Dust Collection Performance using Dylos Meter

[Greg Funk]

I received my Dyloc DC1100 today so I thought I would run a few tests. Following are the results:

House

In the morning I took measurements in the Kitchen and Master Bedroom. Both were between about 28-35 for the 1um reading and around 3-5 for the 5um.

Later in the evening after dinner the kitchen reading had gone up to just over 100. I let it run for a couple of hours and it dropped to around 50. No idea why it went up so high.

Workshop

I have a 2HP Taiwanese cyclone in a room separate from the main shop. Air returns through 2 - 2'x2'x4" filters.
When I started the test the shop had about the same reading as my house (33/4). I turned on the dust collector and noticed the readings went up within a few minutes to a peak of 115/21. I had lunch and came back in about an hour and the reading was down to (29/1).

My worst dust generator is the Unisaw so I took a 14" long piece of 1" fir and cut 23 - 1/16" strips. The readings peaked in about 5 minutes to (2817/648). I then left the shop with the dust collector on to see how long it would take to get the air quality back to normal. After 90 minutes the readings were back down to (33/2).

For the next test I turned off the dust collector and cut another 23 strips. This time the readings peaked at (6048/1941). Again I left the shop and waited however this time I left the DC off. As you can see in the attached graphs after 1 hour the readings were still just above the peak readings I obtained with the DC on. As I was impatient I turned the DC back on about 95 minutes after making the cuts. About 80 minutes later the readings were back down to (35/0).

I left the DC running and found the best readings I obtained were 17/0 which is better than inside my house.

The attached graphs show the particle counts over a 6 hour period for both the 1 and 5um particles. Both graphs use the same data but are plotted on log and linear scales. The straight lines of the log graphs confirm that the dust particle counts decrease exponentially over time and much faster with the DC on. The left scale is for the 1um counts and the right scale is for 5um.

Hopefully others will post their data once they receive their meters.

Greg

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Greg, what do you use for dust collection on the unisaw? What are you using for a filter on your cyclone? And, do you think the room divider filters make a lot of difference?

[Greg Funk]

Greg, what do you use for dust collection on the unisaw? What are you using for a filter on your cyclone? And, do you think the room divider filters make a lot of difference?

Good questions Steve.
The Unisaw is connected with a 5" port on the bottom. I have a Shark Guard but haven't installed it yet. I expect I would get rid of much of the dust once I hook it up. The cyclone filter is a 5um bag. I don't think it is very good. I don't know how effective the room filters are yet but now that I have the meter I'll be able to measure soon enough. They are rather loosely installed in a rectangular opening but not sealed around the edges.

Greg

[Mike Goetzke]

Surprising results - at least to me. From your test it looks like your cyclone is working as an air filter system. Does this mean we should let our DC systems run for some time after using a tool? I get my meter next week. I have a canister type DC and an air filtration unit. Looks like it would be interesting to try a combination of having the machines on/off.

Thanks for sharing your info,

Mike

[Phil Thien]

I hope you're going to post results w/ the SharkGuard soon. I'm not a gambling man, but I'd bet a blade that the SG will dramatically reduce that spike.

Also, what kind of heating/cooling arrangement do you have? And if it is forced air, were there any vents running?

[Greg Funk]

Mike: I was a little surprised as well. I often leave my DC on while I am working on machines but may let it run a little longer afterwards.

Phil: I agree the SG should take away most of the extra dust. The problem for me is I still use the Tablesaw a lot with a crosscut sled in which case I wouldn't have the SG connected either. I have radiant heat so not much air movement there. I normally keep the shop between 12-14 C. When I'm working in there running the tools it usually warms up a few degrees.

Greg

[Greg Peterson]

Keeping an eye on this thread.

I'm still waiting to hear from Dylos. They haven't processed my order yet. Anyone else still waiting to hear from Dylos? I don't want to contact them yet as I understand they were still trying to fulfill the orders over the weekend.

[Jack Porter]

Greg, my order has not been processed yet either.

[Art Mann]

Thank you very much! That is good information that really isn't available anywhere else. I would really like to see you post more results as time goes by.

[michael osadchuk]

greg.... thanks for posting your initial results......

an interesting aspect of the particle readings over time is the natural settling rate of particles of different sizes (and settled particles, not removed from a room, getting "stirred up" by normal human activity as well); I recall on one of these threads linked to the Dyclos purchase someone had posted a settling chart from which I jotted the following figures:

10 microns - settle in 10 minutes
5 m - settle in 40 minutes
2.5 m - settle in 2.8 hrs.
1 m - settle in 16 hrs.
.5 m - settle in 2.9 days

I also jotted down that Phil Thien saying his experience suggests that particles 1 micron and larger settle in a half hour or less.

I seems like your filters between the cyclone enclosure and the workshop are working well.

It will be interesting to see how well powered air filteration units that some of us hang from the ceiling work.

It suspect that dust collection at source is going to prove to be a "good thing" to capture the respirable particles in addition to the dust chips - presumeably we don't want to wait an hour after a table saw operation for the small particles to get collected by a dc unit/air filter or settle.

I haven't yet received by 1/5micron Dylos unit, but got a notice that it was sent Feb. 1 by US Postal Service to my Canadian home so would expect it soon.

thanks again

michael

[Greg Funk]

greg.... thanks for posting your initial results......

an interesting aspect of the particle readings over time is the natural settling rate of particles of different sizes (and settled particles, not removed from a room, getting "stirred up" by normal human activity as well); I recall on one of these threads linked to the Dyclos purchase someone had posted a settling chart from which I jotted the following figures:

10 microns - settle in 10 minutes
5 m - settle in 40 minutes
2.5 m - settle in 2.8 hrs.
1 m - settle in 16 hrs.
.5 m - settle in 2.9 days

I also jotted down that Phil Thien saying his experience suggests that particles 1 micron and larger settle in a half hour or less.

I seems like your filters between the cyclone enclosure and the workshop are working well.

It will be interesting to see how well powered air filteration units that some of us hang from the ceiling work.

It suspect that dust collection at source is going to prove to be a "good thing" to capture the respirable particles in addition to the dust chips - presumeably we don't want to wait an hour after a table saw operation for the small particles to get collected by a dc unit/air filter or settle.

I haven't yet received by 1/5micron Dylos unit, but got a notice that it was sent Feb. 1 by US Postal Service to my Canadian home so would expect it soon.

thanks again

michael

Thanks for the comments Michael.

Part of the reason I ran these tests was to determine whether I should upgrade by DC system. I have all of my pipes under the slab and they are not layed out in the most efficient pattern. As a result my system has a fair amount of static pressure losses and the cyclone I am using is marginal. It seems to keep the pipes clear although I can run into problems if I let too many wood 'strips' or bigger pieces of wood into the collector. I had to reach down into the pipes and manually pull out some sticks that weren't getting pulled up once.

In any case I'm not really convinced now that a more powerful DC would make much of a difference. I can't really see it preventing sawdust from coming off the top of the tablesaw. Maybe it would clear the air a little quicker afterwards. I'll wait and see what some other users post.

Greg

[Rich S Kelly]

I received my Dylos 1/5 monitor last Thursday and have taken a limited amount of readings. I have not been as thourough as Greg in recording data but thought I would throw in some of what I have observed so far. I have a 400 sq ft basement shop with a Oneida 2hp cyclone and a Jet 1000 air filter. My base readings have been in the 120/25 range. If I turn on the air filter the readings drop to around 20/ 2 within 5 minutes. I cut about 30 linear feet of melamine shelving on the table saw with the cyclone on and got readings of 1500/350. After 6 minutes of the air filter running they were 250/34. I did not observe any readings after that. After hearing of the possible poor performance of some of the cyclone external filters I took readings near mine. From the mentioned base of about 120/25 I turned the cyclone on and placed the Dylos near the filter. Readings immediately started to drop and went down into single digits for the small particles and zero for the larger. So far I have been very surprised how quickly the Jet filter clears the air and that it produces low small particle counts. Also happy so far with the limited cyclone filter data I have taken.

Once again another thank you to Phil for working up the group purchase.

Rich

[Greg Funk]

Thanks Rich,

Any idea what your outdoor measurements are?

Mine are quite high compared to indoors - 650/24. I think we are starting to see some pollen.

Greg

[Rich S Kelly]

I just went outside and got a reading. Higher than I expected showing 350/12 in Omaha, NE. That would explain somewhat the much lower readings on the second floor of the house than the first floor with the necessary door opening/closing.

Rich

[Greg Funk]

Perhaps working in the shop is not as harmful as some would have led us to believe. It appears the air is significantly cleaner in the shop than outdoors.

Greg