Dust extraction advice

[JonF]

Hi All,

I would welcome some advice...

I have a 20' by 12' workshop arriving in a couple of weeks and have promised myself that I'd get a good dust extraction setup. I mostly turn wood to create dust and have looked through the Axminster site for ideas. The power supply is via a 6mm armoured cable running to the botton of my garden.

Axminster recommends: http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-industrial-series-ub-2200veck-cyclone-extractor-prod795037/

I don't mind spending on this but don't want to waste my money.

Any recommendations?

Jon.

 

[yorkshirepudding]

I use a Henry vacuum cleaner through an oblong funnel which I can place near my workpeice. I also run a Record 400AC air cleaner which I can leave on a timer after I have finished working.
This set up works as well as the bespoke air cleaning we have at my turning club.
The Henry is much quieter than most extractors and this is an important factor for me. The filtering seems to be efficient if I go by the amount of dust around the vacuum outlet vent.
Hope this helps.

Frank.

 

[Sheptonphil]

Wow, that look a nice piece off kit, but surely overkill for one lathe?

I have an 18ft square workshop and run a Jet DC1100A with 1micron cannister filter,
http://www.axminster.co.uk/jet-jet-dc11 ... rod883660/
with bigmouth hood behind the lathe, small mouth in front. This unit also has ducting and blastgates setup to use with the disc and belt sander, 10" table saw and 10" slide mitre. solid white Ducting and clear flexible duct from fleabay at 1/4 cost of Axi. System copes perfectly and no dust settlement on shelves etc. I also have a 8" fan at the apex of workshop ducted through the end wall blowing all upper air straight outside. Cost was just under £600 for extractor and approx another £120 for ducting and gates. Really works a treat

Phil

 

[JonF]

Thanks Phil and Frank,

A follow up question Phil. It turns out that the electricity supply I'll be using is spurred off the kitchen ring and down the garden in a 6mm cable (if that makes more sense to others than me). Does your Jet pull a lot of power? My laymans calculation says that I could run the Jet peaking at 1.9kw with my lathe 750w and still be ok on the 13amp circuit spur.

 

[Sheptonphil]

Hi Jon

The extractor pulls 1100w and is recommended to be run from a 16A supply. I run it all from a sub main in the conservatory, installed by a qualified leccy. The cable from main input to submain is 10mm armoured 32A through RCD, with a 6mm armoured to the workshop from a 16A breaker. If I run the 750w lathe first (Axi 1416vs), and then turn on the Jet, the circuit breaker will sometimes trip. But starting the extractor first, all the other power tools lathe, saw, and sander can be turned on and off at will evn running all together. It just seems the initial starting pull is a lot more than the running power. I don't find it excessively noisey and the footprint at 2' by 3' means it sits in one corner out the way. I also use it to hoover the floor afterwards, cleanup in 2 minutes. If your 13A spur is through an mcb, it may trip it out. Can you run a cable straight from the consumer unit through its own fuse-way?

Phil

An update for this evening.

Have replaced the 16A breaker with a 20A and I cannot now make it trip. So as you are coming from the cooker circuit, this should be rated to 32A (more than is safe on a single 6mm cable?) I thought you could only have two spurs from a socket, what is the reg for running a whole workshop from one? Anyone a leccy here?

 

[graduate_owner]

Hi Jonf.

I studied electrical engineering at university, but never followed it as a career, and I'm not an electrician, but the following may help. Don't take it as gospel.

6 mm SWA cable buried underground is good for over 50 amp, (you can check this online) so you should be OK with that - although it does depend on the length of cable as you get a voltage drop (per metre) which you can also find on line.
The cable is usually buried about 18 inches underground and laid on a bed of sand, then covered with a layer of sand, before back filling, although I believe the 'regulations' don't specify a depth - they just say bury to give adequate protection (if I remember correctly).

So, connecting via a 13A fused spur into your kitchen ring main should be fine regarding the actual cable - the limiting factor will be the 13A fuse.

Could you connect directly into the consumer unit - then the 13A limit wouldn't apply. That would be the 'standard' method.

Alternatively, if you absolutely have to connect into the kitchen ring main, could you avoid using a fused spur (there may be some alternative connection method)? I'm not sure of the regulations here, you'll need to check with a qualified electrician, but the ring main will be protected at 30A so again the armoured cable will be adequately protected.

That would give you room for future expansion, which is almost bound to happen.

But, if it has to be a 13A fuse, then you may just have to remember to switch on the heavier rated machine first, because of the larger starting current. Then when it is up and running, the starting current of the lower rated machine may be within the available remaining current limit. Remember that 13A will supply just over 3kW of motor power, but starting currents are higher than running currents.

K

 

[JonF]

Update:

I've elected to keep things simple, if expensive, and get an electrician to wire the workshop up properly. This way I don't need to worry so much about what will and won't work.
Ironically I've also decided to opt for the Jet DC1100A chip extractor with filter hood which requires less juice than the first model I was looking at. Look on the bright side though, I can run 50 pyrography pens at the same time

Thanks for the help guys

 

[wallace]

My take on extraction for turning is to put more effort and expense into PPE than trying to collect dust at the source ie when turning. I gave up trying to get good extraction when turning. I have an area purely for the really dusty tasks like turning and sanding. When I'm finished I hoover the mess up and switch on one of those air cleaners for a few hours and then make sure the door to my main workshop is closed.