Spark Bong Dust Collector

[J. Hoffman]

I did this video showing my spark bong that I made for collecting dust and sparks from the grinder. Check it out and feel free to ask questions, or bring up concerns. I'm sure it's not perfect.
[video=youtube;8hHpVpoI4Cs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hHpVpoI4Cs[/video]

 

[Bill Sutherland]

Mr. J. Hoffman,
Your idea is great, it gets the job done, and done well!
Is there a way to use the gravitational pull/fall of the spark debris within a non-heat-conducting pipe material, in addition to a copper tube heat sink positioned in the center of the downdraft pipe that pulls the heated air up and out of the bucket? The more you create sparks, the hotter the copper tubing becomes, and the more aggressive exhaust of heated rising air will create a negative pressure in the bucket which will suck-in the cloud of sparks. The size and configuration of the copper heat sink will determine the success of this design. A number of medium-sized copper tubes or a coil of copper tubing feeding into one small vertical tube will increase the velocity of air being exhausted. The catch pipe must not absorb heat, but must direct the sparks and heat to the heat sink tubing.
If this works, there may be no need for a noisy shop vacuum.
Thanks for your ear,
Bill Sutherland
763-323-9928

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Bill,
That sounds good in theory, but what you are talking about is convection, not extraction. You need a moving air volume to extract the fines and the dust. It requires a shop vac or a large blower.

 

[Cody Hofsommer]

Jess, any idea what percentages of grinding dust ends up on the bong versus the shop vac? Or maybe a better way to say it is, how much makes it to the vac?
I'm assuming you only use this for steel, not handle material.

Thanks

 

[melsdad]

With this set-up do grind both steel and wood without issue?