Chris Grace builds a screen and blind to protect his tools from shavings and dust.

I can’t count the number of times I have had to clean up the mess on the shelves behind my lathe. In between, every time I pick something off them to use, I have to shake off the shavings and blow off the dust. Not exactly good for a healthy working environment, especially as I have athsma. I have made progress in reducing dust in my workshop recently with a new extractor and better ducting, now my attention has turned to the biggest dust/shavings trap behind my lathe.
The solution suggested by a friend was a roller blind, however there were some installation challenges posed by no suitable hanging point and an up-and-over garage door. The solution was some more shelves – you can never have too much storage in a workshop, and this provided the perfect mounting point for my roller blind. I chose a light grey, as it would make a good background for me to use to see my woodturning against, instead of the previously cluttered background, and as an added bonus it would make a perfect photographic backdrop for when I need to take pictures to illustrate articles. An all-round solution! I created a scale drawing to determine how many shelves I could accommodate in the available space, allowing for the garage door opening, and to determine how much timber I needed.
Information and planes
Tools required
- Chopsaw
- Bandsaw
- Drill
- Screwdriver
- Wood
- Masonry drill bits
Materials
- 18mm MDF shelves 80mm, 380 x 2348 x 200mm
- CLS – (Canadian Lumber Standard) or other suitable timber
- Framing
- 8mm dowels
- Screws and wall plugs



But a chopsaw in conjunction with a depth stop could be used for this process too. In this instance, I chose to use glue and screw to fix the uprights to the horizontal support section and once dry, used dowels to lock the MDF shelving to the supports – but you could use screws. If you use dowels, make a small jig from scraps of MDF to ensure you accurately drill into the middle of your uprights. The shelves can be created from many materials, but MDF – 19mm in this case – is inexpensive and suited my needs well. Build the shelves up alternating the frame pieces, and MDF shelves, using dowels to interlock them, screw the frame to the wall every couple of levels

