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These Cyclone and Dust Collection Research web pages share more than you probably ever wanted to know about the hazards of fine airborne dust, how to get good fine dust collection and how to protect yourself from fine dust. These pages share how to choose and upgrade your dust collectors, cyclones, ducting, shop vacuums, air cleaners, tools and downdraft tables for better fine dust collection. They share how to inexpensively test your dust collection airflow, filtering and air quality. They share plans to build my dust collection solutions that protect my family and me. I strongly recommend all either vent outside or use my cyclone design with appropriate very fine filters. You can use the included free plans to build a cyclone of my design for your personal use or purchase my cyclone design from Clear Vue Cyclones. These easy solutions let you get good fine dust protection without having to master the complex air engineering science that air engineering firms who guarantee customer air quality use to provide good fine dust collection.
Although woodworking dust inspired this site creation, all fine airborne dusts endanger our health. Air quality and other health experts strongly recommend that fiberglass workers, coffee roasters, granary storage workers and others with fine dust exposure read and follow the recommendations shared on these pages. So many have been harmed by dust that many respiratory doctors now recommend all shop owners and woodworkers read and follow the recommendations found on these pages. Three large industrial dust collection providers who guarantee air quality require their air engineering and sales staff to read these pages and they recommend these pages and my dust collection blog to their customers.
Fine dust harms everyone exposed and toxic dust can blindside us quickly. A Google search on PM health risks shows over seventy seven million references. Although these references contain considerable nonsense, the peer reviewed medical research shows every exposure to fine dust causes a measurable loss of respiratory function, some of this loss becomes permanent, and the higher and longer the exposure, the greater the damage. After I installed the top magazine rated cyclone system with upgraded fine filter fine wood dust blindsided me. Like most other small shop dust collection solutions my cyclone created a bad false sense of security. It left a clean looking shop while building dangerously high levels of invisible fine dust. I had no warning or clue that my shop and attached home were dangerously contaminated. Poisonous chemicals in wood cause a range of toxic reactions including irritation, chronic infections, wood related diseases, worsening allergic reactions, nerve damage, poisoning, and even increase our risk of cancer. Less than three months after installing this cyclone a worsening allergic reaction landed me in the hospital, cost 58% of my respiratory capacity, and left me still supplemental oxygen dependent over a decade later. Certified air quality testing three months after I stopped woodworking showed my shop and home contaminated with wood dust particle counts thousands of times higher than considered safe. Many now monitor their own air quality using affordable 0.5-micron Pro Dylos Particle Meters. They consistently find similar problems with almost every dust collector and cyclone system vented inside regardless of fine filter upgrades and vendor advertizing claims. Many report their clean looking shops contain so much fine invisible dust just walking around launches dangerously unhealthy amounts airborne. Many found their meters clearly show when a dog or cat walks through their clean looking shops at night. Sadly, I get about two emails a week from others blindsided by fine dust allergic reactions that forced them to either totally quit woodworking or stop working certain woods.
Please do not get lost in all the detail and forget your goal is to protect yourself and those close to you from fine dust hazards. I wish someone would have shared how is easy to protect ourselves. These pages share so much dust collection detail that it is easy to forget that unlike good fine dust collection, good fine dust protection is easy and inexpensive. All can get good fine dust protection. Before starting to make dust put on a dual cartridge properly fit NIOSH certified respirator mask. The mask protects us from the dust as we make it. When we put on our mask we also need to turn on a good strong commercial fan blowing out a back door or window with the main shop door cracked a little to get a good air flow through our shops. Our particle counters show that if we leave the mask and fan on for about a half hour after we stop making dust that will blow away and prevent a buildup of the fugitive dust that escapes collection. Most health damage is caused by fugitive dust that keeps getting launched again and again and kept airborne by the slightest breeze. So protection is easy, just use a strong fan and wear a good respirator mask.
More than 10,000 small shop owners worldwide use cyclones of my design and thousands visit this site daily to learn about fine dust risks and collection. I freely helped almost every small shop vendor improve their products. Most small shop vendors made some repairs such as adding finer cartridge filters, but almost all chose to continue selling the same dust pumps that fill our shops with dangerously unhealthy amounts of fine invisible dust. Two vendors I helped flagrantly stole and patented variations on my work, falsified information and emails about me on their web pages, and have for years run a nasty campaign using Internet forum administrators and posters to discredit me and these efforts. One of my friends recently laughed when I moaned at how much this terrible campaign continues to cost me. He reminded me what Winston Churchill said, "You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life."
Helping the many who view these pages daily and knowing thousands world wide use my cyclone design leaves a positive feeling, but positive feelings leave the bills unpaid. This research, tests and web page overhead costs me at least $10,000 yearly. Recent vendor complaints and harassment added even more in legal expenses. I continue this effort voluntarily, but my respiratory issues forced retirement and left insufficient income to keep up this sharing level. The current poor economy cut donations and advertisement revenue severely. So if you find this information useful please help support these efforts by using my my links to Rockler and Amazon (dust collection)
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or by sending a check to: |
Bill Pentz |
Note: These pages regularly get changed and most browsers do not automatically get the most current version unless you do a page refresh, so please refresh each page that you come back to visit. Links to other Internet information are underlined and provided in blue you can click on these links for additional information. Please start by reading over the Introduction then the Dust Collection Basics followed by the Medical Risks and Doctor's Orders pages. Please email me (BPentz@cnets.net) if you find problems or confusion.
