Adding a dust collector to the grinder

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This is a little something that has been rolling around in my head for a while, you should be able to adapt your blower to the top of the steel drum with very little effort, You will want to make sure the steel drum you get has the ring around the top for easy removal, the elbow at the bottom should create a swirl so the particulates will have time to drop out

Another thought would be to use two filters stacked to increase air flow

And most important make sure the drum is clean and not holding flammable fumes, A cousin of mine blew his leg off welding over a barrel

Edit: added a more complete diagram and poked a little fun at myself

bfpic224_zpsd81cf469.jpg
 
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I think we are all in a bit of panic because that setup is so dangerous. If you run it the risk of fire is high, and that is what is causing the excited posts.

John's drawing is pretty much the basic spark trap.
You place the spark funnel on the steel vent pipe .
Placing the trap below the grinder allows the spark funnel to send the sparks and dust directly into the tank.
The air coming out of the trap can be sent to a filter bag on the blower as you have it now. This will help to keep fine dust down in the shop. It is even better if it can be vented outside.
 
Would this set up be ok?
edit: it's not a 5 hp blower it's not powerful enough to make the spark curve and go directly to the blower.
 
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It would work with a minor change.
The inlet needs to extend down to about 5-10cm above the water surface. That directs the airflow and sparks straight down toward the water.
As you have it drawn now, the air flow will just go sideways into the duct to the blower.
 
I'll be following your progress because I may need something similar. My wife is tired of having her flowers outside covered with a layer of steel dust. :o Me I think it makes them prettier. ;)
 
I have 3 weeks left to build this before receving my new sheet of CPM154.
I will build this and post update.
After what I have a small production batch of 50 knives to grind in 1 week

Thanks

@ Stacy: Est-ce que tu parle français?

P.S. stay tuned I will start a new panic in a couple of minute in the "Shop Talk - BladeSmith Questions and Answers" ha ha
 
I always have at least two fire extinguishers in my shop, currently I have three.
After I absentmindedly ground some carbon steel after doing about five handles of Iron wood I had a few minutes of panic when I saw smoke and flames licking up from the box I had my vacuum in.:eek::eek: Since I had a respirator on it took me longer to smell the smoke.

You want one fire extinguisher to put out the fire you started and then the other one is so there is still at least one in your shop until you refill the used one.
 
Since I'm doing a lot of welding, I have 3 extinguishers in the garage.
Plus one in my Pickup
Plus one in my basement
Everything is inspected and ready to run.
 
Just what is the product when G10 is ground and heated .Solids and what gas ??

Is there advantage to water spray into the spark stream ?

OT -I was lucky yesterday ! Tree branches rubbed against power lines here and started a brush fire . Someone driving by saw it start , called it in .FD responded very quickly as they do this time of year.Burned area was very small.
 
Perfect timing, I'm rearranging my shop/garage so I don't have to drag everything outside to grind and just bought an HF dust collector. When I was planning everything out I was looking at a lot of woodworking forums which doesn't really take the heated metal particle stuff into consideration. Got everything put together last night and did a quick test. Came to the same conclusion others mentioned, direct suction into the dc is a bad idea with metal (& wood). Had to do some extra clean-up and stayed up a few extra hours checking the garage for fire like I had OCD.

Looks like I'll be doing the same thing as Tandem and building a separator/quench bucket. Also don't have the option of venting outside but I did pickup an aftermarket filter that does 0.5 micron. Hopefully that, an air cleaner and a respirator will keep my lungs intact. Trying to figure out how best to incorporate the fitting to run wood dust collection and still be safe. I'll post whatever I come up.
 
I am eventually going to buy a mini quencher. Mini quencher to dust deputy, dust deputy to shop vac.

http://www.qamanage.com/SparkArrestor/MiniQuencher

I think they are around $400. Not cheap, but worth it for cleaner air and way less chance of fire. The only thing freaky about spark arrestors is there is zero room for error. All it takes is one spark to make it through, one measly ember.

The owner of this company is brilliant when it comes to this stuff and he stands by his product big time, but like I said still freaks me out a little.... one lousy ember.....

On a side note, the company is North Carolina and I told the owner to look into getting a table at the blade show, knifemakers while a niche market, could be a good market to capture for family owned business.

On another side note, JET now also sells a metal dust collector, but I haven't seen any videos or anything of it. Over $1K, but, again, I think well worth it in long run. I am leaning toward mini-quencher just for the ability to run to HEPA shop vac (I.E. cleaner air) and it is cheaper.
 
My dust collector is made with all metal ducting leading to
an Oneida Gorilla all steel dust collector. Metal storage canister,
metal blower housing and impeller. Years ago, I built a collector just like you did.
It worked wonderfully well for about a week, then POOF, up in a cloud of smoke.
Saved the blower, but not the bag. Promptly developed plan B with no
combustable parts. Been working now for about 6 years without a hitch. Just don't
grind aluminum and steel using the same collector. I collect aluminum grindings with a
shop vac. Aluminum dust and steel grindings plus a little heat makes for some
real excitement.:eek:

Bill
 
I really find it very surprising that no one gave the easiest, cheapest (by far), and best answer (IMHO), to this very simple question.

Doesn't anyone grind wet around here?

It answers all your questions, beyond question. It cost me a whopping $15 to rig my setup.
Dust is virtually eliminated. Chance of fire non-existent. You're belts stay clean and last longer.

The greatest advantage though is that you are grinding water cooled. No more singed fingers, and no more stopping to dunk the blade. You keep the blade on the belt continuously, speeding grinding by about 50%.

Once you try it, you'll never want to grind dry again.
 
Greetings,
I researched and tried many solutions till I finally pulled the trigger and built a 'Dennis Paish' version of the Bill Pentz Cyclone. This is the SOLUTION. I built mine out of 16 gauge steel including all piping and containment for my shop. It sucks hard. I uploaded a video of it during surface grinding a Damascus billet. I exhaust my discharge outside via the filter system.

http://youtu.be/f6bCVw1pWmI

I can grind all four sides of 100 stabilized wood blocks and virtually have no dust on my grinder with this setup. Surface grinding metal is nasty stuff in a small shop. No problem anymore.

I hope this helps.

Dennis Paish
 
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