Dust Collection

[Sycamore67]

I recently posted the outdoor air pollution levels as we have had a lot of smoke from the Canadian Wildfires and showed unhealthy levels.

I measured it with one like this that I saw on Amazon with the description and was about $49

"HOTKREM Air Quality Monitor pm2.5 pm10 pm1.0 Detector Indoor air Quality Test kit for Cars,Home,Office,Hotel etc (PM2.5,AQI)"

Similar are available on Ebay for lower prices.

I tried placing right next to my Hegner scroll saw and cut 1/4' Baltic Birch.  The higher number was with my vacuum off and lower with it on. It shows the value of using dust collection on your saw especially if you are sawing for a long time.  The smaller dust particles that are 1 um and smaller are not visible but still dangerous to your health especially if you are older.  

Next, I placed it beside my small belt sander and the numbers were very high as expected.

 

Lastly, I placed it on my table saw and cut off the edge of 1/2 plywood several times with the following results.

Kind of as expected, the belt sander was the worst for putting unhealthy dust in the air and points out that I need to get some dust collection on it.  As a comparison, here is the air quality I experienced outside this week.  It is worse for the PM2.5 than most things in my shop.

[James E. Welch]

This is great information.  

Check out my thread on my 3d printed solution. I might need to invest in a measurement device . 

[Sycamore67]

I have read your  thread about the 3d part.  That is one great solution.  Several of us have built dust collection in other ways which are quite effective.   There is always several ways to solve a problem.

[James E. Welch]

I agree. There are definitely many ways to solve the problem. 

[Joe W.]

This works well for me connected to my bandsaw . . . 

[BadBob]

How do you know the double bucket thing works? I have watched many videos about this, and none show the internal bucket after the vacuum intake has been restricted for more than a few seconds. I have a Dustopper and started with the double bucket. When I hooked it up to my scroll, the internal bucket wadded up. Not just collapsed a little, crushed. The problem is that the Homer buckets are too thin for this application.

[Sycamore67]

There are all sorts of ways to capture dust and I encourage everyone to do the best they can.  Personally, I use a HEPA rated vacuum for my scroll saw and smaller sanding operations.  I also have an air cleaner.

The point of this thread is to point out how much dust is put in the air by scrolling, sanding or table saw.  Very few people will actually measure dust levels.  You can not see the smaller particles such as 10 microns and down but they are present in large numbers  and getting into your lungs.  

[kmmcrafts]

Thanks for showing this info. I had posted on several social sites to my followers about the box fan / furnace filter if the smoke from those fires was bothering them. Not everyone has central air to run where the air is going through a furnace filter and I thought running a box fan with a allergen filter could be a cheap alternative to help clean the air in their homes. 

As for my shop, I have a dust collection system on my Excalibur and working on building system for the other saws. That being said, all my systems are not quality vacuum systems and the Seyco Scroll Saw Dust system is a big culprit to blowing some of that dust right back into the shop.. so I have at the moment stopped using it.. While it is cleaning up the air / floor etc of the larger dust it is also spewing the very fine stuff throughout the shop in the air, I run a box fan filter and a ceiling mounted Grizzly air filter but these two still do not catch all of it. Though it's better than nothing at all or is it?  Would that fine dust get blown all through the whole shop like it does if I didn't have the vacuum spewing it out the exhaust? I have been wanting to get a quality vacuum made for this with a hepa filter such as a Festool or Fein and now that I have seen the results of these cheaper vacuums spewing it back into the air getting one of the "good" vacuums is on my top priority list for the next tool. I posted in the thread about the 3D dust port about the collection system is only as good as the vacuum / extractor. 

That all being said, even with dust collection running etc, I still wear a dust mask.. might not be an issue so much for someone in the shop for only a hour a day but I'm hours a day every day so I wear one of these https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/elipse-p100-dust-mask.aspx Even though I don't really see a big dust mess in the air or in the shop I do get a lot of real fine dust stuck in the filter of the mask and have to change the filter monthly. 

I might have to invest into one of those testers. Never knew there was such a thing. 

 

[BadBob]

5 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

I might have to invest into one of those testers. Never knew there was such a thing. 

Where I live, there may be more small particles outside than in my shop.  I have been considering getting one just to satisfy my curiosity.

[James E. Welch]

15 minutes ago, BadBob said:

Where I live, there may be more small particles outside than in my shop.  I have been considering getting one just to satisfy my curiosity.

Are you getting the smoke from those Canadian wildfires? I the pictures I've seen make it seem pretty bad. 

[BadBob]

1 hour ago, James E. Welch said:

Are you getting the smoke from those Canadian wildfires? I the pictures I've seen make it seem pretty bad. 

No, I'm in Tallahassee, Florida. However, we have had similar issues with fires in the past. Mostly I was referring to pollen. We have something blooming year-round. The pollen index is almost always high, and there is lots of dust from other sources.

 

[James E. Welch]

11 minutes ago, BadBob said:

No, I'm in Tallahassee, Florida. However, we have had similar issues with fires in the past. Mostly I was referring to pollen. We have something blooming year-round. The pollen index is almost always high, and there is lots of dust from other sources.

 

I'm in Louisiana, I definitely understand the pollen issue. Between that and this heat it has been terrible lately. 

[kmmcrafts]

17 hours ago, BadBob said:

Where I live, there may be more small particles outside than in my shop.  I have been considering getting one just to satisfy my curiosity.

Me too, I live on a gravel road in the middle of nowhere woods with farms all around that are cutting hay etc. The cleanest air we get is in the winter when the air is also frozen and hurts to breath, LOL

[TAIrving]

I also did not know about the air quality monitors, might have to invest in one for my shop.  I worry about the fine dust and want to know.

I had a cheap shop vac "dust pump" and eventually bought a HEPA rated shop vac that really made a noticeable difference.  Amazon.com: Vacmaster Pro 8 gallon Certified Hepa Filtration Wet/Dry Vac : Everything Else  I see that the price has gone up since I bought mine.  I can see the difference in the visible sawdust and would like to know the status of the fine, invisible dust, the stuff we breath.  

[Joe W.]

On 7/1/2023 at 5:17 AM, BadBob said:

How do you know the double bucket thing works?

So far, it has worked well for me in sucking up all/most of the bandsaw dust when I cut a couple of pieces of wood just after I got the bandsaw.
I haven't had the occasion for the intake to get clogged/stopped up, but will experiment with it and see what happens.
I had a couple of unused buckets sitting around collecting dust, saw this video and decided to give it a try.
I'm just about done helping a friend flip a house and am looking forward to getting back in the garage and giving the bandsaw and dust collector a good workout.  Will post more about it if I have encounter problems.