Dust Collection

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Cheapest way to collect dust and shavings from small cabinet shop

8/29/18       
K Member

We have a very small cabinet shop with a few employees. We currently have several small dust collectors that are moved around the shop as needed, but as you all know, this is a huge waste of resources and the filters on these things don't really work at all.

We have a 30 yard dumpster that we empty all shavings, dust, and scraps into right now. I want to automate this somehow so that our DC just shoots into the dumpster and we don't have to think about it anymore.

Right now the only solution I've come up with is a large cyclone with an airlock. Airlock dumps into a tee and an auxillary blower pushes the dust that drops in out into the dumpster. This seems really inefficient to me though. Why do we need two blowers to do the job that one should be able to accomplish?

I came across http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Blowing_Sawdust_into_a_Big_Trailer.html which describes our situation perfectly, and there the users are talking about utilizing airlocks again, and using a second blower to shoot into the container.

My question is: Why can't I just have a single blower inline (Material handling) and shooting into the dumpster outside? Would that not work just as well while simultaneously eliminating the need for the cyclone/separator and secondary blower?

Blowing Sawdust into a Big Trailer

8/29/18       #3: Cheapest way to collect dust and sh ...
David R Sochar  Member

Your DC will not work without high pressure being maintained in the system. This is where the air lock comes in - it keeps the pressure in the system so it can pick up your waste. If there were no airlock, then the fan would just blow thru the system, picking up little.

The dust velocity after the airlock is zero. You can try to position the airlock over the dumpster to let the shavings simply drop into the bin. Adding a second fan will allow you to move the shavings to a particular area.

The photo shows a former collection system that had an airlock as the outlet above an 8 yd dumpster, with a single large fan to run the system. We did need to be mindful of the pyramidal pile that it made and knock it down every now and then.


View higher quality, full size image (1800 X 1350)

8/29/18       #4: Cheapest way to collect dust and sh ...
K Member

Ah, OK thank you David! I am not an engineer by any means so it truly never occurred to me that the blower needed pressure in order to operate. In your photo is the blower blowing into that cyclone shaped enclosure? And then the airlock is installed on the bottom of the cyclone and dropped into the dumpster?

8/30/18       #5: Cheapest way to collect dust and sh ...
Bill Member

Another way to do that is to have a sealed dumpster under the collector. Like the photo on the right. That dumpster is under suction so it is very heavy duty and not inexpensive. But there is no maintenance on it.

Photo of sealed dumpster under a collect

8/30/18       #6: Cheapest way to collect dust and sh ...
David R Sochar  Member

K - Shavings come in from the shop along the upper right, and go to the fan. Then up to the top of the cyclone for all the fines to go out to the filters and the heavy will drop down thru the cyclone to the air lock.

My current set-up has an air-tight collection bin with no airlock. Shavings go into fan, into cyclone, and separated to fines to the filters and the coarse drops down into a collection bin. The bin has doors to the outside, and these are sealed well and close with lever latches to keep it airtight. Any loss of air/pressure means efficiency lost right off the top.

9/14/18       #7: Cheapest way to collect dust and sh ...
Scott

I think you should consider a Disa or Dantherm, or something with cans or a forklift container. These are generally 7.5 or 10 hp for a smaller shop.
The advantage to these is you don’t need a make up air unit to replace all the heated air that your dust collector blasts outside.

2/23/22       #8: Cheapest way to collect dust and sh ...
Mark Justin

The dust velocity after the airlock is zero. You can try to position the airlock over the dumpster to let the shavings simply drop into the bin.


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