dust extractor advice....

[hsvls1255]

before i start my next project, can you guys help with some advice on dust extractors.
just spent the whole day cleaning th garage to get rid of all the dust.....

are those vacuum cleaner types what you should look for.
thanks

[ozwinner]

Hi
All depend on the type, and size of your machinery.
There are many threads on this BB, so a search is a good place to start.

Al

[Bob Willson]

If you do decide to use a shop vacuum then just go to your local dump and get a vacuum from their recycling shop. Cost about $5.

I just bought a great one from there, emptied the bag, bashed the filter clean, plugged it in and it all worked first go. It is as new. Why would somebody throw away a $400 vacuum cleaner?

They also sometimes have those wet/dry type vacuums. These are really good if you can get one of these as they generally use a small drum for the waste and it is very easy to clean as well as having much larger than average capacity.

[outback]

As Oz says, depends on the equipment being dust extracted. Little hand held tools only need little dump procurred vac. Make yerself a little cyclone, they are drop dead easy to make but save heaps of time emptying the bag in the vac.

Big machines need big vac, you'll need a dedicated dust extractor, the advice I received when researching this \was to go for a 2hp economy model, available from carbatec, Hare & Forbes, MIK etc. Hook this up to a big cyclone, run some ducting, add some blast gates and Bob's yer Aunty.

Do a few searches for udst extractors, cyclones, ducting. You'll find heaps of info.

[hsvls1255]

it is mainly for user with my table saw ( portable dewalt) and router.

you have to admidt, i was cutting rabbets in MDF and boy do those things creat some dust....:(

i was looking at the carbatech site and thos big mothers, can you connect them straight up to your machinary with hoses???

[TOMARTOM]

I agree with Bob, I picked up an old Shop Vac for $5 at a garage sale and It still works some 3 years later, it is good because it has a metal cannister which is a fair capacity, noisy though.

For dedicated machinery you need a different type of extractor, there is a god website something like Bill Pentz, maybee somebody else can help me out.

regards

tony

[Guy]

Just got myself a Festool CT33E dust extractor, expensive but i need to use as i do work in restaurants doing repairs

[Bob Willson]

As this is for your table saw, a dump vacuum won't cut it.

Do as Outback suggests and do a search on this site for cyclones. We have had extensive discussions and several members have posted details on what they have done.

Soundmans excellent cyclone (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7577)

Hems great drawing of Sturdees cyclone (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?s=&postid=42513#post42513)

And another USA one (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3749&perpage=15&highlight=gallon%20and%20drum&pagenumber=10)

[outback]

You can connect the "big mothers" directly to a machine via hoses, (Carbatec do a pretty mean kit).

But the bige problem is the dust created, especially from MDF which is ultra nasty on the nasty scale, won't all be contained within the collection bag.

the really really fine stuff, stuff we can't see, goes straight through the bag, gets blown around for a bit, then we breathe it in. By coincidence, it's this real fine stuff that is the most dangerous to us, and makes us really really crook.

You need to check out ways to handle this, like exhaust outside, ( not recomended if you're close to neighbours, the house etc. for obvious reasons) or using a real scmick filter.

[soundman]

Do a search of this forum on dust extraction & you will be burried in responses. posts for days.

[Red neck]

Build a ‘lean-to’ outside your shed and install a Carba-tec 2hp model or similar. Cut a hole through the wall of your shed to run your duct. The 2hp machine will service a jointer and a table-saw. If you need to hook up any more machinery, install a duct system with blast gates connected to your machines. Carba-tec sell 1.5 micron bags for around $130 and these are somewhat cleaner than the standard 30 micron bag that comes with most machines.

A 1hp machine is okay for single machines as long as you keep the duct short but that means having the sucker in your shed. Fine dust will leave the top bag and permeate the working environment.

I can recommend a good primer titled “Woodshop Dust Control” by Sandor Nagyszalanczy: The Taunton Press.

If you would rather tinker with sheet metal than generate saw dust you could follow some of the posts on ‘cyclone systems’ but I’m not convinced that the end result is worth the tinkering!

[hsvls1255]

with the fine dust particle, cant you just put a garbage bag inside the bag that catches the dust on the machines, this way it should be impermiable to even the smaller particles.

this solutions seems to simple to be true understand i have never seen one of these so i do not know how they work. i would probable end up getting this one:

carbatec FM-300 (http://svc010.bne011i.server-web.com/catalogue/carbatec2/cache/header-705public__0-0.html?cache=no)

how does it work, i assume the bottom bag is where the dust gets collected, what is the top bag for

[journeyman Mick]

hsvwhatever,
all that air that's being sucked up by the machine has got to go somewhere - it goes out through the weave of the bags. So if you put an impermeable bag inside the cloth bag it would be interesting to say the least! A big bang and lots of dust everywhere! (Or a nasty little bang as the motor expires:( )

Mick

[Red neck]

As Mick said, the air flows in one end, with your dust particles, and flows out the other end, through the top bag, filtering the dust particles in the process. The larger particles fall into the bottom bag where they are emptied. Seal off the top bag and you stop the airflow. The weave has to be sufficiently coarse to allow the air to flow and sufficiently fine to filter out most of the dust, question is how fine?

There is a tendency to move towards oversize bags to increase the filter area and allow better airflow through finer weaves. Alternatively cartridge filters will also provide considerably more filter area due to their folded design – some manufacturers say 700 times more filter area! Be prepared to shell out three or four times the cost of a needle-felt bag for a cartridge filter.

Best option, park the thing outside the shed.

[Wayne Davy]

The site that Tony mentions is Bill Pentz's in the USA which you can find here
http://cnets.net/~eclectic/woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm

If anyone is interested in Dust Control, it is a must read. But make sure you are quick to do so as Bill has put up a statement that he may close the site (due to ill health and the financial burden of running it) !!

It is a massive read but well worth the time imho.