My new basement shop’s been fully operational for some time, but a lot of things remain undone. I moved one of those items over to the “done” list this week.

It’s been a pain rolling my dust collector around to various tools since building my new shop, but it’s gotten the job done. But my intent – in fact, my entire framing design – involved hiding the collector in a closet. Well, a lot of other shop tasks have taken priority, but I finally found time to install ceiling ducts and roll the collector into its new home.

The final step was to make it all permanent with the addition of a pair of thick plywood doors. The doors block a tremendous amount of noise – when running you can easily hold a normal conversation – while gaps at top and bottom allow for unrestricted airflow. As a bonus, I designed the framing so that one of those ubiquitous steel columns is hidden in the closet.

When getting the collector several years ago, getting it off the shop floor has been a fantasy dream for me. It was never possible in my garage shop, but being able to design a workspace from the ground up in our new home made that fantasy a reality.