I'm concerned about the dust hazard in my shop and am trying to make
my shop more dust-proof and have done the following:
- Built a cyclone dc.
- Built a ambient dust collector to filter the dust floating in the
air.
- Just bought a Trend Airshield Pro to protect my face/lungs.

Now, I am wanting to exhaust as much dust to the outside of my shop as
possible. I searched the Internet for information on exhaust fans
similar to the ones used by sawmills, but they are expensive and
large. I'm also thinking about venting the dust/chips from my cyclone
dc outside. My shop is 24x32x8 high and in the country, so dust
discharged outside shouldn't be a problem. I may make a collection box
outside to collect the dust/chips if I go that route.

My questions:
1. Can I build a exhaust fan unit to discharge dusty air from my shop
to the outside? If so, how large a fan and does it have to be a slow-
speed fan? Or will a gable vent fan work?
2. Is it O.K. To do away with the collection bin located below the
cyclone? And do away with the filters? And just have everything go
outside?

Rob

Hi,

I don't have a dust collector, and I do have a dusty shop, so I'm sure
not an expert.

It sounds like you are doing everything right, so you should have only
limited dust. A DC and an ambient filter should give you a lot of
improvement. Clearly not enuf.

I've got an Trend facemask, and love it! Wonderful invention, simple,
and yet really effective. My friend was busy burning up a Dremel tool
when he was working with me (it was smokin) and I didn't even smell it
until I took off the mask.

Where is your dust coming from? From most machines, a good connection
to a DC should get most of it. Is your DC working properly with enuf
pressure drop and volume to collect the dust at the source? And,
with a lathe, it seems to be impossible to catch all the dust that it
generates.

It's a lot easier to trap the dust at it's source than try to deal
with all the air in the shop. If you exhaust all the dusty air from
your shop, you will be exhausting all your shop heat/cooling and you
will be working at outside temperatures. A good ventilation system
should completely exhaust the volume of your shop about 6 or seven
times an hour, IIRC.

24 x 32 x 8 x 7/60 equals 760 cfm of air to move, plus allowances for
fan efficiency and static pressure when you are sizing the fan.

My shop is 12 x 24, and I find that very little dust from my lathe at
one end travels to my bench at the other. Would you be ahead to
separate the dusty parts with a partition (or just a curtain) and
exhaust the he!! out of that area, and not worry about the rest? At
least you'd need a smaller exhaust fan. If you put the dust producing
area under negative pressure, you'd keep the dust from flowing to the
rest of the shop.

Sorry didn't answer your questions directly, but that's as much as I
know. There have to be smarter people than me out there.

OIld Guy



On May 2, 7:28*pm, wrote:
*I'm concerned about the dust hazard in my shop and am trying to make
my shop more dust-proof and have done the following:
- Built a cyclone dc.
- Built a ambient dust collector to filter the dust floating in the
air.
- Just bought a Trend Airshield Pro to protect my face/lungs.

Now, I am wanting to exhaust as much dust to the outside of my shop as
possible. I searched the Internet for information on exhaust fans
similar to the ones used by sawmills, but they are expensive and
large. I'm also thinking about venting the dust/chips from my cyclone
dc outside. My shop is 24x32x8 high and in the country, so dust
discharged outside shouldn't be a problem. I may make a collection box
outside to collect the dust/chips if I go that route.

My questions:
1. Can I build a exhaust fan unit to discharge dusty air from my shop
to the outside? If so, how large a fan and does it have to be a slow-
speed fan? Or will a gable vent fan work?
2. Is it O.K. To do away with the collection bin located below the
cyclone? And do away with the filters? And just have everything go
outside?

Rob

I didn't post when I first read your question, but I too thought if you were
working in your shop during cooler/hotter temps you'd be loosing all of your
heat/cool air. If you live in a humid area (as I do in KY), you'd also be
increasing your humidity in you shop. I've a concrete floor and I've had
reason to vent my garage before (to remove some potetially bad fumes) and my
floor began sweating pretty heavily (not to mention some of the humidity
that settled on my tools). I think you'd be much better off building a means
of returning your clean air back to your shop. Grandad built a DC that
pulled all his dust/chips outside the shop and then returned the cleaned air
back to the shop. He lost a small amount of heat during the winter since the
air was being moved outside, but not to the extent that he was pulling huge
amounts of cold air into the shop.
The heat loss or cool air loss might not be a big concern to you, but the
humidity (if it exists) should be.

Just my thoughts,
JD

--
He that will make a good use of any part
of his life must allow a large portion of it
to recreation.
- John Locke

"Old Guy" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I don't have a dust collector, and I do have a dusty shop, so I'm sure
not an expert.

It sounds like you are doing everything right, so you should have only
limited dust. A DC and an ambient filter should give you a lot of
improvement. Clearly not enuf.

I've got an Trend facemask, and love it! Wonderful invention, simple,
and yet really effective. My friend was busy burning up a Dremel tool
when he was working with me (it was smokin) and I didn't even smell it
until I took off the mask.

Where is your dust coming from? From most machines, a good connection
to a DC should get most of it. Is your DC working properly with enuf
pressure drop and volume to collect the dust at the source? And,
with a lathe, it seems to be impossible to catch all the dust that it
generates.

It's a lot easier to trap the dust at it's source than try to deal
with all the air in the shop. If you exhaust all the dusty air from
your shop, you will be exhausting all your shop heat/cooling and you
will be working at outside temperatures. A good ventilation system
should completely exhaust the volume of your shop about 6 or seven
times an hour, IIRC.

24 x 32 x 8 x 7/60 equals 760 cfm of air to move, plus allowances for
fan efficiency and static pressure when you are sizing the fan.

My shop is 12 x 24, and I find that very little dust from my lathe at
one end travels to my bench at the other. Would you be ahead to
separate the dusty parts with a partition (or just a curtain) and
exhaust the he!! out of that area, and not worry about the rest? At
least you'd need a smaller exhaust fan. If you put the dust producing
area under negative pressure, you'd keep the dust from flowing to the
rest of the shop.

Sorry didn't answer your questions directly, but that's as much as I
know. There have to be smarter people than me out there.

OIld Guy



On May 2, 7:28 pm, wrote:
I'm concerned about the dust hazard in my shop and am trying to make
my shop more dust-proof and have done the following:
- Built a cyclone dc.
- Built a ambient dust collector to filter the dust floating in the
air.
- Just bought a Trend Airshield Pro to protect my face/lungs.

Now, I am wanting to exhaust as much dust to the outside of my shop as
possible. I searched the Internet for information on exhaust fans
similar to the ones used by sawmills, but they are expensive and
large. I'm also thinking about venting the dust/chips from my cyclone
dc outside. My shop is 24x32x8 high and in the country, so dust
discharged outside shouldn't be a problem. I may make a collection box
outside to collect the dust/chips if I go that route.

My questions:
1. Can I build a exhaust fan unit to discharge dusty air from my shop
to the outside? If so, how large a fan and does it have to be a slow-
speed fan? Or will a gable vent fan work?
2. Is it O.K. To do away with the collection bin located below the
cyclone? And do away with the filters? And just have everything go
outside?

Rob

On May 3, 9:06 am, "JD" wrote:
I didn't post when I first read your question, but I too thought if you were
working in your shop during cooler/hotter temps you'd be loosing all of your
heat/cool air. If you live in a humid area (as I do in KY), you'd also be
increasing your humidity in you shop. I've a concrete floor and I've had
reason to vent my garage before (to remove some potetially bad fumes) and my
floor began sweating pretty heavily (not to mention some of the humidity
that settled on my tools). I think you'd be much better off building a means
of returning your clean air back to your shop. Grandad built a DC that
pulled all his dust/chips outside the shop and then returned the cleaned air
back to the shop. He lost a small amount of heat during the winter since the
air was being moved outside, but not to the extent that he was pulling huge
amounts of cold air into the shop.
The heat loss or cool air loss might not be a big concern to you, but the
humidity (if it exists) should be.

Just my thoughts,
JD

--
He that will make a good use of any part
of his life must allow a large portion of it
to recreation.
- John Locke
"Old Guy" wrote in message

...
Hi,

I don't have a dust collector, and I do have a dusty shop, so I'm sure
not an expert.

It sounds like you are doing everything right, so you should have only
limited dust. A DC and an ambient filter should give you a lot of
improvement. Clearly not enuf.

I've got an Trend facemask, and love it! Wonderful invention, simple,
and yet really effective. My friend was busy burning up a Dremel tool
when he was working with me (it was smokin) and I didn't even smell it
until I took off the mask.

Where is your dust coming from? From most machines, a good connection
to a DC should get most of it. Is your DC working properly with enuf
pressure drop and volume to collect the dust at the source? And,
with a lathe, it seems to be impossible to catch all the dust that it
generates.

It's a lot easier to trap the dust at it's source than try to deal
with all the air in the shop. If you exhaust all the dusty air from
your shop, you will be exhausting all your shop heat/cooling and you
will be working at outside temperatures. A good ventilation system
should completely exhaust the volume of your shop about 6 or seven
times an hour, IIRC.

24 x 32 x 8 x 7/60 equals 760 cfm of air to move, plus allowances for
fan efficiency and static pressure when you are sizing the fan.

My shop is 12 x 24, and I find that very little dust from my lathe at
one end travels to my bench at the other. Would you be ahead to
separate the dusty parts with a partition (or just a curtain) and
exhaust the he!! out of that area, and not worry about the rest? At
least you'd need a smaller exhaust fan. If you put the dust producing
area under negative pressure, you'd keep the dust from flowing to the
rest of the shop.

Sorry didn't answer your questions directly, but that's as much as I
know. There have to be smarter people than me out there.

OIld Guy

On May 2, 7:28 pm, wrote:

I'm concerned about the dust hazard in my shop and am trying to make
my shop more dust-proof and have done the following:
- Built a cyclone dc.
- Built a ambient dust collector to filter the dust floating in the
air.
- Just bought a Trend Airshield Pro to protect my face/lungs.

Now, I am wanting to exhaust as much dust to the outside of my shop as
possible. I searched the Internet for information on exhaust fans
similar to the ones used by sawmills, but they are expensive and
large. I'm also thinking about venting the dust/chips from my cyclone
dc outside. My shop is 24x32x8 high and in the country, so dust
discharged outside shouldn't be a problem. I may make a collection box
outside to collect the dust/chips if I go that route.

My questions:
1. Can I build a exhaust fan unit to discharge dusty air from my shop
to the outside? If so, how large a fan and does it have to be a slow-
speed fan? Or will a gable vent fan work?
2. Is it O.K. To do away with the collection bin located below the
cyclone? And do away with the filters? And just have everything go
outside?

Rob

I'm not worried about the heat loss but I am my health because after I
work in the shop I cough and blow junk out of my nose for hours. The
dust problem is better than it used to be after I went to a cyclone
collector and ceiling filter unit. I'm not really worried about the
heat loss. Most of the dust I generate is from the lathe which I has a
8 inch dust hose to. I do a fair amount of woodturning and just sweep
up the shavings. Mt table saw and stationary belt sander contributes
to the dust problem and I have 4 inch collection hoses to them. So,
I'm down to thinking about exhausting everything I can outside and
collecting it there. Thanks for the suggestions

Rob

I'm not worried about the heat loss but I am my health because after I
work in the shop I cough and blow junk out of my nose for hours. The
dust problem is better than it used to be after I went to a cyclone
collector and ceiling filter unit. I'm not really worried about the
heat loss. Most of the dust I generate is from the lathe which I has a
8 inch dust hose to. I do a fair amount of woodturning and just sweep
up the shavings. Mt table saw and stationary belt sander contributes
to the dust problem and I have 4 inch collection hoses to them. So,
I'm down to thinking about exhausting everything I can outside and
collecting it there. Thanks for the suggestions

Rob

Rob -- it is much easier to filter the small amount of air you breathe than
to filter the whole shop. Instead of trying to make the shop perfect, make
it "OK" and then use a powered respirator with a HEPA filter - you will be
astounded at the improvement. I use a 3M product that is basically a hard
hat with the filter and a face shield - it's expensive but I really like it.
When I'm not making much dust, I just open the door and let a fan blow the
air outside - I found a huge difference in the dust in my sinuses when I
started using the powered respirator (specifically an Airmate, they cost
about $600) and the cost of even the best respirator is far cheaper than a
full high grade dust collection system.

If you go this way, the DC keeps things reasonably clean, the respirator
protects you, and you periodically go around and vacuum up the dust that has
settled on your stuff -


** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

In article ,
"William Noble" wrote:


I'm not worried about the heat loss but I am my health because after I
work in the shop I cough and blow junk out of my nose for hours. The
dust problem is better than it used to be after I went to a cyclone
collector and ceiling filter unit. I'm not really worried about the
heat loss. Most of the dust I generate is from the lathe which I has a
8 inch dust hose to. I do a fair amount of woodturning and just sweep
up the shavings. Mt table saw and stationary belt sander contributes
to the dust problem and I have 4 inch collection hoses to them. So,
I'm down to thinking about exhausting everything I can outside and
collecting it there. Thanks for the suggestions

Rob

Rob -- it is much easier to filter the small amount of air you breathe than
to filter the whole shop. Instead of trying to make the shop perfect, make
it "OK" and then use a powered respirator with a HEPA filter - you will be
astounded at the improvement. I use a 3M product that is basically a hard
hat with the filter and a face shield - it's expensive but I really like it.
When I'm not making much dust, I just open the door and let a fan blow the
air outside - I found a huge difference in the dust in my sinuses when I
started using the powered respirator (specifically an Airmate, they cost
about $600) and the cost of even the best respirator is far cheaper than a
full high grade dust collection system.

If you go this way, the DC keeps things reasonably clean, the respirator
protects you, and you periodically go around and vacuum up the dust that has
settled on your stuff -


** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

I use a combo system, powered respirator, DC and whole-shop air cleaner.
The combined cost would be a fraction of my cost of a lung transplant.

--
--------------------------------------------------------
Personal e-mail is the n7bsn but at amsat.org
This posting address is a spam-trap and seldom read
RV and Camping FAQ can be found at
http://www.ralphandellen.us/rv

On Fri, 2 May 2008 17:28:15 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

I'm concerned about the dust hazard in my shop and am trying to make
my shop more dust-proof and have done the following:
- Built a cyclone dc.
- Built a ambient dust collector to filter the dust floating in the
air.
- Just bought a Trend Airshield Pro to protect my face/lungs.

Now, I am wanting to exhaust as much dust to the outside of my shop as
possible. I searched the Internet for information on exhaust fans
similar to the ones used by sawmills, but they are expensive and
large. I'm also thinking about venting the dust/chips from my cyclone
dc outside. My shop is 24x32x8 high and in the country, so dust
discharged outside shouldn't be a problem. I may make a collection box
outside to collect the dust/chips if I go that route.

My questions:
1. Can I build a exhaust fan unit to discharge dusty air from my shop
to the outside? If so, how large a fan and does it have to be a slow-
speed fan? Or will a gable vent fan work?
2. Is it O.K. To do away with the collection bin located below the
cyclone? And do away with the filters? And just have everything go
outside?

Rob

Something you might consider:

I have the Jet air filter on the ceiling and was going to add an exhaust fan in
the upper wall, both for dust and to get the hot air out of the ceiling area in
summer..
I moved the filter to against the wall and am working on a vent to the outside
(block walls are a bitch) and am going to remove the inside filter from the unit
and just let it vent to the outside..

I use AC in the shop during the summer, but I'm thinking that venting the warmer
air off the ceiling (9' ceilings) will help the AC cool the shop...


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

On May 2, 8:28*pm, wrote:
*I'm concerned about the dust hazard in my shop and am trying to make
my shop more dust-proof and have done the following:
- Built a cyclone dc.
- Built a ambient dust collector to filter the dust floating in the
air.
- Just bought a Trend Airshield Pro to protect my face/lungs.

Now, I am wanting to exhaust as much dust to the outside of my shop as
possible. I searched the Internet for information on exhaust fans
similar to the ones used by sawmills, but they are expensive and

Hi Rob

I am in agreement with what Bill Noble said, "it's much easier to
filter the small amount you breath".

Not only that, but with any other way you would be breathing the dust
you are making, while you are working, until all the dust is removed
(never) from your shop.

Than there's that other thing, makeup air, as you are removing
a lot of air, where is the new air coming from ?, I can see potential
big problems, with the low-pressure created in the shop, if part of
the house, then water heater, furnace, fire-place etc, are going to
have a reverse airflow to let the air in, you know what that
means !!!!, and if it's a really tightly constructed shop,
implosion is not unthinkable, though rarely are shops that well
sealed, but ??.
Cross ventilation with open doors works well when climate is right for
it, filtering your own breathing air seems a much easier way to go.

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

large. I'm also thinking about venting the dust/chips from my cyclone
dc outside. My shop is 24x32x8 high and in the country, so dust
discharged outside shouldn't be a problem. I may make a collection box
outside to collect the dust/chips if I go that route.

My questions:
1. Can I build a exhaust fan unit to discharge dusty air from my shop
to the outside? If so, how large a fan and does it have to be a slow-
speed fan? Or will a gable vent fan work?
2. Is it O.K. To do away with the collection bin located below the
cyclone? And do away with the filters? And just have everything go
outside?

Rob