I found an inexpensive way to reduce the dust in my shop using a $20 box fan outfitted with a $5 furnace filter. Affixing the filter to the intake side of the fan using duct tape creates a sort of cheap ambient air cleaner that I can place at my sanding station, table saw, or wherever. It’s best to place the unit in an open window, but at least avoid aiming it toward walls, which stirs up latent dust. No, it’s not as effective as a commercial unit, and I still wear a dust mask since the filter only captures large particles. However it sure does prevent working in a cloud of dust. And at $25 a pop, I can afford to put a few of them in convenient locations around the shop.
—Jesse Hodgman Los Angeles, California
