Dust Buster

[hazmail]

 

I have been fighting that perennial lure builders dust problem for what seems like forever, and about a year back I thought I had it beat with a double 'cyclone' filter and a third automotive style filter in the vacuum cleaner, but NO, I was still blowing clods of dust from my more than adequate nose.

 

I disc sand all my blanks (so these are semi "hand carved" ) , this dust from the sander is very fine (like talc), so in the past 3 months I have been taking a different tack and have installed a ducted system on my sander and band saw (with 'blast gates'), where the dust is sucked away through 10cm ducts by an old (and large) evaporative cooler fan, which I have been hoarding for 'that special job' for the past 25 years.

 

These cooler fans spin pretty slow, so through a 10cm (4”) duct the 'suck' is pretty low but the volume is high, and is enough to get the finest dust away without the whining noise of a vacuum cleaner or 'cyclonic' dust extractor, just a low HUMMMM in your ears, you can even hear the phone ring.

 

With this setup I was getting all the dust away, but because it was so fine, again I was eventually getting it back with wind / fan draft etc.

 

So here is my solution , it seems to work well so far – I figured if I could just wet the dust it would drop and stick to the concrete, and when it dried it blew back at me ---- so I added a 'condenser' to catch the excess 'wet' dust which then drips into a tray, it uses about 10 L (5,5 Gal) of water / hour and so far no more 'BOOGIES' in the nose.

 

I was thinking larger ducting would be better but stuck with the10cm (4”) because - 1. I don't have the space and- 2. I think the air speed may be too high for the small amount of mister water to 'wet' the dust -

 

Air speed = in 8m/s—out 1.5m/s -- (OR --In 25' /sec ---- Out 5'/sec) –Reduced flow out is due to large exhaust duct = 34cm (apx
14”)

I have been using this for about 2 months now and it eats that deadly fine dust, just throw it on the garden when you have finished.

 

If I had the space I would use 15 Cm duct (6”) to increase the in flow, for saws etc.

 

Pete

 

Ducting

 

I used a lot of irrigation bits

 

Micro Spray head/nozzles( and collected dust (w/o condenser)

 

Dust trapped in water before condenser

 

With condenser screen

 

Dust after fitting condenser screen

 

Dry dust in screen

 

Edited March 31, 2013 by hazmail

[Finnsurance]

Great set up Hazmail it has to be way better on the lungs

Is the condenser just connected strait to the tap ? To keep a constant flow

Thanks

[hazmail]

No mate the air/ sanding dust mix passes out through the yellow duct where there are 8 micro water spray nozzles, the water vapour coming out of these nozzles saturates any dust passing through it, it then condenses in the gauze (water and dust) and drops into the bin below- should have explained this better--

If you look closely at the pics (without the gauze) you can see the water vapour/spray exiting the duct.

Pete

[Vodkaman]

A well thought out solution - good engineering

 

Dave

[RayburnGuy]

Great build Pete.

 

Ben

[hazmail]

Thanks Dave / Ben, sometimes you play with an idea for so long, you assume everyone else is on the same plane, and you don't have to explain anything       .  Now back to that 'test tank', still looking for a suitable tank  .

Pete

[geomel1518]

Add a humidifier to your room in most wood shops they blow steam Into the shop

[kelly]

Not a bad idea I like the way you think like a mad scientist with just the right amount of common sense.