Dust Collector Mini-Disaster

My shop is divided into two 16’ x20’ rooms, one “clean” and one for
noise and dust. I build a small room in the “clean” room for my dust
collector and air compressor - with sound proof walls and a weather
stripped solid core door. There’s a pocket door between the Clean Room
and the Noise and Dust Room - handy if it’s raining or I need a longer
wood alley for the bandsaw, which is has a mobility kit.

(Here's the "shop" layout for those who have difficulty visualizing
spaces
given only a text description. The Sound Proof Room is in the upper
left
corner of the left larger room.)

http://web.hypersurf.com/~charlie2/TheShop/ShopMap.html

Though it’s been on my To Do List, running compressed air lines through
the walls of the Sound Proof Room into the Clean Room and the Noise and
Dust Room, I hadn’t gotten around to actually doing it. Big mistake!

So, if I need compressed air, like over at the lathe in the Noise and
Dust Room, I open the door of the Sound Proof Room enough to get an air
hose out of it. A bit inconvenient but it works acceptably - until
today.

Today I decided I wanted to try the pop bead type air nozzles I got from
Enco, at Detroit Bill’s suggestion, to blow crap out of a turned box I
was hollowing. AND since I already had the 4” flex dust collector hose
temporarily behind the lathe - the dust and chips blown out of the box
were sucked into the dust collector hose. Nice set up - and cut down on
the dust and debris in the Noise and Dust Room.

An hour into hollowing and sanding and more hollowing and more sanding I
heard a noise from the Clean Room. Since I was turning the dust
collector on and off periodically, I guessed the upper felt bag on the
dust collector had come off its support hook and, when the dust
collector was turned off, had collapsed suddenly and hit the metal
garbage can/separator.

Maybe 10 minutes later I grabbed a handful of turning chisels and gouges
and headed for the Clean Room - where the Tormek is located.

Pulling back the pocket door between the shop’s major rooms I was hit in
the face with what I feared was SMOKE! HOLY SH*T! I shouted and
grabbed the nearest fire extinguisher (I’ve got four in each room).

In an instant I realized that there was no smoke smell. Wasn’t smoke -
but SAWDUST! WHAT THE F*CK!?

That sound I’d heard earlier was the dust collector’s upper felt bag
coming off the dust collector. Reconstructing what happened found that
the upper felt bag had in fact come off its support hook, sagged over
and pinched itself shut, The lower felt bag, being half full and pretty
clogged up it turned out, didn’t provide enough venting capacity for the
amount of air the dust collector impeller was generating. The metal
strap that’s supposed to keep the bags held in place on the their stand
wasn’t quite as tightly installed as I’d thought. Pressure built up,
band wasn’t tight enough - upper felt bag, partially full of dust, BLOWS
OFF - the dust collector continuing to run - spewing very fine sawdust
out the ajar Sound Proof Room door - and ALL over what had formerly been
the Clean Room!

Assessing the damage and estimating the time to clean things up - I said
to hell with it for today, walked back to what is now the Cleaner Room,
closed the pocket door and got back to turning one of two finials for a
double lidded turned lidded box.

I’ve got a forced air furnace blower air cleaner that my bench top
planer is on. Tomorrow I’ll wheel it over to the Former Clean Room,
turn it and the compressor on and blow all that dust back into the air -
where the air
cleaner should capture it - eventually.

Tomorrow is not going to be a fun day!

charlie b
(now don't you feel better about your latest screw up?)

"charlie b" wrote in message

planer is on. Tomorrow I'll wheel it over to the Former Clean Room,
turn it and the compressor on and blow all that dust back into the air -
where the air
cleaner should capture it - eventually.

Tomorrow is not going to be a fun day!

charlie b
(now don't you feel better about your latest screw up?)

Actually, it's the best of all possible screw ups ... the dummy who caused
it has to clean up the mess, and it doesn't require a credit card to fix!

My sympathies, nonetheless!

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 1/06/07

charlie b wrote:
Dust Collector Mini-Disaster

My shop is divided into two 16’ x20’ rooms, one “clean” and one for
noise and dust. I build a small room in the “clean” room for my dust
collector and air compressor - with sound proof walls and a weather
stripped solid core door. There’s a pocket door between the Clean Room
and the Noise and Dust Room - handy if it’s raining or I need a longer
wood alley for the bandsaw, which is has a mobility kit.

(Here's the "shop" layout for those who have difficulty visualizing
spaces
given only a text description. The Sound Proof Room is in the upper
left
corner of the left larger room.)

http://web.hypersurf.com/~charlie2/TheShop/ShopMap.html

Though it’s been on my To Do List, running compressed air lines through
the walls of the Sound Proof Room into the Clean Room and the Noise and
Dust Room, I hadn’t gotten around to actually doing it. Big mistake!

So, if I need compressed air, like over at the lathe in the Noise and
Dust Room, I open the door of the Sound Proof Room enough to get an air
hose out of it. A bit inconvenient but it works acceptably - until
today.

Today I decided I wanted to try the pop bead type air nozzles I got from
Enco, at Detroit Bill’s suggestion, to blow crap out of a turned box I
was hollowing. AND since I already had the 4” flex dust collector hose
temporarily behind the lathe - the dust and chips blown out of the box
were sucked into the dust collector hose. Nice set up - and cut down on
the dust and debris in the Noise and Dust Room.

An hour into hollowing and sanding and more hollowing and more sanding I
heard a noise from the Clean Room. Since I was turning the dust
collector on and off periodically, I guessed the upper felt bag on the
dust collector had come off its support hook and, when the dust
collector was turned off, had collapsed suddenly and hit the metal
garbage can/separator.

Maybe 10 minutes later I grabbed a handful of turning chisels and gouges
and headed for the Clean Room - where the Tormek is located.

Pulling back the pocket door between the shop’s major rooms I was hit in
the face with what I feared was SMOKE! HOLY SH*T! I shouted and
grabbed the nearest fire extinguisher (I’ve got four in each room).

In an instant I realized that there was no smoke smell. Wasn’t smoke -
but SAWDUST! WHAT THE F*CK!?

That sound I’d heard earlier was the dust collector’s upper felt bag
coming off the dust collector. Reconstructing what happened found that
the upper felt bag had in fact come off its support hook, sagged over
and pinched itself shut, The lower felt bag, being half full and pretty
clogged up it turned out, didn’t provide enough venting capacity for the
amount of air the dust collector impeller was generating. The metal
strap that’s supposed to keep the bags held in place on the their stand
wasn’t quite as tightly installed as I’d thought. Pressure built up,
band wasn’t tight enough - upper felt bag, partially full of dust, BLOWS
OFF - the dust collector continuing to run - spewing very fine sawdust
out the ajar Sound Proof Room door - and ALL over what had formerly been
the Clean Room!

Assessing the damage and estimating the time to clean things up - I said
to hell with it for today, walked back to what is now the Cleaner Room,
closed the pocket door and got back to turning one of two finials for a
double lidded turned lidded box.

I’ve got a forced air furnace blower air cleaner that my bench top
planer is on. Tomorrow I’ll wheel it over to the Former Clean Room,
turn it and the compressor on and blow all that dust back into the air -
where the air
cleaner should capture it - eventually.

Tomorrow is not going to be a fun day!

charlie b
(now don't you feel better about your latest screw up?)

Just wondering,

1) Where does the dust collector exhaust to?

Does it a. go outdoors losing heated air and creating a vacuum
in the shop
b. empty into soundproof room, which is also air tight
c. go back into shop area to balance system

2) Doesn't the pressure switch or on off switch on the compressor
create a spark during normal operation and isn't that a bad thing
in a dusty environment?

Not being critical but rather concerned for that awesome shop that I'm
drooling over. Must be nice to actually walk around without having to
rearrange things every time you want to move. Either my shop is too
small or I have too many tools.

Bob C

Don't be too hard on yourself! To truly qualify for Idiot of the year
the mishap needs to be easily identified and avoided. Besides major
screwups usually involve loss of blood, digits or completely ruining
the piece you are working on.




Swingman wrote:
"charlie b" wrote in message

planer is on. Tomorrow I'll wheel it over to the Former Clean Room,
turn it and the compressor on and blow all that dust back into the air -
where the air
cleaner should capture it - eventually.

Tomorrow is not going to be a fun day!

charlie b
(now don't you feel better about your latest screw up?)

Actually, it's the best of all possible screw ups ... the dummy who caused
it has to clean up the mess, and it doesn't require a credit card to fix!

My sympathies, nonetheless!

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 1/06/07

On Sun, 07 Jan 2007 15:53:03 -0800, charlie b
wrote:

Dust Collector Mini-Disaster

Too early in the year. Someone, possibly from this group, will have
topped that by 1 June, is my prediction.

--
LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

http://www.woodbutcher.net

Proud participant of rec.woodworking since February, 1997

email addy de-spam-ified due to 1,000 spams per month.
If you can't figure out how to use it, I probably wouldn't
care to correspond with you anyway.

No biggie charlie.

Just think of it as karma for having a shop that is too clean and organized.

Bob C wrote:

Just wondering,

1) Where does the dust collector exhaust to?

You mean normally? Have spring loaded intake from the attic
sprung to let air into the room but not out. Out the back is
another spring loaded vent to allow air to only go out.

Does it a. go outdoors losing heated air and creating a vacuum
in the shop
b. empty into soundproof room, which is also air tight
c. go back into shop area to balance system

I live in the SF Bay Area so losing heat isn't a big deal - the
two car garage door is open when I'm in the shop.

2) Doesn't the pressure switch or on off switch on the compressor
create a spark during normal operation and isn't that a bad thing
in a dusty environment?

Well ordinarily - when the felt bags are actually on the DC - there's
no dust in the Sound Proof Room. And when the compressor is
on the door is cracked to accomodate the air hose.

Not being critical but rather concerned for that awesome shop that I'm
drooling over. Must be nice to actually walk around without having to
rearrange things every time you want to move. Either my shop is too
small or I have too many tools.

Rule #1 - You can never have too many clamps
Rule #2 - You can never have too much wood
Rule #3 - You can never have too much space
(re-arrange based on your current deficiency)

Should post a few photos of what things look like currently
- former Clean Room layout/assembly bench has youngest's
big coffee table waiting to be completed then finished
(been there 5 or more months) and his second LP collection
cabinet (been there going on 16 months)
- Room of Noise and Dust has wood leaning up against benches
a cabinets, tucked under the ends of the workbench, hiding
behind the X31 combi and small piles of "stuff too good
to throw away and will come in handy for some future
project" precariously balanced on most horizontal surfaces
above floor level.


Lee Michaels wrote:

No biggie charlie.

Just think of it as karma for having a shop that is too clean and organized.

Never been accused of having a clean shop - or house for that
matter. If chaos is in any way similar to "organized" then OK.

charlie b

On Sun, 07 Jan 2007 15:53:03 -0800, charlie b
wrote:
charlie b
(now don't you feel better about your latest screw up?)

Well.. I was checking tape measures against my framing square. The
square was on the bench, long side running along edge of the bench,
short side out into the bench on my left. Tape in my right hand, left
hand resting on the side of the bench. Apparently the long edge was a
wee bit closer to the edge than I thought and it slipped off, pivoted
nicely on the short end and swung up and pinched my left hand against
the bench hard enough to draw blood on two fingers.

I wasn't even doing any work. I just came down specifically to check
the tape and that was going to be it, but the woodworking gods must be
sated. Hopefully this rube goldberg of a blood-drawing will get me
through the rest of the week.


-Leuf

brandom11 wrote:

Don't be too hard on yourself! To truly qualify for Idiot of the year
the mishap needs to be easily identified and avoided. Besides major
screwups usually involve loss of blood, digits or completely ruining
the piece you are working on.

Early morning on the 1st of January I was sanding some work in the
lathe. It was a larger end-grain vessel held in the chuck, with the
chuck jaws protruding. It's quite a nicely made Record chuck, with
every sharp edge radiused to avoid injury.

Every sharp edge that is except the _back_ of the jaws, where they
engage the chuck scroll.

Fortunately I managed to limit the bleeding to the sawdust pile. Handy,
that.

Actually, it's the best of all possible screw ups ... the dummy who caused
it has to clean up the mess, and it doesn't require a credit card to fix!

....or a surgeon.

-jtpr

charlie b wrote:
. Pressure built up,
band wasn't tight enough - upper felt bag, partially full of dust, BLOWS
OFF - the dust collector continuing to run - spewing very fine sawdust
out the ajar Sound Proof Room door - and ALL over what had formerly been
the Clean Room!

I'm a bit disappointed after reading the title of the thread.. I expect
a bigger screwup before the end of the year.. this one was a little
disappointing LOL, only a big mess of sawdust.

Bob C wrote:
Either my shop is too
small or I have too many tools.

Bob C

Tools behave just like an ideal gas, expanding to fill whatever space
is available.

Mark

bf wrote:

I'm a bit disappointed after reading the title of the thread.. I expect
a bigger screwup before the end of the year.. this one was a little
disappointing LOL, only a big mess of sawdust.

"ONLY!?"

The former Clean Room is where I keep ALL my finishing stuff - a
fireproof
cabinet full of elixers and witches brews, stains, jars of shellac,
alcohol
(not the sippin' kind), shelves with steel wool, tack clothes,
special brushes,
gauze, linen rags and wool for french polishing - and despite the
"fireproof"
name, it is definitely not air tight. Then there are a hundred or
more little
plastic drawers - which are not air tight - full of hardware and
fixture parts,
nuts, bolts and screws. The nooks and crannies filled with STUFF are
going
to be a nightmare to clean up. Doesn't take much dust to screw up a
nice
finish. Definitely not a good way to start the new year. And it was
an
easily avoided problem - hence idiotic on my part - hence the subject
line
of my post.

On the other hand, I've still got two hands - AND all the digits I
was issued
at birth. In addition, I can still see and aren't a pint low - on
blood, so I
guess, all things considered, it wasn't so bad.

Gosh, I feel better about myself already!

Thanks!

charlie b
uttering his new mantra - "I'm not an idiot. I'm not and idiot. .
.. ."

charlie b wrote in
:

bf wrote:

I'm a bit disappointed after reading the title of the thread.. I
expect a bigger screwup before the end of the year.. this one was a
little disappointing LOL, only a big mess of sawdust.

"ONLY!?"

The former Clean Room is where I keep ALL my finishing stuff - a
fireproof cabinet full of elixers and witches brews, stains, jars of
shellac, alcohol (not the sippin' kind), shelves with steel wool, tack
clothes, special brushes, gauze, linen rags and wool for french
polishing - and despite the "fireproof" name, it is definitely not air
tight. Then there are a hundred or more little plastic drawers - which
are not air tight - full of hardware and fixture parts, nuts, bolts and
screws. The nooks and crannies filled with STUFF are going to be a
nightmare to clean up.

Go find youself a big, honking compressor, and a blow gun, and open up
the doors to the front of the building. Put on your hearing protectors,
and blow it all away!

It needed it anyway.

At least that's what you can tell yourself while you spend the day
cleaning it up.

Spring is only a couple of months away, right?

Patriarch,
who has only one room to bury in wood remnants...

charlie b wrote:
bf wrote:

I'm a bit disappointed after reading the title of the thread.. I expect
a bigger screwup before the end of the year.. this one was a little
disappointing LOL, only a big mess of sawdust.

"ONLY!?"

.. The nooks and crannies filled with STUFF are
going
to be a nightmare to clean up. Doesn't take much dust to screw up a
nice
finish. Definitely not a good way to start the new year. And it was
an
easily avoided problem - hence idiotic on my part - hence the subject
line
of my post.



Sorry man, I was just joking around with you. I don't have the luxury
of a "clean room", so I have to do the full cleaning exercise everytime
I do finishing, thus you aren't going to get too much sympathy from me.
LOL. We still have plenty of time left in the year, so I want a more
specatular mistake to read about (just kidding).

thats not funny



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"LRod" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 07 Jan 2007 15:53:03 -0800, charlie b
wrote:

Dust Collector Mini-Disaster

Too early in the year. Someone, possibly from this group, will have
topped that by 1 June, is my prediction.

--
LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

I would have except mine happened on Dec. 30.......I was showing my grown
son how effective a wire wheel on a grinder was for removing rust from old
tools.....The grinder was new (no home yet) and just bolted to piece of
plywood that was quickly plopped on my bench for the short demo(no clamp
used)....it has a 8inch slow speed water wheel and a regular speed 6inch
wheel (replaced with the wire wheel).....Tis fairly heavy as small grinders
go. While concentrating on the demo at hand the grinder/ plywood base
decided to slide forward off the bench ....my wrist (luckilyg) kept it
from hitting the floor by embedding the moving wire brush into my
flesh......I can readily demonstrate that a moving wire brush with nearly
the full weight of the machine behind it does a serious job at removing a
serious swath of skin...tis better than a saw blade though as the blood
instead of pouring simply leaks all over everywhere......Rod

Geez, I'm feeling smarter just reading this!

Good luck with the cleanup Charlie and look on the bright side, you can
still count to ten, so it couldn't have been that bad of a screw up!

jc

"charlie b" wrote in message
...
Dust Collector Mini-Disaster

Snip of an Oooooooooops.

On Sun, 07 Jan 2007 15:53:03 -0800, charlie b
wrote:

Dust Collector Mini-Disaster

Hmmm so should be buying Sara Lee stock (they make Endust)?

Mark
(sixoneeight) = 618

Joe wrote:
Geez, I'm feeling smarter just reading this!

Good luck with the cleanup Charlie and look on the bright side, you can
still count to ten, so it couldn't have been that bad of a screw up!

jc

"charlie b" wrote in message
...
Dust Collector Mini-Disaster

Snip of an Oooooooooops.



Counting to ten isn't really the key here. It's when you can't count to
21 that you need to get worried.

Tanus

--
This is not really a sig.