Sometimes I have to make a lot of dust in finished spaces — cutting tile in a kitchen, for example. In these situations, I control dust with a dust-isolation/work chamber made from a translucent-plastic storage box.
I cut the bottom off the storage container and then use duct tape to secure a sweatshirt over the opening. The arms of the sweatshirt are the openings for my hands to reach the tools I need. Tools and a worklight pass through the neck opening, which then is clamped shut around the power cords. A hole in the box side accepts the nozzle of my shop vacuum. To keep dust from leaking out around the edges of the box, I affix strips of stick-on foam weatherstripping to the lip of the container.
In use, I turn on the tool and the vacuum, and look through the translucent sides of the container to chart my progress. Be sure to empty the vacuum of any potentially flammable contents, such as sawdust, before trying this operation.
—Don Mathis, via email, None
Edited and illustrated by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #170