How To Make a Portable Downdraft Box Sanding Station, Easy and Cheap Project

Hi there and thankyou for watching Adi's Little Shedshop, here in this video I decided it was time I made myself a "DOWNDRAFT BOX" and as it was for me I thought I might as well make it "PORTABLE" in size. It's an easy make for any stage of woodworker, beginner or pro, also I think a vital piece of equipment especially if you only have "Shop Vac" and not an actual dust removal system in place, (which I am hoping for). Anyway all you need is a scrap piece of plywood, whatever size you have available will do and some 3x2 timber, I had some CLS 3x2 stud lengths kicking about, so I used them. When it comes to the top it depends on what you have available to use or what you want to use. I had some 3mm Hardboard which Mrs Shedshop had found in the scraps bin in my favourite toyshop (B&Q), although after making it I did realise I had some spare sheets of Perspex in the corner of the shed and it might work quite well because it's see-through, maybe I'll do that when I replace the Hardboard top. The hardest part of this build was marking out the grid for the top, then after drilling the holes with a 2mm drill bit realising it needed not only more holes but they also had to be much bigger and this is when I thought of the step drill bit (normally for drilling metal), as long as I didn't put too much pressure I knew I wouldn't punch through. I glued and screwed the frame together as it helps keep the box from leaking air as well as gluing and screwing the base on too also for the same reason, the grid top though I left removable just incase it needed to be taken off or replaced.
On one end you definitely want a large enough hole for the suction device to be attached to, I used a combination of Forstner Bits and a rather large Step drill bit to get the hole to the right size before slotting in the vacuum adapter/reducer and using UHU Glue to keep it there as its quite flexible.
What I have found quite cool about this design is if you need to increase vacuum pressure, just decrease the surface area of the top by covering part of it and job done. All tools used are listed below:
www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-ei...
www.amazon.co.uk/stores/page/...
www.amazon.co.uk/RDGTOOLS-Tit...
www.amazon.co.uk/UHU-purpose-...
www.rutlands.com/products/for...
www.amazon.co.uk/acdokuk-univ...
www.amazon.co.uk/BLACK-DECKER...
www.diy.com/departments/red-c...
Thankyou for watching and please leave a comment or ask any questions I will always try to answer, check out my other videos for more interesting makes.

[@seamoon6716]

That's such a cool video, hadn't thought of a down draught box... GREAT cheaper way of keeping the saw dust out of the air...

[@adislittleshedshop]

Thankyou for watching Adi's Little Shedshop, I'm glad you enjoyed the video, it really is a cheaper way of keeping down the sawdust in the air and less mess for clean up

[@lesliecrowther7004]

There you go jobs a good'n.
You could try using cycle inertube section to plug the extraction pipe in ? the rubber should hold tight, save glueing in and having to chuck it away at a later date?
Good to see Glamorous assistant contributing to the process and she made coffee ☕️ too 😀, O'h boy you got a good'n there.

[@adislittleshedshop]

Never thought about using innertube for the shop vac connection, I like that, might have to give it a go next time, thankyou