Help w/ Dust/spark management.

V

Vulcanite

Joined
Jan 16, 2009
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I have THIS wilton belt/disc sander. Wanting to start making some stock removal knives soon. As you can see, the unit has dust chutes on both parts. There is also a space in the belt/pulley housing behind the wheel that is below the work rest that I can put a little moist sponge.

Can I hook up some sort of vacuum to this unit for removing metal dust?

I know you have to be careful about using the same thing for metal & wood as you sparks can ignite your saw dust. I was wondering if I could hook up a wet/dry vac & leave some water in it or something? Or should I have two seperate vacuums.

As far as pulling sparks into a vacuum goes, it seems like they might destroy the cloth filter media but cutting/burning through it or setting it on fire.

I was wanting to do this in a little room room of my little place b/c I don't have a garage or shop really.
I might just try to get or make a rolling stand for the unit so I can take it outside when I am grinding profiles & bevels. THen I hope I can keep it inside for polishing blades w/ really high grit sand paper & when doing wood w/ a vacuum.
 
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I've thought about similar things as my shop grows. I use a shop vac duct taped to a 2x4 and set it leaning so it is right under my grinder beneeth the belt about 1/2". This works OK for getting rid of wood, micarta, rubber, etc dust. When I grind steel, I put a bucket full of water underneath to catch sparks and metal dust. Either way it gets dirty down in the shop eventually. I also wear a respirator, goggles, bandana, shop apron. I walked upstairs once to get some more water and saw my reflection in the window and I kinda looked like some post-apocolyptical butcher of some sort.
 
i just left you a message on how to fix up something to keep from setting your shop vac on fire. water in the shop vac container wont quite get it.
 
Ok here's what I did, Got me one of those BFM's from harbor Freight, (big freakin Magnet, supposed to pick up 200lbs) put it in a ziplock bag (the heavy duty ones) and put it under/near my grinder. looks like a big ol' metal chia pet.
 
Rusty McDonald said:
Ok here's what I did, Got me one of those BFM's from harbor Freight, (big freakin Magnet, supposed to pick up 200lbs) put it in a ziplock bag (the heavy duty ones) and put it under/near my grinder. looks like a big ol' metal chia pet.
Click to expand...

thats a great idea..lol...never thought of that:thumbup:
 
Rusty McDonald said:
Ok here's what I did, Got me one of those BFM's from harbor Freight, (big freakin Magnet, supposed to pick up 200lbs) put it in a ziplock bag (the heavy duty ones) and put it under/near my grinder. looks like a big ol' metal chia pet.
Click to expand...

Every once in a while I see one of those ideas where you just say "Why didn't I think of that?"
This is one of those ideas.
Thanks , Rusty.
Later,
Iz
 
I was thinking, since you really can't suck sparks into a shop vac about making a bong w/ a shop vac & a 5 gal bucket.

I could put some water in the bucket w/ two pipes calked into the lid. One would dip below the surface of the water. That would be hooked up the the final suction hose. The other pipe woudl be above the water level & would be hooked up to the vac. Then the sparks would get sucked through the water in the bottom of the bucket...

Perhaps one of those things that sounds cool but wouldn't actually work so great w/o some absurdly powerful motor. I bet that gurgling water would get atomized & sucked into the vac pretty quick.

Maybe I could scratch the water & just put a magnet in the bottom of the bucket.

A problem w/ my unit is that don't have any clearances to put water bucket or anything below the belt. They will fly around the inside of the pulley housing below the radius of the lower pulley.

I wonder if the plastic cover for the side of the pulley housing will melt from sparks
 
it works great till the grindings ignite and smolder :D. soak a paper towel and cover the magnet and as the filings build up soak them too. they wont catch sparks that travel along the belt.
 
richard j said:
i just left you a message on how to fix up something to keep from setting your shop vac on fire. water in the shop vac container wont quite get it.
Click to expand...

Post it here please. Like myself I am sure others would like to know to.
 
its for hot sparks. i had my shopvac underneath my belt sander when i was sanding down a neoprene handle and a few hot sparks went down the hose. i shut off the sander and took the top off the vacuum which was full of smoke. thoes few sparks caught on the side of the bag which was covered in dust and instantly went to a quarter size ember which i extinguished with water. if i had the bucket trap i never would have had to worry since the hot spark would have been cooled by the water. if i had water in the shop vac that wouldnt have mattered much since the spark followed the air flow.
 
I saw your drawing richard. Nice bong. Looks like we know what you were up to in the 70's ;)

No, that is what I was trying to describe above w/ the 5 gal bucket.

Have you actually made one of these or has anyone? I wonder how well they work in actuality.

I also wonder if a basic shop vac (wet of course) would handle this well enough.
 
the bucket will work since the inlet pipe is under water. it wont take a lot of water, just have the pipe about 3" or so below the water leve. we have a similar setup for the clothes dryer. it catches the lint so you can have it vent inside for the heat.
 
When using dust collection systems, keep in mind that the dust is like fuel. Clean the unit out regularly to keep the unit empty reducing your chances of fire.

Plan your day, I never leave the house after doing a grind. I allow at least an hour before leaving the house. I go down to the shop and give the air the smoke test, if I smell nothing buring by then, it should be safe. That applies only if you keep your dust collection clean. Several inches of crud is asking for trouble, as embers could glow for hours, before igniting into flames.

Keep a good fire extinguisher in the shop, and inspect it regularly. Many fires have started in knifemaker shops.
 
My dad's next door neigboor had a nice metal buildinng w/ full knife shop in it. His wife called him to come in the house for lunch when he was grinding & after he ate his sammich he went around the house & saw his shop ablaze. A total loss. Luckily he had insurance, but b/c of that I already decided to never grind metal unless I know i don't have to go anywhere afterwards.

I'll go ahead & make one of those bongs for collecting hot sparks w/ a shop vac.
 
I'm not very knowledgeable on the subject but I had intended to use a cyclone separator and maybe put an inch of water in the bottom when working metal. I do woodworking as well so it's something I need regardless. Since it uses a bucket to collect debris it's easy to clean out the sawdust before working on metal.


Michael
 
Rusty McDonald said:
Ok here's what I did, Got me one of those BFM's from harbor Freight, (big freakin Magnet, supposed to pick up 200lbs) put it in a ziplock bag (the heavy duty ones) and put it under/near my grinder. looks like a big ol' metal chia pet.
Click to expand...

Do u man THIS one?

The problem w/ my grinder (see the new Hot link in my original post) is that there is a housing around the belt so I can't really put a mganet below the work rest. Not sure how I'll do it.
 
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