How Your Dust Collector Works (2012)
finewoodworking.com
finewoodworking.com
12 years later I have my own little woodshop. But learning how to enjoy it has been a multi-year journey.
Everything from here on is just my opinion. I believe that in general, some people are more allergic to wood dust than other people. Some people seem to breathe in pine dust all year long and are fine. If I sniff a single crosscut of pine, I'll get stuffy and snotty for 3 days and I won't write code very well afterwards. So this has bit into my hobby, since I labor as someone who tries to write code.
I have a 2-stage cyclone dust collector. I won't shame any brands, but the popular model I have has a serous design defect and due to its short height, it doesn't reliably separate the dust from the air. I have played with it and found that adding a third stage, a passive cyclone from another vendor, catches almost all of the dust, maybe more than 99% of it. This effectively turned my 2-stage into a glorified blower, but I call it the "corrective lens of my personal Hubble".
Dust collection is about grabbing your dirty air before it pollutes your shop. Collecting chips (large pieces of wood) is nice, but the larger value is the dust - stuff that floats in the air for more than a few seconds (maybe upwards of a week). I was positive I could detect how dusty the air is with my super-bright LED lights, but this is false: after getting a few tools to measure the air, what I was sure was perfectly clean air, was still rife with dust. My LED test was invalid.
I have a 400 CFM air filter. A box hanging from chains that cleans the air. A little actual math revealed that I needed more like five of these units; I got them, and with the proper sizing, they actually work very well. These suck up all the dust that escapes the dust collector. I have read that they work better with time, forming cobwebs that increase the 'grabbiness' of the filter.
Inversely, the dust collector, which has a large cylinder shaped filter about the size of a person, needs to be pristinely clean to operate correctly. Once I cleaned mine for the first time, I more than doubled the suction at each connection. I ran my own HVAC network using cheap box store fittings, and so far it works fine. If I had more than a couple horsepower, it would collapse these cheap parts if I ever forget to leave a single connection open. I can say for sure that the 40 feet of pipe I have run has far too many leaks to collapse during a port mishap.
I learned about the Dylos air quality meters from the channel Mattias Wandel runs, along with many other ideas. With a device for measuring the air quality, a dust collector, air cleaners, and the ultimate luxury, a 3M PAPR (self contained air filtering with a helmet and a little belt pack), I have finally found one strategy for enjoying this hobby of mine. I will admit that figuring this out has been a huge part of the fun: hacking at how to keep my lungs and brain happier while turning wood into sawdust. I can't qualify beyond what I feel, that I feel fine, but that's good enough for me.
Science and engineering are often advanced by the experience, learning and innovation inspired by statistical outliers, https://billpentz.blogspot.com/2016/04/dust-collection-basic...
> the dust collector, which has a large cylinder shaped filter about the size of a person, needs to be pristinely clean to operate correctly.
Whoa, "size of a person"! Could you share make/model, or requirements which lead to this selection? Is this cleaned with a shop vac? Does the large size extend the interval between cleanings?
> I ran my own HVAC network using cheap box store fittings, and so far it works fine. If I had more than a couple horsepower, it would collapse these cheap parts if I ever forget to leave a single connection open. I can say for sure that the 40 feet of pipe I have run has far too many leaks to collapse during a port mishap.
More details on the fittings (e.g. duct diameter) and fans which enable such high static pressure? Did you consider inline duct fans, e.g. from Fantech, AC Infinity, TerraBloom?
You don't want to keep the PAPR on for the next 2 hours as you do planing and gluing work.
Power tools have motors and motors make sparks.
That’s the most important reason for dust collection.
The arguments for dust collection tend to be around human health and comfort.
Professional discussions with the fire marshal are about preventing explosions.
Your personal woodshop isn't going to have ten ten horsepower machines generating dust ten hours a day ten days in a row to get the big order out.
And a spray booth spraying the good stuff next door.
Ordinary amatuer experience is a consumerized version of industrial dust collection...the existence of the industrial dust systems is why consumer dust systems are practical.
The only reason I mention all that here is because intelligent people like yourself don't have exposure to the big picture and because sometimes they wind up involved with ten the horsepower machines running all at once.
What is the allowable amount of wood dust in the air before it's a fire risk? If this is actually a risk, and dust extraction is far from perfect in an industrial setting, why aren't we requiring explosionproof motors and light switches, as you would if you're in an environment with this kind of airborne hazard? Sealed motors are allowable in class 2, expected actually, and I don't see wood dust on any class 2 listing of hazards. Or are you proposing that industrial dust collection is perfect, and wood dust isn't being ejected into the air when you've got a good industrial system?
This just strains credulity, I've designed the electrical systems for class 1 and 2 locations, and wood dust at worst would be class 3. I think you're talking out of your depth.
If you have a properly size electric motor, with a sealed case, it’s not a problem in a wood dust environment. You’re still responsible for sweeping up the dust, to comply with fire codes for a bunch of other reasons.
https://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/all-codes-and-stand...
Among other requirements.
Good dust collection for home workshops is available because commercial systems are required.
I originally wrote "very good" or something but I thought that was too strong.
Even if you throw a Nomex suit into the equation.
As someone who is looking to buy a cyclone for his new thickness planner, your comment is kind of frustrating... what's the point of all this if you don't name the brand ?!
This may be true, but allergies aren't the reason that woodworkers should be careful about dust collection. The guy who breathes pine dust all year long might be "fine", in the same sense that you can smoke cigarettes all year long and be "fine". The risk here relates to the long term damage of depositing very small particles of wood in your lungs. I'm glad that your allergies are driving you to do this - I did a lot of woodworking for a few years before taking dust collection seriously, and I may regret that when I'm older.
Proxxon sells a small plastic cover (28946) for their Micromot rotary tools, https://proxxon-us-shop.com/products/protective-covers-for-h..., > For working safely with saw blades, cutting discs, milling bits, grinding tools, steel brushes and polishing tools. One each for diameters 22 (55/64") and 38mm (1 1/2").
It may be possible to mount a HEPA vacuum hose collector close to the dust source at the rotating attachment, as has been done with angle grinder dust shrouds, https://duckduckgo.com/?q=dust+shroud&iax=images&ia=images
Anyone who is interested in the subject of dust collectors is encouraged to check out his videos.
Not sure how practicable this is in very cold weather, but in Australia it works great.
Thien Separator (DIY), http://www.jpthien.com/cy.htm
Dustopper (COTS) patented clone of Thien Separator, https://www.homedepot.com/p/Dustopper-High-Efficiency-Cyclon...
Delmar "Shop Vac Dust Separator" (COTS) clone of Dustopper, https://www.amazon.com/Delmar-Tools-Separator-Engineered-Pef...
Dust Deputy (COTS), https://www.oneida-air.com/dust-deputy-deluxe-cyclone-separa...
Stone cutting is almost exclusively done with a wet grinding tool, and that is very effective at keeping dust down.
I know water damages wood, but by merely wetting the saw blade, and then immediately drying the cut wood afterwards, it would seem like a good way to keep workers safe (either instead of a dust extraction system, or in addition).
Trying to clump the dust with moisture would also probably jam your machines and break them.
Just leaving a newly flattend piece of wood in your kitchen overnight will twist or bow the wood. experienced wood workers know that you actually use correct measurements to "pull" the wood into being square, more than you rely on the wood being 100% flat or true.
We actually have perfectly good methods to work wood with extremely little dust.
Cabinet makers will sharpen their chisels to 16000 grit very easily and quickly by hand. The chisel cut is so smooth that almost no dust is produced.
A hand saw that is sharpened correctly can crosscut wood very efficiently if you have proper technique, which also produces less dust.
Using a properly sharpened hand plane is roughly the same concept as a chisel and produces almost no dust.
The reason we have to have dust collectors now, is because there simply isnt a better way to mass produce furniture, or for a hobbyist to crank out a dining table in a weekend.
The machines give you ridiculous speed and precision for little effort. The trade-off is they kick up a tremendous amount of dust, and currently there is no better way to reduce dust while keeping powertools.