I am beginning to do some work with a Dremel type tool. Specifically, I am
doing some wood carving on pieces of raw wood, mainly juniper, aspen, and
some pine.

I saw a man who does this, and is very good at it. He had a square air
conditioner filter set up with a squirrel cage that sucked the flying
sawdust particles towards the filter.

I am concerned with the long term exposure to this dust. Soooo, I am
investigating the proper way to do this so I don't end up with wood lung or
some such thing.

To set up a cubical enclosure with the front panel out, and the suction on
the rear would limit my accessibility to the work piece. Setting up a
filter with a squirrelcage suction is no problem, but I don't think it would
catch all the debris. Putting an additional fan to blow the debris away
from me would mean that I would have a wind blowing on me constantly.
Perhaps a grid with a fan underneath it, and a suction hood over it? Maybe
a suction hose near the cutting bit, and all or some of the above?

Am I overthinking this? Maybe just a good filter to go over my mouth and
nose, but then, those become uncomfortable after a few hours.

Suggestions and experiences appreciated.

Steve.

"SteveB" wrote in message
news:xVkmf.1453$Ev.887@fed1read06...

To set up a cubical enclosure with the front panel out, and the suction on
the rear would limit my accessibility to the work piece. Setting up a
filter with a squirrelcage suction is no problem, but I don't think it
would catch all the debris. Putting an additional fan to blow the debris
away from me would mean that I would have a wind blowing on me constantly.
Perhaps a grid with a fan underneath it, and a suction hood over it?
Maybe a suction hose near the cutting bit, and all or some of the above?


You could use a down draft table for this. For example, grizzly offers
these:
http://www.grizzly.com/products/item...020&sort=price
They suck the air down around the workpiece and filter it. Many folks build
thier own using a squirrel cage motor and filters as you mention. They are
mostly used for sanding operations but would probably suit your need.

Also, you can use an air cleaner to constantly clean ambient air in a shop
to filter particles that escape your primary defense. Again, these are
commercially available or you can build your own.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/item...030&sort=price

A simple 20" box fan with a furnace filter attached to one side will help
too. Set it up so that it's pulling air from your project, filter catches
the dust, etc. I use one pretty often for sanding as well as some spray
painting. You can pick up a used fan at a thrift shop for a couple of bucks,
filters are about a buck.

John Emmons

"Frank Ketchum" wrote in message
news

"SteveB" wrote in message
news:xVkmf.1453$Ev.887@fed1read06...

To set up a cubical enclosure with the front panel out, and the suction
on
the rear would limit my accessibility to the work piece. Setting up a
filter with a squirrelcage suction is no problem, but I don't think it
would catch all the debris. Putting an additional fan to blow the
debris
away from me would mean that I would have a wind blowing on me
constantly.
Perhaps a grid with a fan underneath it, and a suction hood over it?
Maybe a suction hose near the cutting bit, and all or some of the above?


You could use a down draft table for this. For example, grizzly offers
these:
http://www.grizzly.com/products/item...020&sort=price
They suck the air down around the workpiece and filter it. Many folks
build
thier own using a squirrel cage motor and filters as you mention. They
are
mostly used for sanding operations but would probably suit your need.

Also, you can use an air cleaner to constantly clean ambient air in a shop
to filter particles that escape your primary defense. Again, these are
commercially available or you can build your own.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/item...030&sort=price

If you 're doing carving, are you getting chips, or dust? The reason I'm
asking is because I'd think the chips aren't much of a hazard to your
health, it's the fine dust that you're really concerned with. And it
wouldn't take much of a breeze (either across the table, or down-draft) to
collect the dust.

--
Clint
"SteveB" wrote in message
news:xVkmf.1453$Ev.887@fed1read06...
I am beginning to do some work with a Dremel type tool. Specifically, I am
doing some wood carving on pieces of raw wood, mainly juniper, aspen, and
some pine.

I saw a man who does this, and is very good at it. He had a square air
conditioner filter set up with a squirrel cage that sucked the flying
sawdust particles towards the filter.

I am concerned with the long term exposure to this dust. Soooo, I am
investigating the proper way to do this so I don't end up with wood lung
or some such thing.

To set up a cubical enclosure with the front panel out, and the suction on
the rear would limit my accessibility to the work piece. Setting up a
filter with a squirrelcage suction is no problem, but I don't think it
would catch all the debris. Putting an additional fan to blow the debris
away from me would mean that I would have a wind blowing on me constantly.
Perhaps a grid with a fan underneath it, and a suction hood over it?
Maybe a suction hose near the cutting bit, and all or some of the above?

Am I overthinking this? Maybe just a good filter to go over my mouth and
nose, but then, those become uncomfortable after a few hours.

Suggestions and experiences appreciated.

Steve.

"Clint" wrote in message
news:jVlmf.235978$ir4.70100@edtnps90...
If you 're doing carving, are you getting chips, or dust? The reason I'm
asking is because I'd think the chips aren't much of a hazard to your
health, it's the fine dust that you're really concerned with. And it
wouldn't take much of a breeze (either across the table, or down-draft) to
collect the dust.

--
Clint

I'm concerned about the dust from high speed die grinders. I can wear eye
protection for the chips, but some of the dust is very fine.

Steve

"SteveB" wrote in message
news:SYqmf.1684$Ev.452@fed1read06...

"Clint" wrote in message
news:jVlmf.235978$ir4.70100@edtnps90...
If you 're doing carving, are you getting chips, or dust? The reason I'm
asking is because I'd think the chips aren't much of a hazard to your
health, it's the fine dust that you're really concerned with. And it
wouldn't take much of a breeze (either across the table, or down-draft)
to collect the dust.

--
Clint

I'm concerned about the dust from high speed die grinders. I can wear eye
protection for the chips, but some of the dust is very fine.

Steve


Dust mask? WW

A local plumbing shop pulled a two speed squirrel cage from a home
heater they replaced and I got it gratis. Motor shop sold a switch
for $8.00.

On Fri, 9 Dec 2005 11:29:13 -0800, "SteveB"
wrote:

I saw a man who does this, and is very good at it. He had a square air
conditioner filter set up with a squirrel cage that sucked the flying
sawdust particles towards the filter.

On Fri, 9 Dec 2005 18:22:22 -0800, "SteveB" wrote:


"Clint" wrote in message
news:jVlmf.235978$ir4.70100@edtnps90...
If you 're doing carving, are you getting chips, or dust? The reason I'm
asking is because I'd think the chips aren't much of a hazard to your
health, it's the fine dust that you're really concerned with. And it
wouldn't take much of a breeze (either across the table, or down-draft) to
collect the dust.

--
Clint

I'm concerned about the dust from high speed die grinders. I can wear eye
protection for the chips, but some of the dust is very fine.

Steve

A good (not cheap paper) dust mask is the 1st defense... we all hate to wear
'em, but it's a good idea to...
2nd line of defense is the box fan idea, I tried it and it really wasn't as
effective as I'd like... maybe because it wasn't a classic "box" but had a cage
around it...
I boxed it in to make all the air pass through the filters and put a cheap $1
filter on the back and a good pleated filter ($5?) on the front.. works well if
it's close to the work, pointed towards an open area and you clean or change the
filters regularly...


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

SteveB wrote:
I am beginning to do some work with a Dremel type tool. Specifically, I am
doing some wood carving on pieces of raw wood, mainly juniper, aspen, and
some pine.

I saw a man who does this, and is very good at it. He had a square air
conditioner filter set up with a squirrel cage that sucked the flying
sawdust particles towards the filter.

If you do a google search on dust +carving, you come up with a slew of
links. This one http://www.razertip.com/air.htm goes into quite a bit
of detail, there are also a number of them that talk about various
homebuilt solutions. Guess it kinda depends on what lengths you want to
go to. When I am power carving, I use a downdraft table with an old
furnace squirrel cage fan and two furnance filters in front. Works for me.