Woodworker's Journal 2006-30-2, страница 70

Personal

Respiratory

Protection

M SHIP

IF you are a weekend woodworker and don^:t have the time or budget to implement complete, effective dust collection and control in your small shop, masks and respirators can provide a quick, inexpensive way to counter the short-term discomforts that come from breathing dust — as well as the long-term consequences that can ruin your respiratory health. Disposable masks are cheap and easiest to wear. They come in a variety of styles, but ail two-strap masks conform to OSHA's requirements for fine-particle filtering. If your eyewear fogs up when you wear a mask, try a model that features an exhalation valve, such as the 3M 6979 that gets rid of moist breath before it creeps up under your glasses or goggles. Some woodworkers prefer "half mask" respirators with a rubber or plastic face piece that holds one or two disposable filter elements. To keep them working at their best, clean the face piece after every use and replace the filter(s) when they show dust buildup.

Bearded woodworkers who don't get a good enough mask-to-face seal with disposables and half masks can achieve much better dust filtration by using air helmets (known in the trades as "powered air-purifying respirators" or "PAPRs"), Although expensive (S165 - $450 plus), air helmets use a battery-powered fan and filter unit connected to a face shield that envelops and protects your entire face while providing a steady stream of cool, clean filtered air to breathe.

various woodshop machines and tools require different means of collecting their waste. For instance, you 11 get better fine dust-catching performance by connecting a portable belt sander to a shop vacuum, while a wide-belt or stationary edge sander requires the air-moving volume of a big portable or central collector

Does this mean you have to go out and buy hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of new dust collection equipment? Unless you have a really big shop that pumps out 500 pounds of sawdust a week, probably not. More than likely, you already own some key pieces of dust collection equipment (is there a woodworker out there who doesn't own a shop vacuum?). If you're a part-time woodworker in a small shop, many other pieces of your dust-curbing arsenal — box fan, shovel, dust mask, etc. — are inexpensive, or readily at hand.

While this article doesn't delve deeply into installing a full-blown central collection system (for a full rundown on this complicated topic, see my book Woodshop Dust Control), it will help you develop a comprehensive dust control strategy that teams up both collection devices and control methods to keep your shop cleaner, safer and healthier.

First, we'll examine the full range of devices available for trapping and collecting dust, such as portable collectors and shop vacuums. Next, we'll look at various means of eliminating fine dust that eludes collection, with air filtration and ventilation devices. The sidebar at left delves into persona! protection devices, such as masks and respirators, that will keep fine dust out of your nose and lungs. At the end of the article, you'll find some advice on dust control strategies for three different sizes of shops, each suited for a different level of equipment, style of woodworking and budget.

Tip:

Want to have less sawdust to clean up? Try generating less of it in the first place by using thin-kerf saw blades on all your power saws and buying your lumber pre-surfaced. Also, try making shavings instead of sawdust by using hand tools, like a chisel and mallet to chop mortises, molding planes to create shaped edges and cabinet scrapers to smooth wood surfaces, etc.

Primary Collection

As the name implies, primary collection is the process of gobbling up sawdust and chips as close as possible to the source where they're generated. For most shop machines and portable power tools, this entails connecting a hose or ductwork from the dust ports/hoods on your machines to the inlet port of a central or portable dust collector or a shop vacuum. Primary collection is essential to efficient dust control because it's far easier to trap sawdust at the source, rather than trying to gather it up after it has spread all over floors and benches or, in the case of fine dust, billowed into the air.

Central Collectors

If you have a largish-sized workshop, there's no better way to round up shavings, chips and dust than by

Today's Shop continues on page 72...

The Oust Gorilla™ from Oneida is an example of a central dust collector.

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