Re: Central Machinery quality? Featured

So I'm guessing that you don't use that hose for general cleanup or smaller tools like a sander. You have a separate Festool vac for those sort of things, don't you?

In my case, the one dust collection does it all. (I am in no way implying that that is better then a separate DC device for small tools/clean up. I'm simply stating that that is how mine is used.)

Very often I open the gate for the miter saw, make a few cuts, swap the gates, and clean up around the saw with the loose hose. In the past, the mess might hang around for a while until I felt like unhooking the hose from the saw. With the gates, I always have DC available while the miter saw stays connected all the time. I find that the shop stays cleaner that way and in a shop as small as mine, that's pretty important.

For general clean up, yes. I sweep up dust that does not get caught and suck that up with the DC hose. For example the DP. Routers. Small stuff, The Festool dust extractor goes to work. Track saw, 4 sanders, Domino, Kapex, Kreg pocket hole jig, and the Shaper Origin.

The DC gets the TS, BS, The Planer, the Jointer/ Planer, Drum sander, Spindle sander and Disk sander Router table

A big issue between a dust collector and "shop vac" is that the collector is high volume (low speed) and the shop vac (even Festool) is high speed, low volume. A shop vac isn't going to suck enough to get must that a planer will throw at it and it won't do it for long without overflowing. ;-)

Stationary machines tend to need a high volume of air because they put out more junk but also have better collection systems. Routers, track saws, and the like, need high speed (pressure) to get everything from the cutter because the collection system isn't go great and the dust coming off them is at high speed. Even necked down, a DC can't produce a high speed stream. The DC will just choke. Both a DC and vacuum are needed.

I have a dust collector that I bought about 12 years ago. It's a "no name" from Penn State, when they were selling things other than pen turning stuff. It's a 2HP with a 1u bag but is a PITA to empty (needs it now). Even though it claims to be 1u, I do worry about what gets through. I also have a shop vac for general clean up and a CT48 for the small tools. Of course, the CT48 is HEPA and other than the drum sander, tends to be used for machines that produce really small stuff (sanders, primarily).

I was gluing on some edging last night and got to thinking about the silicon brushes vs. silicon muffin tins.

I'm just toss " the silic "Ambient room temperature being the relative constant and the silicone breaks down on its own. Oddly, the silicone brush and small silicone container have not exhibited this condition."

OK, so what's different between these two situations? One obvious difference is the use of oil and other food stuffs when baking but not when gluing.

It could be possible, that based on the articles I quoted, the muffin tins only felt clean when put away but the unfelt residue eventually changed it's chemical structure (polymerized, perhaps?) and turned sticky.

I've had cast iron skillets turn sticky if not used frequently enough. Granted, they are put away with a slight coat of oil on them, but it could be possible that the silicon muffin tins also had a very slight amount of residue, even if cleaned as thoroughly as possible before being stored.

The way to test that would be to put the brushes - or at least the bristles - through the same cooking and cleaning process and see if they eventually get sticky.

Just a thought - but only worth doing if someone wanted to solve "The Case Of The Sticky Muffin Tin". Wasn't that a Hardy Boys book? ;-)

But, but, but, I have had silicone stuff break down into a gooey mess when they haven't been exposed to high heat or oil. It may take years but it's happened, and far more than once.

I was told, by a chemical engineer some time back, that what's happening is that plastics have what is called a "plasticizer" (what else?) that's used to make plastics softer (or harder). These plasticizers are somewhat volatile and when they leave, what's left breaks down into goo.

Aren't these silicone utensils all dishwasher safe? If so, I'd try diswashing them to remove the varnish film. You may need a phosphate-bearing detergent, as used in commercial establishments.

Joe Gwinn

Yes! I have a small space heater in my garage. It's knobs are coated with a silicone type material that has gone to goo in less than 5 years.

I don't think that silicone rubber needs or has plasticisers.

The knobs may not be silicone rubber. It may be depolymerizing. With urethane rubbers, this is called "reversion".

One can tell by burning a sliver of the rubber. If silicone, the char will be sand, not carbon.

Joe Gwinn

As I noted a while back, the rubbery overmold of things like power tools and computer mouses is made of the stuff. The more expensive (good power tools) has a longer life (more expensive) than the cheap ($5 mouse) but they're all destined to return to their primordial goo.

Whether rubber or /rubber, goo *is* goo.

That will be some kind of urethane rubber for sure.

Joe Gwinn

If you think it will all return to its primordial glue you've never tried to grind 10 or 15 year old 8B6 off of a propeller blade. The stuff just gets harder and tougher. Really depends on the formulation.

I had to look the stuff up:

.

For sure. Avionics grade.

The stuff I was talking about is the co-molded rubber used in consumer products.

Joe Gwinn

And again it depends on the product. I like Ecco shoes--I guess my feet are shaped like their lasts or something. Anyway, they have polyurethane soles. For a while those soles were good for a couple of years then rotted away. They've fixed that, presumably by making adjustments to the chemistry, and my current ones are 6 years old with no sign of rot.

I bought an expensive ($150) pair of walking shoes at the beginning of December. The soles are already just about shot. Apparently, walking

BTW, I have and have had many pairs of the same model in different colors (it's all I wear - odd shaped feet) and none have worn this quickly. They've lasted a year or more, though since Covid I walk outside more. I was on either carpet (at work) or a treadmill (gym).

On 3/17/2021 5:57 PM, J. Clarke wrote: Ship

DOH!

I do not walk 4K miles per year but do walk quite a bit. I recently went from Timberland to Keen shoes.. In particular a Hiking boot design. Water proof, tough. I switched to Keen Targee about a year ago. I wear them almost every day and the soles show little to no wear. Same for the uppers. They have developed a squeak but other than that they may wear for many more years.

I like Ecco shoes as well, but I wear the soles out before they rot. I guess I recall a pair where the sole cracked through.

Joe Gwinn