Dust Collection Systems

[Trent B]

Our schools wood shop has one of those massive ductwork systems.

However the metal shop uses a more simple system of using PVC pipe couplings to change the diameter of a shop vac fitting to the proper size to fit the collection fitting on the band saws, etc.

My family's personal miter saw has a little 2.5" diameter elbow pipe you put on the back of it and then attach a included bag to, with a pvc coupling (to change the diameter) you could probably hook up a shopvac and use that instead. Then you just have to train your students to be in the habit of turning them on.

Mitre and Table you may be able to have a shopvac attached to permanently, then have another sitting around for the drill press and circular saw.

[joek]

Originally Posted by Trent B

Our schools wood shop has one of those massive ductwork systems.

However the metal shop uses a more simple system of using PVC pipe couplings to change the diameter of a shop vac fitting to the proper size to fit the collection fitting on the band saws, etc.

My family's personal miter saw has a little 2.5" diameter elbow pipe you put on the back of it and then attach a included bag to, with a pvc coupling (to change the diameter) you could probably hook up a shopvac and use that instead. Then you just have to train your students to be in the habit of turning them on.

Mitre and Table you may be able to have a shopvac attached to permanently, then have another sitting around for the drill press and circular saw.

drill presses usually don't have any sort of dust collectors (as you really don't need them), but as for the other 3, you might want to use a centralized shopvac hooked up too all 3 others, and you might want to just vacuum up the metal or wood shavings from the drill press at the end of each day, but you don't need a dust collector for it.

[Trent B]

Yea, that was my thoughts on the drill press, at most you might need to brush the shavings off to the side so your piece sits on the drill press straight but other than that they don't make a ton of dust.

[kramarczyk]

Dust collection can get serious if you are going to spend a lot of time in the shop. Dust is not just a nuisance, it can also be a health hazard. You can also create a safety hazard by mixing metal and wood ships. (Think about hot metal chips landing in a pile of dry sawdust.) There's a pretty good book available from Amazon on the subject.
http://www.amazon.com/Woodshop-Dust-.../dp/156158116X

[Chris Hibner]

When I saw the title to this thread I thought you were talking about some of our old robots. Then I realized you were talking about something else.

[Peter Matteson]

I have had some experience setting one of these up.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/2HP-...llector/G0548Z

The bonus is you can get everything you need from them. All though when my father and I setup this system we used HVAC ducts. Also I reccomend getting the seperator to go with it to reduce wear and tear on the bag and the blower itself.

Chris,
Our dust collection system of that variety is getting so big we don't have room for any more robots is storage.

[Dick Linn]

Search on "Thien Baffle Separator" and "Pentz Cyclone". It could make a fun off-season project.

http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm

http://www.cgallery.com/jpthien/cy.htm

http://forum.canadianwoodworking.com...ad.php?t=33119

[Ether]

Originally Posted by kramarczyk

Dust collection can get serious if you are going to spend a lot of time in the shop. Dust is not just a nuisance, it can also be a health hazard.

I've seen teams use shop air to clean drill presses, milling machines, band saws, and bench grinders. This always concerned me as a lung hazard, but I don't have any authoritative info. Does any have any links they could post ?

[joek]

dust collection really isn't that big of an issue if you clean up at the end of each day. it only is really necessary for planers, unless you are using a large wood shop. the only tool other than planers that really need collectors are sanders and maybe band saws.

[kramarczyk]

Originally Posted by Ether

I've seen teams use shop air to clean drill presses, milling machines, band saws, and bench grinders. This always concerned me as a lung hazard, but I don't have any authoritative info. Does any have any links they could post ?

I was speaking more to the wood dust as a health hazard as I don't typically speak of metal by products as dust. According OSHA... http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/wooddust/index.html

Wood dust becomes a potential health problem when wood particles from processes such as sanding and cutting become airborne. Breathing these particles may cause allergic respiratory symptoms, mucosal and non-allergic respiratory symptoms, and cancer.

Additionally, certain engineered wood products contain additional hazards. An example is MDF and plywood both contain formaldehyde. http://www.flakeboard.com/msds/Flake...r_MDF_MSDS.pdf
http://www.timberproducts.com/.docs/..._MSDS_2005.pdf

As far as using shop air to clean metal cutting tools, I have always been told that this created a airborne eye hazard and that a brush and pan were a better practice. In my experience, metal chips don't hang in the air as readily as wood does. I doubt putting cutting fluid airborne as a mist does ones lungs any favors though. OSHA is a little more vague here... http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/metalworkingfluids/index.html

Your milage will of course vary based upon the amount of time and intensity of exposure. Personally I don't spend a lot of time worried about it, but if I am going to cut MDF in my garage with the door closed (winter) then I do put on a resperator.