Airborne dust hazard

Dominic · Post by **Dominic** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:50 am

Hey, I am interested in how you guys deal with fine airborne dust. I constantly have a cough since I began working in my shop and it can't be good. I try to keep things clean, use a dust mask etc etc but there is always very fine dust in the air and one surfaces. Any breeze from open doors or my fan and it is airborne and a hazard. And they say the very fine stuff is the worst for you.

There was an interesting thread on the OLF about mini-cyclones that you can attach to you shop-vac. i suspect my dust extractor and vacuum act as really efficient fine dust distributors so this might be a good start. But I have thinking about getting some kind of room filter like this
http://www.microclene.com.au/product.mc.1000.asp
They got a good review in Aust Woodworker mag but are a bit exy ($765)
Carba-tec have similar thing about half the price but I have not read anything about them.

Anyone use this kind of thing?
How do you maintain a healthy environment?
Cheers
Dom

Dennis Leahy · Post by **Dennis Leahy** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:43 am

Dom,

According to Bill Pentz, many (most) cyclone systems are inadequate to eliminate the finest dust, which is also the most unhealthy. You could do a bit of reading on Penz's site, and since shipping a ClearVue to you from the US would cost too much, you could consider building one yourself. Penz has plans on his site.

Dennis

Hesh1956 · Post by **Hesh1956** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:43 pm

Dom buddy I have a Festool CT-22 dust extractor and people are constantly telling me how clean my shop is.

I hook it up to the various tools including my drum sander and use it as a vac too. It works great, is very powerful 134 CFM, quiet and best of all it is a HEPA filter so it is not just straining the dust and redistributing it in the shop.

I also vac up any mess that I make fairly frequently and that helps it not get spread around too.

That cough is NOT good my friend so I would consider getting a HEPA vac very soon and cleaning up the dust.

Rod True · Post by **Rod True** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 4:59 pm

Any good dust collection system should include not only a dust collector at the tools, but an air cleaner to get that airborne dust.

I made my own from a furnace fan (1300 cfm) and the replacement filter from Lee Valley. The filter was the most expensive part of the air cleaner at $40, and I just run it for the entier time I'm in the shop (turn it on with the first run of a tool). It cycles my shop air about 40 times an hour, I don't have airborne dust issues since I built it.

Here's some pics of mine plus the Lee Valley filter and how they put it together.

The Main filter

The Lee Valley pictures

Dust collection at the tools is improtant but so it cleaning the air in the shop of all that mico fine dust that's really the dangerous stuff.

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 6:57 pm

Or just learn to breath through your ears.

Dominic · Post by **Dominic** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:20 pm

Dennis, I did read a bit about the Bill pentz system. That was the thread in the OLF I mentioned. I may consider building my own system although the cost of shipping one is not overly prohibative at the moment.

Hesh, I have followed your obsessive cleanliness disfunction (woops, that should be be passion) on the OLF and i appreciate that you live in a house with white carpet but the way i work and the things I seem to make there is no way even your Festoon (i read somewhere it is pink, is this right) would stop it.

(Sorry, I may have had a few)

I actually cut a hole in the wall today so i can put my dust extractor away from my workshop but I still need to get the fine stuff.
Rod, I like the idea of making my own fine air filter. I just have to get a local supply of filters.

And Allen, I have tried and tried to learn breathing through my ears. It works for a little while but then I start feeling faint and collapse. Can't work it out. Do you think I need to go to the doc?

Dom

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:42 pm

Actually, I pretty lucky with my garage. It has doors at each end and the prevailing wind it either a northerly at this time of year, or southerly the rest and it just blows everything across the neighborhood.

Hesh1956 · Post by **Hesh1956** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:07 am

Dominic pal I may be dysfunctional but I am not coughing..... you are......

Sam Price · Post by **Sam Price** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 2:09 am

I can't afford dust extraction at the moment but clean up after every session and air the workshop by opening all three windows and the door. The door to the rest of the house is kept shut too. I also use a good quality dust mask.

Minor sanding tasks is indoor work.

Major sanding tasks are undertaken outdoors.

One of the next purchases will be a decent dust extraction system, something small enough for my tiny workshop! (About the size of a small 1 car garage.)

Paul B · Post by **Paul B** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 9:01 am

My current dust collection system is my lungs.

My new shop is going to have a dust extractor, and an air cleaner - all from carbatec, their stuff is generally pretty good. Sould be ready to move into by the end of the year.

I'll just have to hold my breath until then.

Dominic · Post by **Dominic** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:52 pm

Cough, cough, what was that Hesh cough, cough.

No offence meant though Hesh, one of the funniest threads I ever read on the OLF ended up talking about your shop-vac. I was pissing myself laughing. Very funny witty bunch of people.

jackspira · Post by **jackspira** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:12 pm

Hi Dom, I too have a CT-22 festo extractor, and I'm going to call it a festoon from now on! I secnod the recomendation for it. It cost me deep in the purse but now I know how wel it works I'd happily pay twice for it.
I also have a similalrly expensive dyson vac which is more portable for general cleaning up. Between those two my cough has started to recede over the past few yaers.
Jack

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