Central vac system for shop. Any advice?

M

mchazen

Joined
Dec 22, 2000
Messages
79
I am building a shop set up for knife making only and am going to install a Grizzly (Ican't believe they had it in stock) 2hp vac. This seemed easy until I started to set up all the tubes (2" PVC). I've since heard of static "things" building up in the lines and I have to ground it. I'll be blowing the exhaust out into the woods so there will be no bags. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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Dear mchazen:

Please do not blow the dust into the woods! The EPA will really come down on you and woodland critters don't like breathing the nasty stuff in G-10, Micarta or carbon fiber dust.

Use a bag (and a separator if you're worried about dropping chunks or parts into the blower fan). It's really not that much of a hassle to empty a bag once in a while.

Some ducting has a wire aready going through it to eliminate the static produced by the suction. If yours doesn't, a ground wire to the frame of the building is recommended. More on this topic can be found in the manual on shop dust collection found at Grizzly.

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Tom Anderson
Hand Crafted Knives
 
Tom, Thanks for the heads up on the woods. I was told that if you are grinding steel you could not use a bag. Glad I posted the question. I'll call Grizzly and get their vac book. Thanks again. Mark.
 
Don't use PVC the wood sites are full of warnings against it, I wouldn't mix micarta and wood dust with steel either. Looks like a good way to burn down the shop. IMHO

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Sola Fide
 
I am really glad I posted this question because now I know not to use PVC (I was told was the best(strongest) to use). And you can use bags. Two came with the unit. If I had taken this guys advice I would have messed up the woods at my house and burned down my shop. I would have been one ill puppy. Thanks for all the knowledge guys.
 
Sorry, but I got so worried about the woodland critters that I forgot an important note about dust collectors:

For safety's sake, don't grind anything that shoots sparks down the tube. I use my dust collecter when grinding wood, G10, carbon fiber, micarta, etc. I shut it off when grinding titanium and steel. Titanium dust is flammable, so I even block off the duct when grinding it.

Just use a shop vac after you're done to pick up the metal dust. Put it in a bag and throw it away!

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Tom Anderson
Hand Crafted Knives
 
So did I miss the recommened size and type of pipe that wont melt or burn? Maybe the flexable steel hose. What diameter pipe for best air movement?
 
No offense, but that seems kinda silly...to have a dust collector that only catches 1/3 - maybe 1/2 of the dust that's created.
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I have been studying everything I can get my hands on about dust collection for quite some time now, and have decided to have a professional system installed. Luckily, I found a company that is run by a guy that just happens to be a custom knife nut.

The first thing you have to consider is how much of the info out there on dust collection can you apply to knifemaking. Most literature on the subject applies to wood-working. Like having a drop bin (from a cyclone) is a huge benefit when it's being fed by planers and jointers. But when was the last time you produced four feet of dust/chips on your grinder? Probably not, but on a planer, yeah, that's easy...so you have to be able to evacuate all that into a bag, a coarse bag even. However, with steel grit and G-10 and micarta, you need as fine a micron bag as you can get. The best ones I've seen so far for a reasonable price are from Penn State Industries.

http://pennstateind.com/dustindex.html

EVERYTHING I have read warns against using pvc. That sucks, because pvc is cheap and easy to glue together. Metal is a heck of a lot more expensive, but if you go to a home improvement store and buy the heaviest guage vent pipe material (straights, elbows, hoods) you can keep it somewhat acceptable.

The system that I'm going to have put in is a cyclone. Like I said, the cyclone isn't particularly needed for the seperation of bigger debris, but it is the most efficient type of collector.

A lot of makers will tell you to buy a really good respirator and spend your dust collector money on another "useful tool." Well, yeah of course, but what happens when you take your respirator off and your working on something in the shop and you're stirring up all that dangerous dust that you were protected from while you were grinding, but not now?

Dust masks are band-aids to a serious problem. You need to keep wearing them with a collector, but they just don't cut it by themselves.

As a personal trainer I can say with total conviction, your body is the most amazing and complex instrument that you will ever encounter and have simply given to you no less. The cost of keeping it healthy is a great deal better than the alternative.

It would be a shame to have to quit making knives because of health problems caused by breathing in too much steel grit and buffing compound.

Nick



[This message has been edited by NickWheeler (edited 01-02-2001).]
 
Warning against shooting sparks down a tube does seem a bit silly. I should have expanded on that:

Lighting a fire is harder to do without a spark, either from static electricity or grinding a piece of metal.

If you use a cut-off at your grinder, you can suck the dust down the chute AFTER it cools off. I still would keep the titanium dust out of the system as much as possible. This stuff ignites and shoots fireballs around your shop! (Titanium machining chips can do the same. You can actually light thin chips off a drill press and watch them glow white like a fuse!)

Respirators are important. If you want to help keep the air clean in your shop, you could buy an industrial air cleaner. These are also available at Grizzly and Penn State.



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Tom Anderson
Hand Crafted Knives
 
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