Dust particle monitor

[John Coloccia]

I have the DC1100 Pro too and am satisfied with it. As is often stated here, each to their own, but I use to regulate the speed of the air cleaner. It is quite noisy at high speed, but I will run it like that if that is what it takes to keep the number down. How bad is it to breath the higher levels of particulates - I don't really know other than what I have read in general, but I have no intention of finding out.

Paul

I use it to regulate the speed of my noisy cleaner too...or shut it off completely when it's clean.

I also have a Trend Airstream Pro. When my counts go high, I put it on and keep working. It used to be that I went upstairs from a long day in the shop and could barely blow my nose...not to be gross but having 8 hours of mahogany, spruce and other dust crammed in your nostrils all days makes for quite funky colored snot that comes out. I used to have my skin and hair just absolutely covered in fine dust too, to the point that just washing it off is almost abrasive. Now, I know what works and what doesn't and I don't have any of those problems anymore. My shop time is far more pleasant.

[Chris Fournier]

John, I'm all for safety in the shop. I just don't think that on an ongoing basis this meter is really about safety. Once you know what activities make your meter register trouble then its provided you with all of the safety it ever will. After that "dust safety" becomes a pure shop practices exercise.

Granted I'm making a point but the entire DC topic tends to take much of the joy out of woodworking because it actually supplants woodworking for many guys. Earlier this year I became dissatisfied with the amount of dust in my shop. I certainly could have bought one of these meters, a manometer and a few other cool things but in the end a less dusty shop is achieved with a better DC system which is what I spent my money on. Just one path to take I know.

My stance is that the dust topic can often times be taken to hypochodria like levels. In the urban areas where most of us live most of the time I'd bet that the environment is dusty/toxic enough to make our shops look like pretty tidy. Sort of like the folks that live within 400 yards of a major highway eating organic for health reasons. Context is everything.

[Jim Neeley]

Chris,

In the most basic sense, if one had a shop that they would not make any changes / additions in tools or in the way they work, your point about "ongoing" would make senseto me. Most of us have shops that evolve over time. Additionally, these tools give us a reading on how efficiently our DC systems are working (or not working) on the fines and can let us know when a DC is no longer performing as originally installed. It is akin to adding a high level arm to your basement sump, in addition to having a sump pump... or perhaps more like someone glancing at an intersection looking for someone about to run a red light as they approach the (green light) intersection.

I'll not challenge that the dust topic "can" be taken to hypochondriac levels but I'll counter that I believe that I think that it is rare. Far more commonly woodworkers poo-poo the medical reports, burying their heads un the sand (dust).

As for folks who choose to live within 400 yards of a major highway, it's like people choosing to live in a heavy crime neighborhood.. it doesn't speak highly for their judgement, IMO. They have the ability to move.

The logic is akin to a person who, once they accidently run a red light and survive, decide since they survived they are going to run all of the rest of the red lights.

Context is everything but common sense is far too uncommon.

We each make decisions on how we wish to spend our money.. and live with the consequences. Finally, two rational people may come to different conclusions, Chris. Perhaps yours is right for you.

[Chris Fournier]

Ultimately we all end up doing what we think is right or possible for us. I suppose that I have my own hypersensitivity to some topics that others do not share and I wade in as a naysayer, dissenter or perhaps even a moderate on a good day.

[Paul Wunder]

+1 John coloccia
+1 Greg Peterson
+1 Paul Cahill

I also have a Dyson 1100 Pro. I wouldn't be without it. The cost is miniscule compared to my total shop investment.

We all make choices to suit our priorities. My priorities include preventing lung damage

[David Hostetler]

The company that does air quality monitoring for our offices uses a DC1100 Pro. I wish I could take it home for the weekend. Actually I wish like crazy I could get in on one of those group buys on one of them. I really need to keep tabs on what my changes in dust hoods etc are doing impact wise...

While I do agree that living in an urban area, particularly with certain known polluting industries, highways, rail etc... makes the air OUTSIDE often far dirtier than the air in our shops, it is still best to know if your efforts are paying off.

[John Coloccia]

The company that does air quality monitoring for our offices uses a DC1100 Pro. I wish I could take it home for the weekend. Actually I wish like crazy I could get in on one of those group buys on one of them. I really need to keep tabs on what my changes in dust hoods etc are doing impact wise...

While I do agree that living in an urban area, particularly with certain known polluting industries, highways, rail etc... makes the air OUTSIDE often far dirtier than the air in our shops, it is still best to know if your efforts are paying off.

My counts go up when I open the door....LOL.

[Jim Neeley]

Jeeze, John... Sounds like you've got the perfect answer to the "Why do you send so much time in the shop?"... "for my good health". Of course, if she misinterpreted the meaning, that alone could be bad for your health! <g>

[Chris Fournier]

My counts go up when I open the door....LOL.

This is ultimately my point about taking dust concerns to this level. My dialogue in this thread appears to have been as annoying as unseen particulate. A feisty day for me and I hope that my apology will be accepted.

Oddly enough when I began making guitars (my first woodworking venture) I had the same experience of being caked with dust and nose blowing well into the night. A few nights I had really done a job and lying on my back I realised that I was congested enough to actually panic a bit. Thank god I have a big mouth and could keep it wide open otherwise I would have suffocated. It took a few events like this to get me thinking about dust and actually start to spend some of my shop $$$ on dust collection and filtration.

While not a Dylos owner I have taken the time to use a smoke generator on running equipment to examine where collection is not effective. Not perfect perhaps but easier to see than dust - trends show up. An HVAC friend helped me with this and it was fun and instructive to say the least. Shrouding and direct evacuation pathways are likely the best efforts made towards a dust free(er) shop. I would never poo poo a filtration unit in a woodshop, as long as it's maintained regularly.

In the end we can be chasing our tails, with our heads bent down looking at our equipment for fines generation when our open shop doors are covering our backs with the with said fines. Accepting this fact is the "context" that I am talking about.

As an aside I think that new carpet, furniture and household cleaners in my home environment may well be the killers that get me before my shop dust ever does. Statistics Canada puts me at ease a bit when it reports that lifespans are increasing not decreasing in our country and for the most part we live in dirty, polluted urban areas.

[John Coloccia]

Just FYI, Chris. I didn't intend to make an operating room in my shop. I don't even follow Bill Pentz's suggestions of modifying my tools for 6" ports. I didn't do anything special other than note when my particle counts climbed during operations and track down the problem (and there was usually a problem). Where I can't do anything about it other than major modifications an hassle, I wear my Airstream. I bought that when I was turning because all the sanding kicks up enormous amounts of dust and I need to wear a faceshield anyway (any turner who's done bowls undoubtedly have scars on their faceshield or head from items flying apart at one time or another). It's so convenient and comfortable, I don't mind wearing it for other operations as well.

I also run my air cleaner regularly when I know I'm performing dusty operations, and I usually leave it running on the built in timer for an hour or two when I leave the shop. Again, nothing but a push of the button. I go down to my shop now and I don't have that haze of dust anymore. Dust doesn't collect on all the horizontal surfaces anymore. I didn't do anything wild or nutty but I DID monitor what was going on and fix problems as they come up, problems that I never would have known about any other way. Now, I open the door and the air inside is cleaner than outside. I live in the middle of the woods. I have pollen and things like that out the wazoo so I HOPE it's cleaner in the shop than outside!

No joy sucked, and no great efforts. Just recognition and monitoring of what was going on. It really doesn't take much provided you design the system sensibly from the beginning. I break all the "rules" and still do well. I don't have to follow the rules because I have a meter that tells me what works and what doesn't. Honestly I've thought about it more in the last day or two than I have in the last couple of years. It's less of a hassle than sharpening by far!

I hope that makes sense.

[Chris Fournier]

Makes perfect sense!

I'm more of a dust Nazi lately but I truly think that it stems from a "tidy Heidi" streak in me more than a respiratory concern - I don' get the wood boogers anymore.

The hand operations like laminate trimmers are the real source of trouble for me nowadays but as you point out the lathe is also a real dust flinger. Someone mentioned to me that he'd has success by boxing in the lathe ways and effectively turning them into a collection manifold. He says that the dust and chips get extracted quite well. May depend on the swing of the lathe but I'd like to try it out with a cardboard and duct tape prototype to see.