How fed up are you with hearing about dust?

[sammyinnit]

Hello All,

Firstly, I'm new as you may notice so let me apologise if I've posted this somewhere I shouldn't have or if there are any stickies I've missed regarding this topic.

I'm having a problem with dust, well, I will be having more of a problem with dust, if you like.

I've always dabbled in woodwork, it's not my profession, it's a hobby I enjoy and have done for a while, so recently I decided to buy myself a table saw. I have a shop vac that seems to cope quite well with it besides being tiresome constantly emptying it and knocking the filter out, I can cope with that.

I decided to build a 'thien baffle' seperator, which works quite well with the vacuum, only passing really fine MDF dust through to the filter in the vacuum. I then decided to try and use it with a centrifugal fan, which would be a bit better suited down the line, as I'm picking up a planer thicknesser tomorrow night.

I work in ventilation, so every now and then on jobs there are fans that end up surplus or redundant so I take them home, save skipping them, I had one which has been in the shed years which I thought might be fit for purpose. Swapped the 3ph motor for a 1ph 2780rpm no-load motor. The fan itself is a 200dia inlet, runs optimal under load when reduced down to 125mm. I'd imagine it probably moves in the area of about 1800~2000m3/h.

Well along with this seperator I made, rather than seperate, the draw from the fan is so great that I'd say the majority just goes right into the fan inlet rather than 'settles' through the baffle.

My question being, do I need to build a baffle(housing) of a larger diameter and deeper body (probably currently about 350dia x 150mm) or would a 'cyclone' be more suited to this purpose?

I'm not sure how a vacuum would cope with a thicknesser so I thought I'd best consider an alternative. Buying a proper job setup isn't out of the question but I thought if I can save myself a few quid using old bits from work, why not.

Cheers

 

[n0legs]

I'm not fed up at all.
I have reasons for my fascination with it and for making sure I'm not working in clouds of it.

Do all you can to reduce your exposure to dust, any effort you make in dealing with it will be to your benefit

 

[BearTricks]

You can get some very good dust masks for relatively little money now too.

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

 

[Alexam]

Filtering the very fine dust is essential. The dust you cannot see does the most damage and can be a real health hazard. Make sure you are not only 'moving' the dust you can see, but 'filtering' the dust you breath and always wear a suitable mask.

Alex

 

[stuartpaul]

....... I'm not sure how a vacuum would cope with a thicknesser so I thought I'd best consider an alternative. Buying a proper job setup isn't out of the question but I thought if I can save myself a few quid using old bits from work, why not.

Cheers

Sammy, - it won't so I'd suggest not even trying.

A thicknesser will produce a lot of shavings rather than dust and these shavings will overwhelm a vacuum in seconds. I use one of the bigger 'bin type' extractors with a 100mm hose.

I know zilch about separators, cyclones etc. but there are plenty on here that do. Also some useful youtube vids if you look.

 

[sammyinnit]

Thanks all.

I do wear a P3 respirator at all times when working around wood.

As for the seperator I think I might have another go at making a thien baffle seperator with a bigger receptical and a larger overall diameter and depth. Since having a planer and using it only to 'true up' the knives and beds and planing down two pieces of softwood, the shavings were overwhelming and I have a day off work tomorrow; might have a bit of time to have a go; although I do have a couple of other projects I need to work on.

Filtering the finer dust seems to be the biggest issue so I can only imagine a proper filter after the discharge of a blower is warranted cost.

 

[Bluekingfisher]

As previously mentioned a vacum cleaner is not the tool for your needs. It will at best remove most or some of the dust from a hand held power tool such as sanders etc. Your vac will not handle the saw dust from your TS and especially the TP, which is about the biggest producer of chips (not dust) in your shop.

A seperator will work if you have the proper and powerful enough extractor, which can of course be expensive.

A couple of ways you could do it are as follows-

Buy a small dedicated extractor of around 1 HP http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-ho ... tor-501262

link it to your machine. Such machines will really only service one chip producing machine at a time. Moving it to the next machine as you use it can be a bind. To help with the micro dust which cannot be seen a filter such as this is a must

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Microclene-Mc ... Swp5JWWyMD

The next step up is an extractor which will handle two or more machines (providing you have blast gates to manage air flow and size of motor) such as this http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-ho ... eal-717698

All of this depends on many factors, space to site the extractor, likelihood of introducing static ducting (hoses will work but they increase air flow resistance therefore lower the "suck" capabilities).

You can go as far as you like depending on budget, space and number of machines to service. Some larger machines 3HP for example may require 16A supply, also a consideration. You might get away with a 2HP extractor on a 13A supply (other factors are relevant)

In any case I would suggest you have a microlene (or any air filter) to draw out micro dust no matter what system you utilise.

It may not be a cheap set up but lungs cannot readily be replaced. Should you have issue with the cost or space then perhaps hand tool working may be more enjoyable at this time/ Just a thought

David