Amazon brought this to my attention:
I know you're supposed to blow the dust off of equiptment and out of motors every once in a while. Do you folks who do this use dedicated compressors? This seems like it could perform dual duty (In the computer room and the workshop), is exceptionally portable and doesn't take up as much space. What do you think?
Bill
E V E nutally you buy tools and equipment with TEFC motors, No blowing needed.
I think the real "problem" here is that I have been reading old books. Thanks for helping to bring me up-to-date!
Bill
I have a compressor in the shop but try to avoid blowing dust out or off of anything inside the shop.. I have a reducer on my DC that brings it down to 2" with a "needle head" on it.. If that won't suck the dust out of motors, pulleys, etc., than the compressor probably wouldn't either..
mac
Please remove splinters before emailing
I would think that there should be a word of caution about the fan system being discussed. Wood dust will explode, when it reaches the proper concentrations. With the fan to create a uniform mixture of wood dust and air through out the garage, you will get a bigger explosion, when your furnace, or other system creates the spark.
First, I try to get the dust at its source with strategic placement of DC hoses and attachments. That will help a LOT. But, to get everything really clear of sawdust I use a blowgun and the shop air compressor (I have one compressor).
For a computer I use a can of compressed air (it is much cleaner than air from a compressor) to clear out the dust, maybe twice a year. I've seen folks use a shop compressor to blow out a computer, but probably not a wise thing to do.
I believe that is highly unlikely. The only time you hear of that actually being a problem is through what a freind heard a frend read some where. What you will need is a fire to burn the dust, but probably no explosion.
One of the reasons I was thinking of the "fan/vaccum" is because I can't use the cans of compressed air indoors (on my computer), due to some chemicals in the can.
What kinds of compressors are folks using in their woodworking shops?
3-6-gallon to fire brads, bigger for spraying finishes (this task is not on my radar screen for the time being)? Any sort of details would be helpful. CPOWoodworking offered a compressor, with a nail gun, for half price ($99) a few days ago, and I thought maybe I should have one of these things. I've got a lot of molding I'd like to replace sometime in the next few years (is this the ideal way to install that?).Bill
"Leon" wrote in news:v9KdnSLg3sE1W-vWnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:
You've probably got a better chance of finishing materials catching on fire than sawdust building up and exploding. On Mythbusters, there was one episode where they built this giant fireball machine. It used powered material like sawdust (or coffee creamer), hooked to a large compressed air tank and with some sort of fusee in the middle.
My guess is that by the time saw dust concentration was high enough in the shop, you'd be choking or blinded by it first.
Puckdropper
I did not believe that spontaneous combustion was a problem either until our house nearly caught fire from the spontaneous combustion of the sanding dust from our hardwood floors. Fortunately we caught it at the big smoke stage and was able to get it out of the garage.
The flammable limit of the dust from a table saw is minor because of the larger particle size of the dust. However the dust from a sanding operation has significantly smaller particles sizes. As you finish the item you are sanding with decreasing grit sizes, you will also be decreasing the particle size of dust. As the particle size of the dust reaches the particle size of flour, there will be a high possibility of an explosion.
or as the particles size decreases the flammability and explosion possibility increase.
Lower flammable limit: 40 mg/m3 Auto-ignition temperature: 400-500oF
Think corn silo. The concentration of dust would have to be so high that you would not be able to see across your shop, let alone breathe. I don't know about you, but I would probably do something about the dust loooong before it reached that point.
What is the big smoke stage.
meter," not 40milligrams.
40grams/m3 is a lot and would certainly effect your vision enough that you would hardly be able to see what you were sanding, no?
I know that finishing materials - oils - can catch fire spontaneously due to the heat generated by the oxidation as the stuff dries. Never heard of wood dust doing so though; what was causing all the oxidation?
I'm pretty tempted to get one of these (saw it in a mail-order catalog, not on Amazon) to blow the dust and lint out of the inside of my PC's. I try to keep a can of compressed air around for the purpose but I keep forgetting to replace them when they run out of air. Could be useful in the shop too, if for no other reason than to blow off the last traces of sanding dust before putting on a coat of finish (I don't own a compressor).
But if I get one I won't buy it from Amazon - I don't like their privacy policy.
Tom Dacon
Well, since you brought it up, what don't you like about their privacy policy? I am not familiar with it, but I have been satisfied with their prices and service. I'm learning to be wary of 3rd party sellers.
Bill
You should also be careful not to use plastic pipe for the ducts on your DC as they generate enough static electricity to power all the New England states for a week. Don't forget that compressor tanks can explode and take your entire neighborhood down and the flying debris can put the eyes out of everyone for miles around. You could also hurt your back in the cleanup process too. Maybe it would be better if you just stayed in bed. ;~) Art
That is interesting as I checked several other MSDS sheets and copied from this one.
I went back and rechecked the other Online MSDS's and they list
40g/cubic meter.All that said I still would not want to have a VERY fine wood dust distributed around my shop with a fan, knowing the potential of dust explosions.
I've had this one for about two and a half years.
I'm normally pretty leery of Sears powered items, but this compressor has had zero problems. I'm a hobbyist, so don't put nearly the use on it someone in the trade would, but for the money, I think it is a pretty good buy.
Regards, Roy
For years and years, this is how I'd do the occasional clean-up in my shop: First, I'd be sure that the doors to the house were closed. While not dust proof, the doors were fairly tightly fitted and offered little air flow when closed. Secondly, I'd turn on the DC, open all blast gates and especially the diverter to the outside, which bypassed the chip separator and bags. This created a slight negative pressure in the shop, preventing dust from entering the balance of the lower level and the drop in ceiling tile.
Starting on the highest shelves and working downward, I would use my air compressor to blow dust and chips off- hopefully to the shop floor. I'd open doors to the cabinets and drawers to do the same thing, holding the nozzle back to prevent blowing items off the shelves or out of bins in the drawers. It took little practice but worked swell. My blowing would include the tools, such as the cabinet base of the TS, letting the airflow from the DC suck out most of the accumulated debris and dust.
While waiting for the dust to clear before doing it again, I'd use a hand scraper to pop glue spots off my workbench and straighten out my tool boxes.
This blowing out would be repeated 2-3 times, leaving the dust, chips and debris to settle onto the shop floor. I'd wait until the air cleared before redoing the cleaning.
The final step was to close off all but one blast gate from the DC, divert the airflow to the chip separator/bags and then use my floor tool to vacuum the shop floor. Occasionally, I'd have to give things another blowing, but the once-over was usually good enough. The total time involved would usually be under an hour and the shop would be "company clean," for most purposes.
That may be a case of a typo getting reproduced. Known to happen...
*especially* in the internet age.Nonetheless, better safe than sorry.
BTW, what is the big smoke stage?
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