as usual jake we don't come from the same direction, but have the same basic view. none of the systems are perfect, and we should all try to achieve the best for our own circumstances.
let's look at what we do know.
1/ ALL dust is bad in certain accumulations
2/ all the processes we use produce some amounts of dust or chippings
3/ the best practice is to try and capture as much "waste" as possible at the place of production. whether by hand or machine work.
4/ recognise that hand work does produce less fine dust, but some of the "real woods" that we use produce dangerous by products.
5/ it is easy to get carried away by listening to the various panic pronouncements of various "so called" experts. the number of people who claim that mdf is banned in america is legion, yet every month the magazines suggest another use for it.
6/ we must laud mr pentz for bringing to the notice of every one that dust is dangerous, and that we should use our best endeavours to reduce it.
what we cannot do is take as holy writ the pronouncements of one lone voice who in recent times seems to have accepted more and more corporate sponsorship, such that his views seem less and less honest and more and more about protecting his perceived reputation.
7/ different machines need different throughput of air, and one size cannot fit all.
8/ very few machines have proper dust extraction built in. a couple that i know of that work very well are the surprising ones, many random orbit sanders, like my bosch 150, and the festo seem very effective, but most table saws, band saws and scms are blo*dy awful.
9/ take the table saw, you need one kind of air at the top of the fence, and another underneath and in the middle there is a strange vortex of air which really messes up air flow. so even in one machine it is not easy.
10/ any thing you do is better than nothing, and watching tommy walsh in the open using a stone grinder with no mask is not a relevant excuse.
11/ there are others in our lives, and they too may well be exposed to the effects of our dust production, so we need think about as much long term reduction as possible.
long winded again i know, but this subject really does get many people over the top. so we have to stand back and look more carefully at our approach and what we defend, even if the science is dubious.
a/ one size does not fit all
b/ to my understanding, almost all the filters on offer are inlet manifold filters not exhaust, and maybe the science is not all it could be there.
c/ by developing clean habits we can reduce the long term risks.
d/ we need to keep talking to each other in a polite and civil way even when we disagree.
e/ did i do the line typing right jake :lol: :twisted: :roll:
paul :wink:
Please do not think I am being difficult or confrontational here, but surely if you have had to add extra dust bins in to prevent the filter being clogged, that does seem to point to something being wrong somewhere with Bills calcs. I really am not trying to be difficult by saying that.
