible for a hobby shop.
Deal Addict
Sep 5, 2011
1265 posts
2315 upvotes
Toronto
dottawat wrote: Filling cabinets with stuff...did we miss a milestone? Does this mean you have now been able to move into the house?
LOL. Yes. We officially moved in back in October 2020. That was when I tried to put up dust barrier everywhere and slowly opening up one room at a time.
Deal Guru
Jan 25, 2007
12695 posts
7861 upvotes
Paris
PCShutters wrote: Dedicated hookup and gates cost a lot of money and space. Especially when I try to run 6” pipe everywhere. Totally worth it but I can’t deny that is not always feasible for a hobby shop.
I have all the gates and pipes and adapters and and and, just been in a garage ever since we moved. Next house will have a dedicated basement or outbuilding. Ideally, I want to build and put a basement in the garage for a shop.
Sr. Member
Feb 26, 2019
626 posts
739 upvotes
Ottawa
PCShutters wrote: LOL. Yes. We officially moved in back in October 2020. That was when I tried to put up dust barrier everywhere and slowly opening up one room at a time.
Congrats!
Deal Expert
May 30, 2005
49009 posts
10302 upvotes
Richmond Hill
Jerico wrote: Thats a real thing. My first house I bought a small dedicated dust collector and piped the entire place. It was amazing. The only time I made dust was when drilling in the middle of the floor. Everything had its own dedicated hookup and gate.
Have never been able to 100% duplicate that since
I'm guessing also you did not have a router in your first shop :lol:
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Deal Addict
Sep 5, 2011
1265 posts
2315 upvotes
Toronto
Jerico wrote: I have all the gates and pipes and adapters and and and, just been in a garage ever since we moved. Next house will have a dedicated basement or outbuilding. Ideally, I want to build and put a basement in the garage for a shop.
If I am not living in the city, I would definitely build by own workshop in the backyard. I know a guy in Little Britian, Ontario built a 4000sqft steel pole barn in his backyard for only $120K. He has in floor heat and huge windows all around.... One can only dream.
Deal Addict
Sep 5, 2011
1265 posts
2315 upvotes
Toronto
dottawat wrote: Congrats!
Thank you! I have to make a lot of compromises to make it work but totally worth it. Takes a lot longer to build things because of the distractions and being mindful of the noise and dust.
Deal Addict
Sep 5, 2011
1265 posts
2315 upvotes
Toronto
Jon Lai wrote: I'm guessing also you did not have a router in your first shop :lol:
Router is not that bad in term of dust if you have proper dust extraction set up. Most of the routing I do, I can collect 99% of it at the source.
Deal Guru
Jan 25, 2007
12695 posts
7861 upvotes
Paris
Jon Lai wrote: I'm guessing also you did not have a router in your first shop :lol:
Router table 100%.

My newest router came with a dust shroud. Awkward to use but it does work. I cant find a good flexible hose that isnt Festool $500 expensive.
Deal Guru
Jan 25, 2007
12695 posts
7861 upvotes
Paris
PCShutters wrote: If I am not living in the city, I would definitely build by own workshop in the backyard. I know a guy in Little Britian, Ontario built a 4000sqft steel pole barn in his backyard for only $120K. He has in floor heat and huge windows all around.... One can only dream.
I was going to buy a 5 year old former model home on a double lot in 2012. It had room to make the attached 2 car garage into a 4 car garage, complete with basement. I talked to the town and figured I could make a 500 square foot garage without it looking goofy from the street. Budget was around $70k as it needed to match the existing house. Deal fell apart though. Too bad now, as that house without my addition has easily doubled in price.

Would have been ideal for my wife as she wants “street lights” but was still a double sized city lot. Not 4000 square, but with the basement (which was also to serve as storage) and the main floor only needing to hold a single motorcycle, it would have been sweet.
Deal Addict
Jun 26, 2019
2130 posts
1854 upvotes
GTA
PCShutters wrote: Router is not that bad in term of dust if you have proper dust extraction set up. Most of the routing I do, I can collect 99% of it at the source.
Jerico wrote: Router table 100%.

My newest router came with a dust shroud. Awkward to use but it does work. I cant find a good flexible hose that isnt Festool $500 expensive.
Router table and mitre saw are my main two offenders. My main mitre saw is usually the dewalt flexvolt one, and Ive tried a number of things but just given up. I think unless I heavily mod it, its dust collection will always be lacking. This said, a lot of times it gets set up outside or in a garage so it doesnt really matter. The makita cordless mitre saw is slightly better, but still, some dust will escape.

In terms of my router table, it just depends on the cuts. Any edge profiling or T&G/R&S on the edge will have good dust collection. I think the main offender is probably dados on the router table as it gets pushed through the dado all to the end. Funny enough, if I cut a dado with my handheld router, I can do that dust free. I could probably use the same method on my router table, but lowering a large piece of plywood onto a 3/4 bit a few inches from the end seems like more trouble that its worth to save 30 secs of vacumming.
Sr. Member
Oct 30, 2017
820 posts
608 upvotes
Toronto
PCShutters wrote: If I am not living in the city, I would definitely build by own workshop in the backyard. I know a guy in Little Britian, Ontario built a 4000sqft steel pole barn in his backyard for only $120K. He has in floor heat and huge windows all around.... One can only dream.
Did he do it himself or get someone else to build it for him?
Deal Guru
Jan 25, 2007
12695 posts
7861 upvotes
Paris
SubjectivelyObjective wrote: Router table and mitre saw are my main two offenders. My main mitre saw is usually the dewalt flexvolt one, and Ive tried a number of things but just given up. I think unless I heavily mod it, its dust collection will always be lacking. This said, a lot of times it gets set up outside or in a garage so it doesnt really matter. The makita cordless mitre saw is slightly better, but still, some dust will escape.

In terms of my router table, it just depends on the cuts. Any edge profiling or T&G/R&S on the edge will have good dust collection. I think the main offender is probably dados on the router table as it gets pushed through the dado all to the end. Funny enough, if I cut a dado with my handheld router, I can do that dust free. I could probably use the same method on my router table, but lowering a large piece of plywood onto a 3/4 bit a few inches from the end seems like more trouble that its worth to save 30 secs of vacumming.
Ive seen some interesting builds with mitre saws lately where they outline the thing in wood for 90 degree cuts. I was thinking of doing that and then putting the mitre saw on drawer slides so if I needed a 45 degree cut I could pull it free of the wood shroud. That only works for home setups, useless while mobile.

When i put my vacuum on my Dewalt 2004 12” slider, it does get about 60% but that remaining 40% gets literally everywhere. I got a 6” dust opening thing for my dust collector which raises it to 80%.
Deal Addict
Jun 26, 2019
2130 posts
1854 upvotes
GTA
Jerico wrote: Ive seen some interesting builds with mitre saws lately where they outline the thing in wood for 90 degree cuts. I was thinking of doing that and then putting the mitre saw on drawer slides so if I needed a 45 degree cut I could pull it free of the wood shroud. That only works for home setups, useless while mobile.

When i put my vacuum on my Dewalt 2004 12” slider, it does get about 60% but that remaining 40% gets literally everywhere. I got a 6” dust opening thing for my dust collector which raises it to 80%.
Yeah, Ive seen those two, based on my shop/needs I can't really make good use of it.

On the plus side, the Vac usually gets all the fines which means air quality is fine, but oh boy is there a lot of dust on the ground after a project.
Deal Addict
Sep 5, 2011
1265 posts
2315 upvotes
Toronto
SubjectivelyObjective wrote: Router table and mitre saw are my main two offenders. My main mitre saw is usually the dewalt flexvolt one, and Ive tried a number of things but just given up. I think unless I heavily mod it, its dust collection will always be lacking. This said, a lot of times it gets set up outside or in a garage so it doesnt really matter. The makita cordless mitre saw is slightly better, but still, some dust will escape.

In terms of my router table, it just depends on the cuts. Any edge profiling or T&G/R&S on the edge will have good dust collection. I think the main offender is probably dados on the router table as it gets pushed through the dado all to the end. Funny enough, if I cut a dado with my handheld router, I can do that dust free. I could probably use the same method on my router table, but lowering a large piece of plywood onto a 3/4 bit a few inches from the end seems like more trouble that its worth to save 30 secs of vacumming.

The mitre saw is difficult but the router table can be tamed. I am using the Incra Cleansweep with their optional inserts. They work really well. Even with dados.
Last edited by PCShutters on Feb 24th, 2021 1:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Deal Addict
Sep 5, 2011
1265 posts
2315 upvotes
Toronto
MetalGear wrote: Did he do it himself or get someone else to build it for him?
He hired people for the foundation and did the rest himself. He had a lot of help from his family and friends who have bob cats and tractors etc. He has 25ft ceiling...
Sr. Member
Oct 30, 2017
820 posts
608 upvotes
Toronto
PCShutters wrote: He hired people for the foundation and did the rest himself. He had a lot of help from his family and friends who have bob cats and tractors etc. He has 25ft ceiling...
I think saying things such as being able to build that structure for 120k is a little misleading. This is assuming that you get most of the labour for free, which isn't the case for most people.
Deal Expert
May 30, 2005
49009 posts
10302 upvotes
Richmond Hill
MetalGear wrote: I think saying things such as being able to build that structure for 120k is a little misleading. This is assuming that you get most of the labour for free, which isn't the case for most people.
It wouldn't be that much labour if it wasn't 25ft ceiling :lol:

Most people don't need a "4000sqft steel pole barn" anyway, or even have space in their yard for one. I'd be happy with a 5-600 sqft, and I'm sure you can get that done for 5 figs.
Tons of things for sale!
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