Dust collection. Money is no object but Square footage is.

W

walterpancakes

Joined
Nov 16, 2014
Messages
13
Well money is somewhat of an object, but Im good with spending this problem away. I want to make low volume hobby qty knives in my 2 car attached garage without a big mess. I have a KMG and a Fordome to deal with. Making small fixed blades with micarta. I was thinking a hanging ambient, Water bucket and some form of local collection. Currently Its only the bucket and I am seeing the results... Dont want to do anything DIY unless it is small and clean design. Looking to keep as much of the dust down so its not in the house and does not coat things like a new Tormach with fines. I'm in a residential area so I dont know if I could pull off "dust evacuation".

What are some of the best designs you all have seen or run?
Also I'm guessing someone will recommend wet grinding. Any slick setup examples you have to share?

Thanks in advance!

Ian
 
Ian if you do a google search with the words dust collection and Bladeforums you will find a ton of info on what you are looking for. By doing the search through google you can search all of bladeforums with out being a paying member.

Hope this helps,

Brett Mathews
Esteem Grinders
 
Yea I have been searching and reading most of the threads. Im just looking for some guidance on small footprint best of the best type info.

Brett,
Nice products! I own a "second job" company and my shop is next door to Beaumont! I think you grinder guys have it figured out. Sell grinders to us fools that pour our time into knives! Plus you don't have to deal with the dust. Just coolant mist and weld fumes...

Thanks again.
 
Brett
Here is a link to Penn State Ind. Http://
pennstateind_com.stage.searchspring.net/mobile/search/?q=dust+collection+dc3
I have one of the DC3 dust collectors. I've had it since 1999. Instead of sitting it on the floor I just put two hooks on the I beam in my shop and hung it from them. I did put a spark arrestor between the pickup tube and the collector. Mine has a metal impeller, I'm not sure if the new models do or not.
good luck with your search.
Jim Arbuckle ABS JS
 
Ian you're not the guy that owns the bike shop next to Rob are you? If so I stopped by and spoke to you guys about an old bike when I picked up my KMG a few months ago!

I'm also curious about what guys are using for dust collection and why I see so few of them. I've looked through quite a few shop photos to help with my shop layout as real estate gets taken up quickly and I saw very few with dust collection systems. In fact most were Europeans that I saw.
 
walterpancakes said:
Yea I have been searching and reading most of the threads. Im just looking for some guidance on small footprint best of the best type info.

Brett,
Nice products! I own a "second job" company and my shop is next door to Beaumont! I think you grinder guys have it figured out. Sell grinders to us fools that pour our time into knives! Plus you don't have to deal with the dust. Just coolant mist and weld fumes...

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

What kind of setup is at Beaumont? Are they a job shop? What else do they make? I have always been curious.mthanks
 
Lol I asked Rob the same thing when I was in his office forking over cash for my grinder. His shop is actually very humble, he had a nice Haas multi head mill center (I'm not sure the exact model) and a few other metal working machines but it was a lot smaller than I expected. I asked if he does anything else and he said he does but only when it makes financial sense but mostly KMGs. I was quite surprised but he probably had about 40+ stocked and ready to ship. I'm sure he has contracts with local businesses for other stuff but he certainly seemed to move a lot of KMGs and associated tooling. It would make any knifemaker drool as there were stacks of wheels, platens, and all kinds of goodies all over. Good guy and makes a solid product!
 
Greetings,
There is only one dust collector .... Bill Pentz Cyclone.

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

I am lucky to manage a sheet metal fabrication shop, so labor and cost was almost none. My entire unit is out of 18 gauge black iron.

But i would pay the full price for the performance this cyclone puts out.

Save your lungs and have your shop clean.

Dennis
 
the trick in a knife shop is not dust collection its keeping the dust collector from burning your house/shop down. wood dust and metal sparks are bad and dust can hang up in duct work and burn
 
Good point Butcher that brings up an interesting question; are there differences between wood and metal dust collection systems? I want to get one but its down the road and I haven't done much research on the subject. I imagined, like most of the tools i have, there is a system for wood and one for metal. I cannot imagine using it for metal without cleaning out any saw dust first.

I actually caught my 1x30 on fire this way. For the new guys out there if you are grinding wood and metal on a smaller belt grinder make sure to clean it out before you start grinding!
 
Greetings,
Great points! But my cyclone dust collector is pulling 5000+ feet per minute though a 6" pipe. All my piping is 20 gauge metal spiral ducting and rolled 18 gauge welded pipe.

Don't believe the specifications on those bag filters.

Dust, sparks, paper, tape measures all goes in and straight to the collector. I have my dust collector connected directly to my automated 2 hp converted belt surface grinder. My shop was full of dust after a couple hours of surface grinding. Now I can grind all day without any dust issues.

Watch it in action...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6bCVw1pWmI

Unless I did not see one a couple years back, I thought my 1700 cfm 2 HP general was good. This one is more then double the performance and all steal construction. I would never dreamed of using my old collector on the surface grinder.

Just my thoughts...
 
i had a dust collector for a little whiel and sold it didnt want to play with fire. if i had one for all wood tools and one for all steel tools and never used one for Ti then i think it could work but mix any of them and its asking for problems

if you think for a second that dust cant find a home in duct work your fooling yourself cause every joint bend or rib in the tubing can and will slow air flow and allow some dust to settle and if the wood dust happens to be in there and then steel sparks or worse Ti sparks ( that burn hot and for a long time )

water trap systems can work well but you have to maintain them. when i built my new shop i made 3 zones of "clean" depending on the work beig done
 
I have a coal room in the basement of my house. It's not that big but it's large enough for my KMG, accessories, and maybe another grinder. I'm thinking about just sealing off the room and using it as my grinding room. If you didn't have something like this I bet something could be build fairly easy using large plastic sheeting and 2x4's.
 
I simply run a high-volume exhaust fan (~500 CFM) to the outside. The exhaust duct starts in a 3-wall room that is wood-framed with plastic film sheathing. My KMG clone is in that room, and I close up the fourth wall with a tarp when needed, leaving an air gap somewhere.

Other users (Stacy) will caution against this - yes, it pulls the air from the rest of the structure. You're either going to provide a fresh-air inlet (cold in winter), or deal with pulling air (heat) from the rest of the structure. It won't destroy your furnace blower.
 
I use a small point of use model from Grizzly.It has a clear flexible poly hose and is used
for shaping handles only.It hangs on the wall and has a small foot print.(for steel water bucket)
I can upload a picture of my setup if you want to see it.
 
OK, Industrial hygiene speaking, there are dust collection systems for things like wood and plastic dust, and there are arrestors for things that can cause fires.

I decent shop vac and some collection hose at the point of use can function just fine for dust collection. Don't forget to empty it and change filters periodically.

For spark arrestors, you want metal ducting and catch basins. A high speed fan (1000 CFM) with a speed of about 100 linear feet per minute at the source will handle movement. The metal catch basin will handle accumulation. A dump bottom will help in cleaning.

Don't mix the 2.

Larry
Tinkerer
 
So you just have a bucket with water hanging from he ceiling and that helps trap dust? Good idea.
 
Shaw Blades said:
So you just have a bucket with water hanging from he ceiling and that helps trap dust? Good idea.
Click to expand...

Well, from the bucket it runs through an ingenious water application device (referred to by some as a "cheap paint brush") to the belt. Normally, close to 100% of that water, along with whatever is being ground (doesn't matter at all) is contained.

Footprint- Zero- Water bottle hangs above the grinder where precious little is normally found. It drains into a 5 gallon bucket which would be useless space under and behind my grinder.

Air being involved- Zero - None. There are no filters, blowers, vacuums or transfer of any heated or cooled air.

Cost- Maybe $25.

Mine's on a TW90, which happens to work really well very easily.

I've got a $1500 dust catcher, but it doesn't seem like it's the right tool for this. It's footprint is bigger than either of my 2x72s by a whole bunch.

Harnessing a little water is not that difficult, and eliminating dust and any chance of fire are practically the fringe benefits to grinding blades without the side effect of creating a bunch of heat.

If you really do want a big dust collector, and price wasn't an object, put it outside your shop.
 
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