Guide
The best dust collection setup for a small workshop
Dust collection is the part of the workshop most people put off — and the part they most regret skipping. Fine dust is both a health hazard and a nuisance, and in a small shop it has nowhere to go. The good news is you do not need a commercial-scale system to get a real improvement. You need the right size of extractor, sensible hose runs, and connections that you will actually use.
Start with the extractor, not the hose
For a one-person workshop running one machine at a time, a 4" (100 mm) dust extractor or a good shop vacuum with a cyclone separator covers most tools — table saw, bandsaw, router table, thicknesser and sanders. The key number is airflow (measured in m³/h or CFM): more airflow moves more dust, but only if your hose run does not strangle it.
Keep the extractor central if you can, so no single hose run is too long. Every metre of hose and every tight bend costs you suction.
Keep hose runs short and smooth
The enemies of suction are length, kinks and leaks. Use the shortest practical run to each machine, avoid sharp bends, and seal every joint. A short flexible section at the machine end takes up slack and lets you position the hood without crimping the main hose.
This is also where most small shops lose time: dragging one hose between machines and wrestling stiff cuffs every time. That friction is why dust collection gets skipped mid-job.
Make connections tool-free
The single biggest quality-of-life upgrade in a one-hose shop is making connections instant. Magnetic couplers like the ToolShark MAGNETITE system let you snap a 4" hose onto a machine port and pull it off one-handed — no threads, no clamps, no fighting a rubber cuff behind a machine you cannot reach.
When moving the hose from saw to bandsaw to router table takes one second instead of one minute, you actually do it every time. That, more than any single component, is what keeps a small workshop clean.
A simple starting kit
A workable small-shop setup is: a 4" extractor or vac-plus-cyclone, a main hose, magnetic quick connectors on your two or three most-used machines, and a short flexible hose section to take up slack. Add a blast gate or two if you ever run more than one machine off the same trunk.
Build it up over time. The point is a system you will use without thinking — clean air is the result of low friction, not just high suction.
