advice on my new buy please

[katellwood]

Just been down to Axminster, Sittingboure and discovered they have a large additional showroom full of Managers Specials (lots of bargains to be had)

Brough one of these for £160

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp? ... e=1&jump=0

and apart from two 6mm nuts missing cannot find any other faults

Its circulation capacity according to Axminsters specs is approx twice the size for my workshop (300m3 machine capacity, 140m3 my workshop volume)

What I am asking is:-

1, Are they a good bit of kit and effective in minimising dust

2, Whats the best position to site the unit to be most effective

any advice would be greatfully received

 

[big soft moose]

ive got one of those (drive by gloat - i paid 90 quid second hand off someone on here) and , a) yes they are a good bit of kit , and b) ceiling hung in the centre of the shop

that said i would suggest that they are not a total solution and you should still also use an extractor to collect as much dust at source as possible , and use lung protection to stop you breathing it in before it reaches the filter.

incidentally you are pretty much bound to mislay the remote control , so ive epoxied a magnet to the back of mine , and i can now attach it to the bandsaw, tablesaw, lathe or whatever i am using so that it is close to hand - or to the air filter itself when not in use

 

[superunknown]

A good buy, I saw that in there when I was there.

 

[wizer]

Yep it'd been there a while. I personally am dubious about their effectiveness. Especially for use whilst working. Good for clearing the air when not actually in the workshop. But if they are circulating air around the workshop to clean it, then surely the air has to go through you first? If\when I buy one, it'll be a small portable one to be sited next to whatever is creating the dust.

 

[big soft moose]

Yep it'd been there a while. I personally am dubious about their effectiveness. Especially for use whilst working. Good for clearing the air when not actually in the workshop. But if they are circulating air around the workshop to clean it, then surely the air has to go through you first? If\when I buy one, it'll be a small portable one to be sited next to whatever is creating the dust.

spot on - they arent there to stop your breathing dung in, their purpose is to clean the air and stop a potentially explosive/fire hazardous dust build up on all the nooks and crannies , and to ensure the air in the shop is clean when you, or swimbo, pop back in later to grab x, y, or z - which is why i say that they are part of the solution , and need to be teamed with an efective DE and a dust mask

 

[katellwood]

All

Thanks for the replies

One further thing, will it keep my shop cleaner

 

[big soft moose]

yes

but you need to remember to vacuum off the exterior of the filter on a regular basis to stop it getting caked

 

[wizer]

I think a better answer is: Maybe. Depending on how good the rest of your extraction is, the size, shape and layout of your workshop. I seriously doubt an air cleaner will help in my workshop until I can get the extraction sorted. Even then, because I turn, it's never going to be as clean as I'd like it.

 

[Doug B]

Having recently seen a couple of these in work shops, I`m surprised how effective they are, they do remove a lot of air bourn dust. Which can only be good news for workshop inhabitants.

Though the prices do seem high for what you get, to this end i`ve managed to source FOC most of the bits to make my own, just need a bit of time now.

 

[big soft moose]

I think a better answer is: Maybe. Depending on how good the rest of your extraction is, the size, shape and layout of your workshop. I seriously doubt an air cleaner will help in my workshop until I can get the extraction sorted. Even then, because I turn, it's never going to be as clean as I'd like it.

well kinda - i mean yes you are right that the cleanliness of your shop is going to depend on the factors you mention

but whatever set up you have the shop will be cleaner (if not necessarily clean) with an air filter running than it would be without it because there will be less accumulation of dust on walls, ceiling, high shelves etc

that said i agree its not going to be clean unless you run decent DE as well

 

[devonwoody]

I have got one, and I take out the filters to clean, and they need cleaning!

So they must work.