Dust Extraction - Can you do without it?

[tatcho]

I'm currently in the process of setting up a small workshop and only own a small bosch router, dewalt biscuit joiner and bosch mitre/chop saw. I don't currently have any form of extraction and make do with a face mask and a good sweep up when I'm finished.

I'm currently umming and ahhing about purchasing a table saw and am looking at the axi TS-200. Although I'm frankly terrified about setting it up (I have never fettled anything in my life). Is extraction totally neccesary for a table saw? My worry is that I'd damage the saw without extraction. Is this the case?

 

[gardenshed]

I'm currently in the process of setting up a small workshop and only own a small bosch router, dewalt biscuit joiner and bosch mitre/chop saw. I don't currently have any form of extraction and make do with a face mask and a good sweep up when I'm finished.

I'm currently umming and ahhing about purchasing a table saw and am looking at the axi TS-200. Although I'm frankly terrified about setting it up (I have never fettled anything in my life). Is extraction totally neccesary for a table saw? My worry is that I'd damage the saw without extraction. Is this the case?

It's not going to damage the saw, unless the machine gets bogged down with the sawdust, but extraction at source is better than what your doing at the moment.
IMHO I'd be more concerned about the damage to my health by Not having some form of extraction, wearing dust masks is not really a full on solution as the very fine dust particles (invisible to the naked eye in daylight) are the ones that do most harm to your health, these fine particles stay airborne for a very long time and there are always gaps in most face masks and some timbers are more toxic than others.

Look after your health, the rewards for doing so come later in life.

 

[9fingers]

As long as you keep the rise & fall and tilt mechanism free of saw dust which can cause the movement to jam then allowing the dust to fall on the floor should not be a problem. If you search around on here, a few people have written up changes to the TS200 to allow extraction from below and some adaptation of their work should allow a gravity system.
Each time you swap blade types, get in the habit of a quick clean up inside. Should be fine.

hth

Bob

 

[tatcho]

Thanks guys.

Might have to resort to an old hoover and some duct tape to get rid of the offending smaller particles for the moment!

 

[Lowlife]

Depends how much you use it really, and what for, but personally I would budget for some sort of extractor even if it's really basic. I have a Startrite table saw and a Metabo site saw, and both soon fill up with sawdust if I don't use an extractor, the site saw in particular gets clogged and starts to run hot quite quickly.

I use a small Perform (now Axi I believe?) portable chip extractor on both, swapping it between machines, it's not perfect but it does the job and didn't cost a fortune. I also have several industrial vacuum cleaners bought on eBay for a few pounds (max a Tenner!), I use them on the router table, mitre saw, RO sander etc... and they do a pretty good job.

 

[waveman2010]

I went the hoover route too, very effective it is too the downside is noisy, drowns out the band saw and RAS but as they came free i'm not complaining.

 

[Benchwayze]

I have done without dust extraction for the past 35 years.

I wouldn't advise that route though. My workshop gets a lot of dust settling, especially after using the planer/thicknesser, and I have to wear the appropriate mask and eyes shades of course. I am forever dusting shelves, and it pineapples me off! Plus, with dust suspended in the air, there is always a risk of fire; explosions even. I am currently reorganising my shop, and D/E is high on my list of priorities.

HTH

 

[Blister]

I would put dust extraction first , or at least a Trend airshield

A lot cheaper than new lungs ( if you can get any )

 

[Benchwayze]

Agreed Blister,

Which is why I used a helmet in days gone by. Can't recall the name of them now, but they pushed a current of air down over your face to keep the dust at bay. It wasn't particularly efficient, so I went to a good mask, and goggles, together with the door wide open, come what may with the weather.

To date I have had more damage from the smoking I did in my youth, than from wood dust. But yes, even the old hand wood-workers suffered from industrial diseases similar to Coal-worker's pneumoconiosis. Now I need to wear specs all the time, I do have 'steaming-up' problems with the cheaper masks. Don't suppose I am on my own there!

Anyhow, as I have a birthday coming around, it's time to make a suggestion to SWIMBO, with the encouragement that D/E might help me see a few more birthdays!

 

[wallace]

I have tackled the dust issue both ways, I have one workshop where everything like the RAS bandsaw and sawbench is connected to extraction and another where my lathes and planer are not, in this workshop I wear a 3M dustmaster all of the time. I think it is just about impossible to get decent source exraction at the lathe.
Mark

 

[chunkolini]

Re using an old hoover.
I did this for years with some success, on the SCMS and table router, worked a treat in fact.
Then I plumbed it onto my disc sander, worked a treat on that for about 15 minutes then it caught fire!!!
I was doing an open studios event at the time, this poor woman arrived as I rugby balled the burning hoover out of the door, booting it a few times as it went. She did not stay very long.
A bit of research later I fund out that hoovers are fine with coarse chips like from a router and mitre saw, the disc sander makes very fine dust (5microns?) which clogs the fliter quickly and goes up in flames.
Trend airshield is good, but remember when you finish work the dust hangs about.
Last year I went on a dust pogrom, massive extractor fan, trend mask and a proper dust extractor http://www.toolite.org.uk/record-litre- ... p-449.html improved life no end.

 

[theartfulbodger]

A bit of research later I fund out that hoovers are fine with coarse chips like from a router and mitre saw, the disc sander makes very fine dust (5microns?) which clogs the fliter quickly and goes up in flames.

That's a good tip, thanks!

 

[humblewood]

I don't currently have any form of extraction and make do with a face mask and a good sweep up when I'm finished.

It's my understanding that sweeping up is a bit of a no-no as it just kicks the offending smaller dust particles back up into the atmosphere - better to use a vacuum to clean up the debris at the end of the day.

Cheers

Bob

 

[Benchwayze]

I usually sprinkle water when I do get around to sweeping up fine dust! An old Navy trick, learned from countless Mothers I guess! :mrgreen: 8)

 

[chunkolini]

I can reccomend going round the floor giving it a light spray with a plant mister before sweeping, maes a huge difference to the amount of dust kicked up when sweeping up.

 

[fobos8]

yes you can do without it. You can do dusty operations outside. Thats what I do. If its raining I have a pop-up gazeebo which takes 30 seconds to put up. I get my tablesaw and/or chop saw out of the van and set them up outside. All non dusty stuff I do in my workshop.

My workshop is dust free!! I also have a planer/thicknesser in there hooked up to a chip extractor which is in a "shed" outside.

In my opinion you should take dust extraction seriously.

 

[Benchwayze]

Hi Fobos,

I see nowt wrong in what you do, as long as the noise and dust doesn't annoy others. For instance, my car got covered in dust, when the chap next door had a chippie in to make new garage doors :roll: (No big deal, but it is me who has to clean it!)

Still, wherever you use machines, the dust has to go somewhere, and speaking personally, if I do work on the drive, SWIMBO gets upset, if I don't sweep up, exactly as she likes it! So because of dust and noise, regular outside working isn't really practical for hobbyists, who mostly work at home.

I have the space for one of those gazebos and have even considered it, but the noise is still a problem. Add to that, when your shop is in full view of the street, as mine has to be, advertising what you have in your garage, is something to keep to a minimum; hence I work with the doors closed whenever I can. So far no problems with theft from inside. Only when I was daft enough to leave the underframe of my Triton Workcentre outside, whilst unbeknownst to me, the scrappies were around.

Definitely, as you point out, dust is not to be trifled with!

Cheers

 

[fobos8]

I suppose I'm lucky enough to live in one of the few places where people don't steal stuff - touch wood!! ...so I can get away with working outside.

I guess if I my hobby ever becomes more serious I would, like someone else posted, have a partitioned room for doing dusty operations in and use the main part of the workshop for non-dusty ops.

If I only had a single garage to work in and dust was inevitable I would wear a really good facemask like a 3m 7000 series. I would still have some sort of dust extraction as a facemask should only be part of the solution.

 

[JanneKi]

Meanwhile, in Finland...
- 32.5 degrees Celsius outside. No way you want to work there. Most electrical equipment start to have all kinds of problems with their plastic parts. Cheap plastic wires can break off, like the car battery charger wires I had... #-o

So, you have to work indoors and you have to have dust extraction. I have a big dust collector for the planer/thicknesser and saw plus a shop vacuum for sander, miter saw & other misc. stuff. The dust collector will (at some point of time, not promising any year even) a cyclone + proper F7 grade air cleaning filter. The dust is a problem. It's just everywhere.

 

[marcros]

I suppose I'm lucky enough to live in one of the few places where people don't steal stuff - touch wood!! ...so I can get away with working outside.

I guess if I my hobby ever becomes more serious I would, like someone else posted, have a partitioned room for doing dusty operations in and use the main part of the workshop for non-dusty ops.

If I only had a single garage to work in and dust was inevitable I would wear a really good facemask like a 3m 7000 series. I would still have some sort of dust extraction as a facemask should only be part of the solution.

just been looking at the 3m 7000. What filters do people use on them?