Lathe Dust Hood

I have read all of the reviews given so far about this dust hood and to be honest I am disappointed in the people who actually wrote the bad ones. Yes this dust hood does not include instructions in the box. However I am truly surprised at those who made a big deal about it and gave a bad review based on that alone. It's a simple dust hood after all how instructions should you need for it really. That's like asking for instructions on how to open a door that might be different slightly from the ones you might have opened before. This is a simple dust hood that is made by Rockler. This is not an aftermarket dust hood. I say that because if it was then it would have been designed for and by a specific company to fit specific Lathes. That's what Aftermarket means after all. This is a simple device. For those that might need some type of instruction then here are some.
You will see that in the box should include: 1 Dust hood, 1 clear lens, 2 bolts, 2 wing nuts, 2 black plastic hinge pins, 1 L shaped bracket. One possible way for assembly is. Place the 2 Bolts into the Dust hood square holes that are located at the bottom of the Dust hood. Then place the included short side of the L-Bracket against the bottom of the Dust hood allowing the bolts previously mentioned to pass through each of the slots in the bracket. While holding the bracket place. Install the wing nuts onto each of the bolts that are protruding from the Dust hood and through the L-bracket. At this time you can now install the clear plastic lid. While holding the lid into position over the opening of the Dust hood and with tabs extending over each side of the opening. Align the hinges at the top and insert from outside going inward install on each side the Black plastic hinge pins. This completes assembly of the Dust hood.
I mount mine in Two different ways according to what I am turning. When turning small items like pens or ornaments I place my Banjo at about 45 degrees so I can put the Dust hood very close to the item I am turning. With the Banjo turned on my Mini-Lathe it gives enough room for me to mount the Dust hood bracket directly against the Lathe body. I then use Two spring hand clamps to hold the Dust hood in position. I don't have very much vibration with my Lathe so spring clamps are strong enough. If you have vibration I would suggest using C-Clamps to hold it in place.
My second method of using the Dust hood. I built a small upside down T shaped jig. I used a scrap of 1x10x18 inch as a base. Then I centered a piece of 1x4x10 inch vertical to the base. I also used a 1x4x4 inch piece cut in half diagonally to use as support on the back side of the vertical board. I also used Two insert nuts that were aligned with the L-Bracket to the vertical board. I then use Two small knob bolts in the bracket to adjust the height on the Dust hood. I have found that this type of mount makes the Dust hood very versatile in turning large items on both my Mini-Lathe and my full size Lathe.
As for the use of this or pretty much any Dust hood on turning bowls should be pretty obvious really. But I guess with some it isn't. Most turned bowls are either the same size or bigger than this Dust hood. The surface area capacity for suction will almost always need to be less than the opening for your suction device.
Also one more thing if dust starts to hinder the ability to see through the clear plastic lid just lightly wipe both sides with a drier sheet. That will change the polarity of the surface of the plastic lid to repel instead of attracting the dust.
I absolutely love this Dust hood. It doesn't catch every bit of the chips but no Dust hood will. It does it's job like a champ collecting the Dust.

I removed the flip up shield completely, and removed the clamp assembly and replaced it with a BIG magnet. This gave me the ability to position the hood exactly where I want it and move it quickly and easily when turning long stock. It gets most of the chips and all of the dust.

Lathing cause lots of debris flying around, and this eliminates most of it. I use mine for mostly pen making. The flip up shield deflect is great when using chisels, but flips nicely out of the way when doing finer sanding.

I mounted mine on the banjo using aftermarket U bolt and extra plating (the L bracket it comes with was not used). In fact being on the banjo allows dust collection to travel along with my work with the tool rest. This was a big advantage with the way I mounted it.

I have owned two of these and they work very well for small spindle style turnings. The flip shield keeps shavings from flying into my body/face and helps to redirect the shavings into the airflow. Mounting is easy by using 4 3/4 rare earth magnets. Allows me to move it easily, but holds very firmly. My only complaint is with the long term quality. The reason I have owned 2, and will need to get a third soon, is because it tends to break where the mounting bracket meets the plastic hood part after 6 months or so.

I found this dust hood to work very well for pen turning and spindle turning. It focuses the vacuum in a small area which picked up all the shavings & fine sanding dust. I use a C-Clamp myself and it does the job.

Many of the products that I have purchased from Rocker have had very good instalation options and/or instructions. This product did not include any instructions and as of yet found a good way to mount the shield. I am sure that once I figure it out it will be a neat additions to by collections of stuff.Editor's note: This hood mounts by clamping the bracket to the back of the lathe bed. It includes a mounting bracket to allow easy installation on to many different styles of lathe. Clamping can be done with an ordinary C-clamp.

Had to modify the mount somewhat t fit my lathe. But not a problem

Amazing results. Surprised at how efficient it sweeps away the shavings and sanding dust.
Lathe went from the messiest tool in the shop to about the cleanest.

It is fantastic when you're sanding a turning and when you are producing fine shavings while turning. Don't expect it to vacuum any coarse material. Even if you're using a large dust collector as I am, you'll still be sweeping or vacuuming up the floor. It is worth it to me to use it just to keep the sanding dust out of the air. Even though I use the Rockler Air Cleaner in my woodshop, using this helps too.

The dust hold works great and catches a large part of turnings chips and dust. The mounting bracket gets in the way when. turning small items due to the position of the tool rest mount. I believe it would work great if the clamp came over to the side of the dust hood.

Comes without mounting hardware. A couple of those "on/off" magnets (like the featherboards) would be nice, even though you would still need to devise the mount for your lathe.
Collects a lot of chip & dust, but hard to set so that it grabs the chips but doesn't impede your turning.

Great product. Used with my Shop Vac it solved my lathe sanding issue.
Richard

I have found that this dust collection hood works very well. It takes a little planning when setting it up for use like extending the tail stock support out to give more clearance for your tool rest and I use a flexible work light that can be placed low & to the rear to keep glare off of the clear fold down shield as seen in the photo. The dust collection is concentrated & works well. I made a wooden bracket that is easy to slide back & forth & more convienent to use on longer turnings.

Not as efficient as hoped.

I would not reccomend this product as after approx. 3 hrs. of turning time the unit was similar to viewing through smeared plexiglass. All depth perception for turning was lost and thus the advantage of using the hinged door in the down position is gone. The dust shield obstructs the rear of the tool post holder also and locking the tool post holder in an angle does get hindurous after several dozen times. My shield is off now and sitting on the shelf.

It didn't pick up the dust or chips as I thought it would. I have a large JET vacuum that is very powerful and It just didn't help much at all.

Not at all useful on a regular size lathe. No means of attaching or moving it along when the piece is larger then the very small area the hood covers.

Perhaps it is an unfair rating that I gave the dust hood since I turn mostly bowls rather than spindles but it does a very poor jpb of intercepting the shavings from bowl turning. It is just not large enough.

This may work for a very small project, but it is not adequate for most turning jobs. It is too small and the hinged lid is practically impossible to use while turning. I would not order it again.

It's just ok. The bracket doesn't work well with my Delta lathe where the sides of the bed angle away from the top of the bed. I had to bend the bracket and attach a stub to make it work.

Installation is a bit hinky, havng to drill holes in my lathe's base. Plus, length sizing is a bit restrictive. Good concept, needs some tweaking.

I have a large shop and get all my stuff at Rockler 'cause they have the best stuff for the best price. This hood is partly cloudy at best.

very disappointed in the quality of this item. Not what I am accustom to. Little to no instructions, small, flimsy, all and all, I would never recommend this item to anyone.

This product is only useful for small projects as mentioned in previous reviews and provides no methods or instructions for mounting to a lathe. Editor's note: This hood mounts by clamping the bracket to the back of the lathe bed. It includes a mounting bracket to allow easy installation on to many different styles of lathe. Clamping can be done with an ordinary C-clamp.

I rate it as a 1 only because it is the lowest rating available. It might work making alterations  but I don't think one should have to make changes in any accessory sold as an after market gadget for that item.