Sit, Ubu, or stand? AND Dust Systems?

I also am a sitter..use to stand but as you get a bit older or if you have a bad back as I do, sittin is much easier on me, havin the grinder at the proper height helps also.

I ground a blade at Bob Doggett's shop this week and had to do it standing. I handled it, but missed my iron seat. He has a great shop there. I know what you mean about needing more stability with advancing years!

What a fun trip/visit that was!

Hey...I even got to meet Alex Whetsell....for abot 30 seconds.

I have an Oneida dust collector that I'm thinking about using. It is not their cyclone model but one they call the woodcarver model. I use it to collect dust from my wood lathe and it does fine. It is a large tin container (looks like a trash can) with a lid which contains the motor and a pleated paper canister filter like you would use on a diesel. Do any of you have thoughts as to whether or not it would be safe to use for metal? I'd like to use it if possible but I don't want to blow myself up or burn down my house.

Shawn

Not safe. Hot sparks, wood dust, and paper filters are a problem.

There is a gimmick you can make out of a covered cake pan that might let you use it, though. Cut two holes in the metal lid the diameter of your (metal) vacuum hose. Attach one hose to the funnel at the grinder, and another hose to the dust collector. Put the lid on the cake pan, with the pan half filled with water. The sparks will be quenched when they are sucked into the pan. High maintenance, but better than a fire.

Good advice, Don. Thak you. I've heard of dumping the dust into a partly water-filled barrel and then on to the collector.

Uou put one vacuum hose hole in the lid next to one edge of the lid, then another hole across the lid on the other edge. The metal dust comes in one side and drops to the water and some of the light dust continues out the other hole in the lid. I guess just about like the aforementioned method. But get some expert help on it, please, don't burn the shop down, OK?

I have a 3M airhelmet with a HEPA filter so that will protect my lungs fine. But I will eventually need a dust collector to keep the basement clean. Like Don previously mentioned, my wife's laundry room is also right next to my shop with no wall in between. Just trying to keep the peace. I will definitly get professional advice before I use a collector. Sounds like it's a water bucket under the grinder for now.

Shawn

I'm just thinking that there is a right way to modify a wood-dust system to allow it to work with metal. However, this might not be possible, so we'd best be careful what we do and how we do it. Glad you're going to check it out completely.

Don, how's the new system working, or do you have it installed yet? Yesterday, we moved my vacuum box from the assembly room into the grinding room, and it doesn't seem too noisy, even that close to the grinders. Thinking that it might be more effiecient if it was closer to the grinders and buffer.

Steve, I have had some unexpected expenses in the form of plane tickets and car rentals that have kept me from ordering yet. I hope to be able to do so in the nex couple of weeks, though, and I do plan to put the main box within a few (6-:cool: feet of the grinder. I am very sure that it will work out fine.

Boy, do I know what you mean, Don. Good luck on getting it, whenever you can. It'll help.

After working some today, in the grinding room with the Torit unit in the same room, I don't find it to be a big deal. It's no louder than the Bader Bench Model I'm running while grinding blades to outline.

O.K.,

I feel a little stupid but I'm going to bear my shame with pride...

Last night I had an explosion in the filter bag. I'm going to start by saying that I wasn't following my own advice, which is to include at least a four foot drop and a dust separator ( cyclone ) with water in the bottom ( cyclone ). I was taking an unnecessary shortcut and being lazy and moved my 'portable,' filter to the new grinder set-up instead of waiting and setting it up the right way.

I'm pretty sure what happened was that the small filings from a 220 grit belt built up on the platen into a small mass which caught fire and then went down into the pipe, so it didn't extinguish like a spark would.

Even if you are smarter than me ( which didn't take much last night... ) KEEP THAT FIRE EXTINGUISHER UP TO DATE!

Just last month I replaced the old one on an annual basis and when I checked it to see if it worked... it didn't. That replacement saved my *ss.

No damage save little bits of filter bag everywhere...

Thanks for your openness with us. We all need to learn from your report.

BE CAREFUL OUT THERE, GUYS and GALS!!

Short cuts are usually through rough terrain.

Thks again.

Mr Johnson,

You said that you got your system from MSC. Who is MSC?
Do they have a web site or an 800 number?

Thanks in advance for the info!!!!

Bob Sigmon

www.mscdirect.com

Thank you, Dogman. Will check it out right now.

Bob Sigmon

They've been good for supplies. Just got back from my uncle's funeral in Spokane. A wonderful man.

Thanks for the help Bob. Cool signature!