Need to buy or build a vacuum system

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I've brought polishing in-house. Prepping the various buffing wheels and keeping them clean and soft creates something of a snowstorm.

Does anyone know anything about vacuum systems? I need something very powerful to suck this fluff up as it comes off the wheel. I can use home hot air ducting right under it but what do I use for sucking? Does a fan that blows 300 cfm also suck 300 CFM?

[look 171]

My father has these jewelry polisher that uses basic off the shelf HVAC filters. Build a metal box with a slot for the filter. You just need to build a larger one. Pretty simple to do. See the HVAC filters behine the metal grills. Not our but we had something similar. Jewelers Polishing Dust Collector | eBay

[look 171]

A more powerful squirrel cage may work better for more powerful suction.

[NY65912]

How about a centrifugal woodworking vacuum? No filter, the stuff falls into the bag. I had one when I did furniture making. I used 4" PVC piping with reducers and hoses. I also and ran a copper wire around the PVC to ground the pipe from static build up. Check out Rocker woodworking for ideas.

[cashflyer]

Use a vacuum system like they use in a wood shop. It collects everything from very fine to coarse sawdust, so I think it would collect your stuff too. And it does not use that type filter (in your photo).

edit: well, Mike beat me to it.

[look 171]

I have a woodworking vacuum in my wood shop. I think what Shaun has coming off the polisher is too light and will fly all over the place. Much too light to separate. The wheel comes off like lint.

[sammyg2]

Centrifuges only work when the density of the solid is significantly heavier than the medium it is in (air).

Gonna hafta filter. BTW, water is a very efficient and CHEEEEEP filter media.

Get a good sized blower, hook up the suction to a 55 gallon drum half full of water, then run another duct from the drum to the work space. One of em will have to go below the water line

Think giant BONG!
The dust and lint and crap will get suspended in the water, which will hafta be replaced periodically. Just don't drink the BONG water

[wdfifteen]

I built a vacuum system for woodworking from a junk clothes dryer fan. It would work great for your application. Motor and fan housing were free, just needed a little wiring.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Thank you Gentleman, good thoughts. On collection, Jeff is correct, this is the softest, lightest lint you can imagine.

I think Sammy has a good idea on a water-based drum filter. The pic above is of a shop vac that I use to vacuum it all up. It does not work at all with collection, half from low cfm and half from a tiny collection port.

Patrick, I looked it up and a dryer is about 120+ cfm, I wonder if that's enough. I was thinking 3-4 times that like a range hood. The wheel spins at 3450 rpm and the cotton just flies everywhere when raked.

I'll see what I can find and try to put together this weekend.

[Eric Coffey]

In addition to a vacuum, I think a decent hood/shroud would make your life easier as well.

[Charles Freeborn]

Yes, a dust collector from a woodworking supplier. If you've got a woodcraft supply in your town, that's a good place to start. Otherwise there are lots of online sources.

[billybek]

One on Craigs near you.
DUST COLLECTOR INDUSTRIAL CYCLONE UNIT. A MUST SEE

[MBAtarga]

Originally Posted by billybek

One on Craigs near you.
DUST COLLECTOR INDUSTRIAL CYCLONE UNIT. A MUST SEE

I think that is the cyclone only- no blower/fan unit included. That would be connected to it downstream, so that the collected dust/fibers would hopefully drop in the cyclone to a trashcan/bin placed underneath. I'm not sure how efficient a system would be to capture the fine dust/fibers that Shaun shows in his picture. I know they work well with sawdust, as I've got one in my wood shop.

[targa911S]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Centrifuges only work when the density of the solid is significantly heavier than the medium it is in (air).

Gonna hafta filter. BTW, water is a very efficient and CHEEEEEP filter media.

Get a good sized blower, hook up the suction to a 55 gallon drum half full of water, then run another duct from the drum to the work space. One of em will have to go below the water line

Think giant BONG!
The dust and lint and crap will get suspended in the water, which will hafta be replaced periodically. Just don't drink the BONG water

Now that's right there is some funny stuff..

[cashflyer]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

I think Sammy has a good idea on a water-based drum filter.

Screw that! I think Sammy has a good idea for a giant bong!!
Now if I can just get a hefty bag full of weed......

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

I've brought polishing in-house

You know, this is headed towards it's inevitable conclusion...


You will bring polishing and plating to MY house!

Shawn's Mobile Polishing and Plating Service (not available in all states)

The 928 can tow an enclosed work trailer with your equipment inside!

[908/930]

Can you exhaust to a filter out of the building? A good blower like a Atmosphere VTX600 would move a lot of air, I would be cautious about a large drum for collecting the dust only for fire hazard or dust explosion, If it goes through the water first that should solve the problem. I remember having lots of static arcs when polishing items.

Possibly check some surplus stores in your area for used blowers.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I could but I have neighbors behind the building and I think they would complain if they found all this fleece in their yards. I don't understand how a 4500 sqft footprint 2 story building can be tucked into a residential area.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

You know, this is headed towards it's inevitable conclusion...


You will bring polishing and plating to MY house!

Shawn's Mobile Polishing and Plating Service (not available in all states)

The 928 can tow an enclosed work trailer with your equipment inside!

Home Depot made thee box-in-box TV boxes specifically to ship 911 window frames. Forget the 928. I was all excited a few weeks ago, have heard nothing from the shop after giving them specs for oversize boring out the bad cylinder.