Clarke,

Some friendly criticisms that may be helpful to you in the future and
hopefully you'll accept them in that tone.

Someone may in-fact have asked you to make this post. Would you care to
inform us who it is that is so interested in our health so we can thank
them?

Your cause is time honored and a worthy one - good ole free-enterprise
riding on the back of someone else's work.

Several observations for you to consider. Fine-tune your marketing skills;
shorten your sales-pitch; and simplify your web site presentation. You have
about 3 seconds to capture our attention with your web presence or we're
gone. Think about adding some informative pictures or graphics, succinct
descriptions and some white-space.

A quick synopsis of your web site: $190 gets you a bag of bolts, and some
formed sheet metal, plans and its called a kit.

No motor, no fan, no mounting hardware, filters, ducting, wiring etc.
Perhaps I missed it, your site can be confusing but what is the final cost
of a cyclone of yours as compared to an Oneida and others of similar size -
all decked out and ready to go?

You may have an excellent product and the price may be a great deal for what
you're selling but you don't make it easy to figure that out. Some of us
don't want to know everything there is to know about air filtration and how
to extract the last micron of dust. We want a system and would like to see
some real-world comparisons since not to many hobbyist woodworkers get the
opportunity to compare DC systems. As you're well aware, info is sometimes
sketchy or overly technical, it can be hard to correlate to real-world needs
and comparisons are expected.

Tell us why yours is better (prove it), what features it has, available
options, warranty, availability, and costs. Present it so it doesn't sound
like a mad scientist is trying to tell us we're all going to die because we
have some dust-bunnies in our shops.

Some infomercials actually do convey useful information. I think you missed
the mark but I sure am willing to read a post that is presented properly and
fairly. If you think you have a better mouse trap - I'm interested in
learning more about it but I really don't need any more snake oil today -
thank you.

Bob S.


"Clarke Echols" wrote in message
...
I have received requests to post my observations about dust collection
to the WRECK for the benefit of the requesters and others readers of the
group.

I see a lot of discussion about bag-type dust collectors, overhead
dust filters, and trash-can separators. Most of these discussions
ignore the severe health hazards that come from not properly collecting
and processing the extremely fine dust that comes from table saws,
sanding, and other wooodworking activities.

I was looking for an inexpensive bag-type collector last year when
I encountered Bill Pentz's web site at

http://cnets.net/~eclectic/woodworki...lone/index.cfm

and read of his experience with severe asthma and his near-fatal encounter
with fine wood dust. My experience with cutting MDF on my Unisaw quickly
convinced me he was not exaggerating at all, and I decided to build a
cyclone using his design. I commend his site to everyone's careful
perusal. EVERY woodworker, serious or casual hobbyist, owes to himself
(or herself), spouse, family, and others to be well-informed about the
DANGERS to life and health that come from working with wood and being
around wood dust!

After working with Bill, who has done more research on the subject
than probably nearly anybody on planet earth, for much of the last
year, I have a radically broadened view of dust collection, and am
now manufacturing kit cyclones at his invitation that are based on
his exceptional design work. I am the only person authorized to do
so (other than if one builds his design for personal use):

( http://cnets.net/~eclectic/woodworki...larkesKits.cfm )

After firing up my own cyclone and actually using it, I have some
observations from the "real world".

AVOID AIR FILTER "SOLUTIONS"! Putting an air filter up to recirculate the
air and filter it as it passes through is like taking a 5-gallon bottle
of muddy water, pumping it through a filter at one pint per minute, then
returning the filtered water to the bottle. How long would it take for
the water to be perfectly clear if you have an agitator in the water that
keeps the dirt from settling out? With one water-change per 40 minutes,
how many water changes to get it all out? A very many! Yet that's
what you are doing to the air in your shop when you rely on an air filter
unit to clean up the air. It is virtually impossible to eliminate dust
from your shop air by using an overhead air filter. You might reduce
it, but the fine dust is more dangerous to your health than the course
dust caught by bag-type dust collectors!

The ONLY way to get rid of dust in the shop and properly protect your
lungs is to have an ADEQUATE collector that separates the dust from the
air (only cyclones can do this very well), then filters the air at not
more than 0.5 micron, or better yet, 0.3 or 0.2 micron with filters
that are at least 99.97% efficient. If the cyclone doesn't remove nearly
all of the micro-fine dust before it goes to the blower, the fine dust
will plug the filters in short order, and if it doesn't have especially
low static pressure loss through the cyclone, you won't have much
left to power the system, especially if you don't have a 14" blower that
can carry at least 1000 CFM against 9 or 10" of static pressure (which
requires a 5-HP motor, not a 1-1/2 or 2-HP blower -- you can't violate
the fundamental laws of physics).

A 10" table saw requires at least 900 CFM (500 CFM or more below
and 300 or more above) to capture enough air around the machine to
keep fine dust from getting into the external air in the room. The
dust-laden air can then be processed, cleaned and returned to the room
without filling the air with fine dust. (Bill's site has a page on the
required CFM for various kinds of tools and machines.)

The units I've been designing and manufacturing under license from Bill
Pentz use highly effective air-flow management to get the really fine
dust out inside the cyclone so it can be used with high-efficiency
micro-fine
filters. The design also minimizes static pressure (some competing
cyclones have internal static-pressure drops ranging from 2-4 times
as much pressure loss as this design), and excessive static pressure
loss through the cyclone really damages the ability of the system
to perform as it must.

The cost for a complete installation of a quality system is about
what you'd pay for a new Kirby or Rainbow household vacuum cleaner, if
even that much. If a good system were to save a few weeks in the
hospital allow you to escape spending the rest of your life suffering
from asthma, allergies, emphysema, or cancer, it would be a priceless
value.

Whether you get my system or another is not important. What IS important
is that you take some serious time and really understand the importance
of doing the job RIGHT the first time (it's always cheaper that way in the
long run), even if you have to postpone buying some other neato tool
you just HAVE to have. Take a few hours and study the material on Bill's
site and get informed about the real issues related to dust collections,
and understand the principles behind proper dust collection before you
start spending your hard-earned cash.

If you have other questions, feel free to contact me by private email.

Clarke