This works great - why didn't I think of it before?

[nospambob]

[LRod]

Why? Does she keep something less waterproof than tools in there? If it's a car, boot it out. Cars are waterproof, tools are not.

By the way, how much of all that dust and chips settled on the car that used to be in there? What did SWMBO have to say about that?

- - LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

[NoOne N Particular]

I have gone to Home Depot a couple of times and have been looking at leaf blowers for that very reason. Whay type of blower do you have, and do you have any of the numbers such as CFM, etc.?

Wayne

[JAW]

Yes, it is by far the fastest way to get rid of the dust. Sometimes it just blows up into the rafters though.

[Hoyt Weathers]

Wayne, I use my Toro 850 leaf blower quite often to blow out the dust, fiddly bits, and cobwebs from my shop. The info on the blower is: model #: 51575, and 12.0 amperes.

I bought it years ago based upon the reputation of Toro and the amperage draw. Of the blowers I was considering at that time, the Toro had the highest amperage draw. I suppose amperage relates to CFM, but that value is not on my blower. I would think that CFM values are not significant to leaf blowers - especially to the marketing thereof. In this application, I think CFM is not as significant as force. Maybe they are samo samo. I do not know. I do know that mine really torques over when the power hits it. That model of leaf blower may not be available now. I would recommend a Toro with a high amperage draw.

Hoyt W.

[mttt]

Did it for the second time myself this weekend. If I open the garage door, and then the access door, and if the wind is blowing just right, I can get it to blow right on out.

While it simply "redistributes" some dust, I find it pretty hand for cleaning out inaccessible crevices, and areas out of reach. The ceiling in my sho^H^H^Hgarage is high, the light fixtures are high, the shelves are high - the blower did a good job of "dusting".

[Stephen M]

Yup. I've done that, in a non-garage shop.

1. I vac up what I can.
2. I fire up the dust collector to do "some" filtration
3. Connect my shop vac in "blow mode"
4. Blow all the nooks and crannies (parts shelves, limber rack, track lights, basically everything that is impossible ot difficult to vaccume)
5. Let dust settle,rinse, repeat.

This is not my every-day cleanup ritual, but i fins it to be the best way to get rid of the file dust that inevitably gets everywhere.

[Dukester]

Try this all the time but all it seems to do is hide it in corners or on top of shelves. It's almost too high a velocity for this for blowing out the dust but I do it anyway thinking I'm "smart".

I like the one fellow's idea about taking all the tools out and rinsing down the inside periodically to get rid of the dust. Too bad mine gets this treatment whether I want it or not (always not) automatically every time it rains. :-(

-- Cheers! Duke

[Andy]

Been doing it that way for years!

[Leon]

I have done it with an electric and now I do it with a gas powered. The gas powered lets you blow a slower stream of air when you do not want to remove stuff that is suppose to stay in the shop.

[Lawrence L'Hote]

I have both an electric and a gas powered blower/vac. The gas powered one does a MUCH better job of blowing out the shop. I have to leave the door open a while to vent the fumes and, probably, should wear a dust mask. Also, I just turned the thing around and put on the vac bag and sucked up the little windrow of grass I left in the yard of that single, senior woman down the street whose lawn I mow. The poor thing feels obligated and hangs a bag of fruit on my door even though I told her it wasn't necessary.

Larry

[jo4hn]

Bill the Cat wanders into the shop now and again. He announces that it is time for me to rub his tummy by rolling around on the floor. When he has cleaned up about as much dust as I think he will endure, I rub his tummy. And then he goes back into the house. :-) mahalo, jo4hn

[DIYGUY]

As many of us in the wreck, I use the garage for my shop. It is a time-sharing garage to be precise, as most of the time it belongs to the SWMBO. Anyway, over the weekend I had my 'slot' available and was busy making sawdust. When it came time to clean up I was doing my usual sweep and vacuum routine when I had one of those inspiration things. I retrieved the electric leaf blower from the yard shed and blew everything right out the open garage door. Then I blew off all the tools. Sure there was a little dust in the air but I simply let it settle and went over it one more time. I could not believe how much of a job it did or how easy it was. Well, I suppose someone else posted this one in the past but I never caught it.

[J&KCopeland]

Been using this method for years.

Just some suggestions...

No cleaning without a good mask, ESPECIALLY if you been cutting either MDF or pressure treated wood. Coughing up MDF dust is NEVER pleasant, and "the big boys" tell me that PT sawdust is dangerous, if inhaled.

Build work benchs and cabinets with three or four inch legs. If, you reached the point where you can get a clear line of sight to the garage door, moving dust and dirt and sawdust is greatly enhanced. As you design, and re-design, and re-re-design your workshop, you'll learn to start designing to facilitate cleaning as well as organization.

After cleaning the workshop, ALWAYS inspect the driveway throughly for the nails and screws that you WILL find one way or the other. Locally, I'm up to $13.50 to get a nail hole patched.

I have an old box fan that I set in front of the garage door. I then lower the door to within two feet of the floor. By opening a window in the back of the garage, I can get a positive air flow going quite nicely. This also seems to help stop airborne particles from blowing back in the workshop.

BTW, on days when it's temporate, I simply screw a furnace filter on the backside of that fan and run it in the garage. (Yes, I have a Powercraft Dust Collection system, but the fan still helps keep the dust down.

My blower is a ultra-cheap "Champion" I bought at an auction about 20 years, ago. Of course, the only leaves it's every blown are the ones that blow into the garage.

You will be covered with dust. Learn to brush/blow the dust off yourself, otherwise SWMBO will be less than kind.

James....

[NoOne N Particular]

I was curious about the cfm because whenever I open my garage door . . .er. . .uh. . .SHOP door, there is a prevailing breeze that blows into the shop at about a 45 deg angle. It starts at about 12:00 or 1:00pm every day. In the spring and summer, this "Delta Breeze" as it is called keeps getting stronger until sunset, at which time it is up to about 20-25 mph. I could wait until just before sunset and then open the main door in front and the small door in the back. Whenever I do that though, I have to go in my back yard and pick up everything that has blown out of the gar. . .er. . .shop (and on some days that would probably include ME). All the wind that comes in the 16ft door in the front is really movin when it goes out the 32" door in the back. I forgot to prop the back door open one time (I use a splitting maul as a wedge), and the door slammed shut so hard that I thought the wall was going to come down. It put several cracks in the stucco on the outside of that wall. There is also the problem of picking up all the stuff that has blown off of the shelves that are between the two doors.

But, if I can wait until the next day and use a leaf blower to blast everything out the front while it is calmer outside, that would be great. I might still have a slight breeze to work against, so the quantity of air that a blower could produce would be a valuable piece of information. I was wondering about the cheap electric blower/suckers in the $50-$60 range, and if they would really have enough "oomph". Most of them will say something like "generates 200mph wind", but if that is all directed in a pencil beam it would be useless to clean the shop.

Wayne

[Scott Lurndal]

Cars are not UV-proof, however.

scott

[LRod]

How long are you going to keep your car? I've had my Explorer for almost 11 years (250K miles) and it's never been garaged. It has sat in the South Florida sun for five years (started out in Illinois) and still looks pretty darn good. But I'm going to get rid of it soon. I'll never get rid of my Unisaw. It belongs inside; the car stays outside.

- - LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

[loutent]

Try it for "snow blowing!" We quite a few brick paver walkways and when a light snow (not the heavy wet stuff) comes, I'm out there with my gas powered blower (Weed-Eater) from HD (around $100). 2 cycle. Been a great time (and back) saver for 3 or 4 years now.

Once you get one, you'll never do without it.

My opinion - stay away from the AC - not enough power!

Lou

[DIYGUY]

It's just a Toro garden variety electric blower I picked up on sale for the SWMBO who really wanted one for the driveway. It's electric and about the only drawback to it is that it blows a hurricane that cannot be regulated at all. I have a ShopVac that at one time could be used as a blower but I got tired of the deflector falling off and foolishly glued the darn thing in place thinking I would never need the blower . The comment about it blowing everything out the door is right on, so make sure your aim is good otherwise you will be chasing stuff down the street.

I also get a strong breeze out of the SW most days and can take advantage of it by opening the back door. It makes the garage/shop a lot cooler and does a good job of venting the dust out of the air. Only problem is that it doesn't work quite as nicely in the winter.

BTW - the garage became time-shar> I have gone to Home Depot a couple of times and have been looking at leaf

[Mike S.]

I use compressed air to clean the shop, I have a 5hp 30 gal. vertical compressor.