Dust Collectors

I'm thinking that would work well, Mike, but don't use to draw dust off your grinder or its going to catch fire.

Here's the setup I use.

catch4.jpg


It has a good filter bag and works really well to catch all the debris from any grinding I do, but all that fine dust settles around the shop anyway. It does this because I don't turn on the vac when I'm grinding steel - only when grinding wood or micarta. When grinding steel, I leave the vac off and just catch the dust in the funnel and suck it up when I'm done.

I think the only good way to collect dust straight off the grinder is to filter it through a water canister - I think someone here mentioned Trugrit sells them. Also, for the airborne dust, those big recirculatory dust collectors that you attach to the ceiling would really work well.
 
Howdy There Mike...!
I have one of the vaccum systems from delta, but it does get all of the airborne stuff. Putting a bucket of water with some dishwashing soap squited into it, directly inder your tool rest will really help. I also made a fan filter for eachy grinder that sits directly behind each one. Took a 20" fan that you can get at Lowes or Walmart and added a filter on each side of it. Placed a course filter on the intake side and a fine filter on the outlet side, they seem to really help control alot of the airborne stuff, and they are cheap to make..!
Good luck with the dust, really the only thing I have seen that works is the large industral vac systems.
:eek:
 
Possum said:
Took a 20" fan that you can get at Lowes or Walmart and added a filter on each side of it. Placed a course filter on the intake side and a fine filter on the outlet side, they seem to really help control alot of the airborne stuff, and they are cheap to make..!
Click to expand...

That's a hella-good idea there, Poss! I'm going to try to make one of those this weekend.
 
I have a Grizzly vaccum system that I have used for 8 or 10 years. I think mine is a 1 1/2 or 2hp. I would say the bigger the better. I use 4 inch pvc pipe to connect all my grinders, table saw, band saws, etc. I have gates on each tool. I also have a grounded copper wire run through all the pvc pipe to keep static electricity from blowing everything up.
I do use the vaccum when I grind steel. Under each grinder I have a T fitting. One end the the T catches the steel dust, one end goes straight down for about 2 feet and has a clean out plug. the other end is connected to the vaccum. Most of the steel dust and sparks go straight down into the clean out tube. My vaccum is outside my shop. I couldn't stand the noise, and vaccums also leak fine dust. all my machines connect to a 4" pvc pipe which goes verticaly up the outside wall, and then down to the vaccum. This vertical pipe also has a cleanout plug on it.
I was concerned at first that the steel dust would wear the vaccum out prematurely, but it hasn't.
You do need to be careful of grinding sparks setting the vaccum bags on fire, but my system has worked for me for a long time. I wouldn't want to be without it. It really pulls grinding dust out of the shop.
I probably have not explained this very well. If you are interested I can e-mail you some pictures. I would put pictures on this post, but sadly am not that computer literate.
 
I also use a grizzly vac system, but instead of the cloth bags, I just piped the exhust out the wall of the shop. It has worked fine for about 8 years.
I would not make knives without a good exhust system. I highly recommend anyone making dust to get a vac system.

Good health :D Don Hanson
 
Thanks all for the good info!

Don, that avatar makes my day every time I see it. :D
 
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