Woodworking Dust Extraction Systems
Woodworking Dust Extraction Systems
Sawdust and timber dust from woodworking machinery, including table saws, planers and sanders, can be a persistent problem, coating machines and finished timber products in fine wood particles. But more importantly, woodworking dust is an immediate and long-term danger to staff. Many assume it's the dust you can see that is harmful, but it’s the dust particles so small we can’t see them, known as PM10, that present the greatest danger! A dusty work environment can result not only in more sick days in the short-term, but in illnesses that appear much later in life; if the illness can be traced back to a working condition, it may raise future issues.
Reduce Wood Dust Risk in Your Workshop
So how can workshops reduce the risk of health issues from sawdust? Wood dust extraction systems designed for joinery shops and timber processing plants, if specified correctly, will give years of a safer working environment. Suppliers promote different features, but the basic principles of woodworking dust extraction are the same: air is sucked through, filtered, and clean air is expelled the other side.
For example, a bag house filter has a large number of ‘filter bags’ or ‘socks’ acting similarly to a vacuum cleaner dust collection bag. The wooddust-laden air is drawn from your tablesaws, planers and sanders through flexible hose and then through metal ducting before entering an air chamber inside the filter. The air is then separated out by the filter socks which hang inside the bag house and allows air to escape through them while trapping the dust. Most filter socks trap 99.95% (or better) of all dust down to 0.5microns, i.e. the dangerous particles.
Bag house filters can also be fitted with Regeneration fans. These fans, situated at the top of each chamber, clean the filter bags/socks by blowing clean air in a reverse direction through the socks to help remove collected dust from the sock material so they carry on working efficiently. This is a gentle way of cleaning the filter socks, helping them last longer than those being pulsed with compressed air.
Benefits of Woodworking-Specific Dust Extraction
Any sawmill, joinery shop or timber processing plant will benefit from dust extraction designed for woodwork. Benefits include not only improved staff health but also:
- Less problems with woodworking machinery: modern machinery often has an extraction speed and volume in the manufacturer’s manual – is yours fast enough? Inadequate dust extraction may result in more expensive visits from a service technician over time.
- Less cleaning – a recent customer had 6 staff spending 2-3 hours cleaning every Friday. Reducing that to around an hour saved over $10,000/year in non-productive wage costs. That alone covered the payments on the money borrowed for the new dust extraction.
- Better finish - Burring and marks on timber is often the result of insufficient extraction of the dust.
- Collecting dust can make money! If you have a reasonable amount of untreated sawdust, the collected dust/shavings can be separated from treated timber dust and sold.
If you are looking for woodworking dust extraction systems, have a look at the Ebcam Dust&Fume Dust Filtration range.
