Dust Collection System for Proxxon Mini Drill

I wish I had a separate, proper workshop. But I only have my room, which serves as my electronics lab, workshop, and nerd cave in general. I don't have space for a proper milling machine, let alone a lathe, so I make do with a Proxxon mini drill setup comprising a mini drill, a modified drill stand, a compound table, and various bits and pieces. Since it resides in my room where I do all kinds of other stuff as well, I needed some way to keep dust from billowing all over the place. Anything involving wood, for example, would produce an infinite amount of fine wood dust, hanging around in the air until it coats every surface in my room. Cleaning up around my multitude of electronic equipment and books and stuff would be a total pain! An even greater pain would be having shards and needles of fiberglass or carbon fiber all over the floor, ergo in the soles of my feet as well! So I've built myself a dust collection system to use while milling and grinding. Two alternative versions, in fact. The most important component in it is a dirt cheap, second-hand, common domestic vacuum cleaner. All the rest is just plywood and plumbing supplies, dirt cheap as well.

	This is the bigger, totally overboard version of the dust collection system. The box is built of plywood, and has a sheet of rubber at the bottom to keep the drill stand from moving around too much. Around the top edges there's a ring of 32 mm plastic sewer pipe and push-fit 90° elbow fittings. Suitably large holes are drilled on the sides of the pipe, facing inwards. A T-joint at the back protrudes outside the box. That's where the vacuum hose connects. I think the photo should say it all. This is great for milling or grinding wood, for example, which billows dust every which way. The box prevents heavier dust from escaping, and the vacuum system gets rid of airborne dust quite nicely. It can also be used when hand-holding the drill. Only sometimes it's just a bit cramped to work inside the confines of the box, but that's the price I have to pay for cleanliness. But when working with metal, which does not billow into the air quite as much, I can remove the sewer pipe ring (it's just friction-fit in place), giving myself a little bit more room. All metal the dust will stay in the box well enough, and can be vacuumed away later when I'm finished with it.
	But sometimes the box is just too cumbersome to work within. So I made another, alternative dust removal system out of plastic "accordion" hose. This stuff can be bent freely every which way, and it will (mostly) keep its shape and position quite well. I ordered a Global Truss 5036 32–35 mm half-coupler from Thomann, which I bolted to a hole I drilled in the base of the MB200 drill stand, near its back. With a lock nut and a spring washer, it's held in place sturdily, but can still be rotated as needed. The clamp holds a 32 mm × 45° sewer pipe elbow fitting, to which the "accordion" connects. I cut the "accordion" to a suitable length, and fitted the end with another 45° elbow—it's quite convenient for one thing (rotating it gives one more degree of freedom), and also without it, the thin-walled end of the accordion made a howl worse than a banshee when sucking air! See the photo here and photos from other directions here and here, for more details. They should suffice to explain everything. This is very convenient to use! I keep it attached to the drill stand practically all the time. If the rotary tool sprays its debris anywhere near the end of the suction hose, it is gone!
	The vacuum system is nothing more than an old, second-hand Volta U3201 vacuum cleaner with busted wheels, which I bought for next to nothing, cleaned up and replaced all the filters on. I made a shelf for it in the corner underneath my desk, and connected its electrical cord to a plug-in switch box on my desk. A flick of the switch turns it on and off as needed. The hose reaches up onto my desk through a slot I cut in the back. The same 32 mm sewer pipe fittings I've used elsewhere in the dust collection system are a perfect fit to the vacuum cleaner's hose (I cut off its original handle and fitting, of course)! I left a 45° elbow piece on its end, and removed the rather tight rubber gasket from inside it. Now it's a loose enough fit to just stick onto the corresponding fitting on the box or at the clamped end of the "accordion" hose. It stays in place well enough regardless, especially once the vacuum is on. The end of the vacuum hose can also be used as-is to suck up debris from inside the box, or from wherever else on my desk it has ended up. And the best thing is, it's always within reach! No need to go over to the broom closet to get our actual household vacuum cleaner for a quick clean-up. (Yes, I really am that lazy.)

A serious word of warning!