Dust

A comment from one of the other post keyed my thoughts in this area. We all know that dust is a problem, even if it is seemingly "harmless" sawdust, which we all know if far from the truth.

I have found that it is much better to cut excess material off than it is to actually grind it off to hold down the dust, just common sense.

I believe that in my instance, most dust is caused from the buffing operation than anything else.

I always where a dust protector while doing any buffing or grinding operation but this doesn't help with what is left all over my shop and workbenches.

So, after stating all of that, what are some of the things that you guys are doing to hold down the dust problem in your work areas?

CLWilkins
 
george tichbourne

george tichbourne

Joined
Apr 19, 1999
Messages
3,560
C L
Your comment is well taken and I agree. In fact one maker who uses a great deal of G10 and Carbon fibre has made the decision to have all of this material cut by waterjet to avoid contaminating his shop. I agree that those of us who do only small abounts of the material at a time cannot afford the luxury but spot ventilation (vacuum pickups) is a good answer.

Now does anyone have a method to silence a very large shop vac?

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george
 
C.L.
Dust is a huge problem for me also!!I work in a totally enclosed area with no outside ventilation, & I cant do any renovations as it's not my place
frown.gif
I have a shop vac set-up
& as George mentions, it's the noisiest damn thing, & only catches about 40-50% of the mess. The rest (that I dont filter with my lungs) floats around the shop (& house). I wear a respirator , but that doesn't stay on too long because the itching & sweating gets the best of me...I,m not worrying too much, because I know that I,ll win the lottery soon, & will have my dream workshop. A log workshop (to match our log home) which is completely ventilated with lots of flashy equipment & tons of supplies. All sitting on about 20 acres of gently treed privacy. Boy, I cant wait!!
Well, back to reality. I have been told that one can build an in shop air filter that sucks in the air (& dust) from one end, passes it through filters, & pumps it out the other end, causing a circulation, filtration effect. This is made from furnace filters, a squirrel cage blower & a box set-up. I hope to start on one soon, once I get the blower.
You can buy one of these things ready made, but they are quite expensive. So as knife makers are so incredibly gifted & creative, we'll make our own
smile.gif
Once I get this thing done, I'll let you know how it works. Have a great day.

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Happy Knifemaking...
http://www.freeyellow.com/members6/cut/index.html
 
If you work around carbon fiber, glass fiber (G-10), shell and many woods, be SURE to ALWAYS wear a really good repirator and use at least a good vacuum. No outside ventilation is really dangerous. After working use a wet rag to clean up any dust that get away and if at all possible, buy an industrial dust collector.

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www.wilkins-knives.com


 
B C K

I have one of those filter setups that you describe to continuously filter the air and remove airborne dust. I bought it from a woodworker's supply company for a couple of hundred dollars. It consists of a squirrel cage fan drawing the air through three filters, a coarse furnace filter, a fine paper type furnace filter and an ultra fine HEPA filter. The first two filters protect the very expensive HEPA filter.

The system keeps airborne dust under control by filtering the air in my shop between 3 and 4 times per hour.

The buffer and grinder is on a woodworkers bag type filter bought used for $100 but the rest of the shop depends on the shop vac, the largest that Sears sells and as I said the noise is a problem.


This unit is also used for all cleanup. Someday soon I will finish running the hard vacuum system around the shop for easy access and an outside vent to get rid of any dust that gets past the filter.

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george
 
Buy a special quiet shop-vac. They have extra sound-proofing in the motor-region. I bought my dad one for Christmas (6 HP, 18 gallon) and though it's still pretty loud, it's nowhere near the howl you get from a regular one.
 
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