Dust Collector

[David Hostetler]

Not that I am any expert in this, but I have worked with experts in the field of environmental air quallity, specializing in closed air / life support systems. (Submarine, aerospace etc...), and I saw an article I wish like crazy I could find now.... That listed the paticle sizes between 1 and 2.5 microns as being the hazzards, the sub micron stuff being absorbed into the body, and flushed out through the normal filtering mechanisms in the body, the liver, kidneys etc...

I work in a server farm / cube farm environment, and I would almost be willing to bet I should be wearing a respirator at the office too... I am pretty sure there are things like Asbestos, and ultra fine silicon powder (sub micron sized) blowing through our air systems...

[Joel Earl]

The way I see it is this: Educated people who study the subject say there there are health risks. I'm no doctor or air quality specialist. If there's a 50% chance they're right, then I'll err on the side of caution.

I only get one body to live in!!

No expert here either but I look at it this way. I cannot get it perfect, I cannot afford a sterile room setting like in a hospital (wouldn't work doing this stuff anyway lol), the whole topic can and does cause stress if it's over analyzed since it can never be good enough and one might wager they could find medical experts on the other side who may express things totally different.

Whatever you body needs - do it. And if you have a respiratory issue get out of this hobby. Maybe there's a lot of other things that also cause similar problems too but dust is a simple easy target to attack. I have lung issues - serious ones at that. If I mill MDF I use a respirator. Otherwise my DC and simple AF are all I use. I suffer a lot more spending time outdoors with pollens, dust and smog things than I experience in my shop. The shop air seems sweet and clean in comparison to outdoor air.

Shops can be hazardous. So can driving my car. I refuse to buy a tank too

[John McCaskill]

Good on ya! We focus on different things... some on cancer, some on allergies, some on emphysema... but fine wood dust can cause some or all of them, and it's something we can at least minimize if not totally avoid.

Because some of us work for years in a woodshop, or a coal mine, or a sugar mill without getting sick doesn't mean most of us can. I can tell the effects of dust on me, and my wife can't tolerate even small amounts.

So, I've retrofitted my Jet DC with a Wynn cannister, hung my ceiling-mounted air filter, run dust collection ports to all my machines, wear my industrial grade breathing mask when routing MDF and am looking to upgrade my old shop vac to one with a HEPA filer. That's me. I think it's best for me, but it doesn't slow down my woodworking or cause me to skimp on tools or wood because I'm spending too much on dust collection.

I've got a HEPA filter in the house, too. Makes me a worrywart? No, I just know too much about lung damage caused by smoking, dust inhalation and pollution, so I try to keep living but minimize future damage.

John

[Nick Abbott]

I used a HF 2hp unit in a small shed built to an exterior wall outside of my shop. The shed was just wide enough and tall enough to house the DC unit. No shop dust problems.

My new shop will use a 1-horsepower unit that draws into a Thien separator (located just outside of the back wall) then onto an exterior 90 degree elbow that dumps fine dust a foot off the ground. With no bag or filter slowing the exhausted air flow I have found a one horse unit to be sufficient. I run 4" SD PVC to a table saw, a band saw, a miter saw and a disk/belt sander then through the wall into the Thien unit. Again no shop/dust worries.

Whatever my DC unit misses I cheerfully sweep up or blow outside with a compressor hose with a blower. Before those two units an open garage door and a broom was my DC system. I never had a dust/shop worry, just a lot of time behind a broom.

I am still sucking enough air to make it out to the shop regularly.

[Darius Ferlas]

I discovered that cigarettes just don't taste the same with dust particles larger than 1 micron, so I got me a DC with 1 micron filter bag.

[Kendall Landry]

I don't believe the size matters as much as the amount.

[Frank Hagan]

My new shop will use a 1-horsepower unit that draws into a Thien separator (located just outside of the back wall) then onto an exterior 90 degree elbow that dumps fine dust a foot off the ground. With no bag or filter slowing the exhausted air flow I have found a one horse unit to be sufficient. I run 4" SD PVC to a table saw, a band saw, a miter saw and a disk/belt sander then through the wall into the Thien unit. Again no shop/dust worries.

This is what I'm thinking of doing. I realize I'm lucky in that 90% of the time, I can exhaust air to the outside without worrying about heating or cooling the make up air that has to come back into the garage shop. I think its a lot harder for people to justify if they have to heat the air coming in, or cool it down, so I understand that spending $1200 on a good cyclone system might actually result in savings for them.

Some people develop sensitivities over time; I think that was the case with Bill Pentz. I think I read that he can no longer do any woodworking due to severe reactions now, even in a shop with the best dust collection possible. Its an irony that someone who contributed so much to the understanding of wood dust in hobbyist shops, and gave his design away for free to individuals, can no longer enjoy the hobby himself. If I had to buy a more expensive system, I would either go with a ClearVue (who pay a royalty to Bill) or send Bill a check if I bought a "big ape" or equivalent (one of those companies used Bill's design, even soliciting information from him over time, and then didn't credit or compensate him).