# Dust in the shop



## Matus (Apr 8, 2019)

My workshop is just about 2x3 m large and two of its 4 walls are just a deviders that do not seal it from the neighboring cellars.

Since I upgraded to a 2x72” the dust would be literally everywhere after just one hour of grinding. The tipping point was reached when one neighbor complained about ‘my dust’ in his cellar and I finally decided to do something about it.

The following video shows the steps I took to improve on this and it seems to work.



I would be curious to hear how you guys deal with dust in your workshops.


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## NO ChoP! (Apr 9, 2019)

I have an Oasis wall mounted dust collector and fittings on each piece of equipment that I move the hose to, as needed. Works OK.

I also run an Oasis air cleaner while I am in the shop. Also, works OK. Filters get pricey.

After every shop day I spray everything down with my air compressor, and sweep. (Which creates a huge dust storm)

I run a high power box fan with a furnace filter bungeed to it overnight. This works like a charm, and the filters are much less expensive.

On my next visit to the shop I wipe all surfaces with glass cleaner and rags to collect settled dust.

I also have my entire shop tarped. I have a hole cut in with a fan for fresh air.


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## RDalman (Apr 9, 2019)

Great! My temp grinding room I just built it in with plastic, and have a suction fan out through a window for the worst, but it's a mess like any other 

There's no risk your top suction takes some sparks if grinding heavily? Maybe check that, because if you have wood dust collected and sparks gets blown into that, you'll have a stubborn fire quickly.


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## mikaelsan (Apr 9, 2019)

Brilliant, sorry for highjack but thought it would be funny: from Pro setup to absolut amature setup. Small grinder surrounded by a cardboard box to catch the worst of the dust hehe. Talking about wood start and metal sparks. It almost caught fire when going from handle to blade grinding, luckily I pulled it out of the wall and shed, put some water in it and cleaned it for dust  learning " the hard way"


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## Matus (Apr 9, 2019)

RDalman said:


> There's no risk your top suction takes some sparks if grinding heavily? Maybe check that, because if you have wood dust collected and sparks gets blown into that, you'll have a stubborn fire quickly.



That is something I will test first - the under pressure from this kind of extractor is rather low. But I will turn of lights and test. Should sparks tend to find their way in, than I may introduce some additional mechanical barrier or make a separate position for the suction somewhere from the side when grinding steel and just cover the top of the grinder with a plate. I can not really afford to start a fire - that would be VERY bad. So this is something I keep in mind.


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## Matus (Apr 9, 2019)

Mika, I have managed to put a vacuum cleaner on fire with a 250W 1x30" when I was still using one while grinding a blade. From then on I used the vacuum cleaner only when grinding handles (wood). Wearing a respirator meant that I noticed the foul smell later. That is something to keep in mind too.


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## milkbaby (Apr 9, 2019)

Always good to have a fire extinguisher... It's a bit crazy the number of knifemakers who have burnt their shops down.


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## Matus (Apr 10, 2019)

milkbaby said:


> Always good to have a fire extinguisher... It's a bit crazy the number of knifemakers who have burnt their shops down.



I do have a 2kg one and consider getting a 6kg one - and also to arrange stuff in the neighboring unit (which is also ours) where the large extractor stands - so that if anything happens, than I can actually access it FAST. I just realized that putting some heat resistant material around the dustbin (which is just a plastic sack) could go a long way to contain eventual fire.


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## Tim Rowland (Apr 10, 2019)

In my shop I closed off my metal grinding area with thick plastic sheeting and have a 2hp dust collector and dust deputy hooked up to each machine. I don't run the dust collector while grinding steel, I just run that into a bucket with water and then hook the hose back up when shaping wood.
Below it the room studded out before putting up the plastic sheeting.
I will take an updated photo later with the steel sheet behind the grinder and plastic sheeting enclosing the room.
I have been eyeing the new metal dust collection system from Grizzly so I can have a "healthier" grinding experience .


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## merlijny2k (Apr 30, 2019)

So interesting to see all your setups. You don't smell the fire with a respirator indeed. I saw smoke from the machine when I changed belts. Switching wood to steel and not cleaned the piled up wooddust. Guess that's most often the culprit.


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