- Joined
- Sep 9, 2003
- Messages
- 2,361
Phillip when you were at my shop you probably saw that I just pull it all outside and deposit it there, however I have the exhaust fan from hell and in the winter it will drop the temperature of my shop 10 Degrees within 5 minutes. I simply cannot afford to heat my shop like this anymore so this summer I will be insulating the walls better and rerouting that blower exhaust into a cyclone separator and then back into the shop.
Cyclone separators are less of a hassle than filters and don't impede the airflow in any way, I will probably put a light filtration unit on the incoming line just to catch really fine particles. But if you have your shop sealed up and insulated quite well you need to consider one factor often overlooked with just blowing things outside- equalizing the pressures and the creation of vacuum. In order for your furnace to work properly it needs cold air returns to pull the heat through the room, otherwise you are moving less air as it pushes against a pressurized room, the same is the case with suction. Your filtration system will work much better if you can put the air back into the same room and equalize the pressures instead of creating a vacuum that you must fight.
Also be careful to balance out your pipes properly so that the length and diameter is appropriate for the desired airflow, many people make the mistake of using smaller inlets for initial airspeed and then going with too large a diameter main line. The main line has to be larger than your intakes in order to provide adequate and equal suction on them but if it is too large there will be a drastic drop in airflow speed and you will get settling and build up in the main line which will require frequent cleanings to unplug things. Also the smoother the inside of the lines the better, sharp corners and rough surface or ridges will create turbulence and pockets of low pressure where particles will settle out.
"Gosh Kevin, why do you have all this anal information about air systems?" Because the room next to my grinders is a lab with several expensive microscopes, ultra-sensitive polishing equipment and many other gadgets that cannot tolerate dust or grit, not to mention my stereo system. I have been playing this dust elimination game for a few years now on a level most don't have to worry about. Stacy's idea about blowing the dust out is a good one, but I do it weekly with a high pressure air hose. And after all this, I still get dust in the lab.
A very good and inexpensive book on this topic is "How to design & build Centrifugal Fans for the home shop" by David Gingery ISBN: 0-917914-60-0
Along with the fan information it discusses proper ducting and separation.
Cyclone separators are less of a hassle than filters and don't impede the airflow in any way, I will probably put a light filtration unit on the incoming line just to catch really fine particles. But if you have your shop sealed up and insulated quite well you need to consider one factor often overlooked with just blowing things outside- equalizing the pressures and the creation of vacuum. In order for your furnace to work properly it needs cold air returns to pull the heat through the room, otherwise you are moving less air as it pushes against a pressurized room, the same is the case with suction. Your filtration system will work much better if you can put the air back into the same room and equalize the pressures instead of creating a vacuum that you must fight.
Also be careful to balance out your pipes properly so that the length and diameter is appropriate for the desired airflow, many people make the mistake of using smaller inlets for initial airspeed and then going with too large a diameter main line. The main line has to be larger than your intakes in order to provide adequate and equal suction on them but if it is too large there will be a drastic drop in airflow speed and you will get settling and build up in the main line which will require frequent cleanings to unplug things. Also the smoother the inside of the lines the better, sharp corners and rough surface or ridges will create turbulence and pockets of low pressure where particles will settle out.
"Gosh Kevin, why do you have all this anal information about air systems?" Because the room next to my grinders is a lab with several expensive microscopes, ultra-sensitive polishing equipment and many other gadgets that cannot tolerate dust or grit, not to mention my stereo system. I have been playing this dust elimination game for a few years now on a level most don't have to worry about. Stacy's idea about blowing the dust out is a good one, but I do it weekly with a high pressure air hose. And after all this, I still get dust in the lab.
A very good and inexpensive book on this topic is "How to design & build Centrifugal Fans for the home shop" by David Gingery ISBN: 0-917914-60-0
Along with the fan information it discusses proper ducting and separation.
Im lucky enough to have such a small "shop" that it is under a car port and on a good windy day everything works itself out. 
