Scrubbing

[BrianHood]

I'm concerned that all the swirling around I am seeing in the clear bag hanging down below the Wynn filter is evidence of scrubbing, and if I should do anything about it.

[retired2]

it's hard to offer an opinion with so little information about your configuration, but I doubt you have a scrubbing problem unless the clear bag is accumulating waste at an excessive rate.  I get a very small amount of fines and even an occassional shaving in my clear bag, but I can empty my primary waste drum countless times before I even get a cup of waste in the clear bag.  I could probably run my system for years before I would need to empty the clear bag. 

I think it is unrealistic to expect that there will be no fines accumulationg in the clear bag.  In fact, if you had a separator that was that efficient, then you wouldn't even need a filter.  So, expect to see some swirling in the clear bag and be thankful that the fines are accumulating there rather than in your filter.

[BrianHood]

Thank you. I have your Delta dust collector without Thien baffle, have Wynn filter. Planning on a Super Dust Deputy as I have many projects to build, so no time to construct baffle.

[retired2]

Thank you. I have your Delta dust collector without Thien baffle, have Wynn filter. Planning on a Super Dust Deputy as I have many projects to build, so no time to construct baffle.

Well, your first order of business should be installing a SDD or a baffle.  Without it you are going to spend a lot of time cleaning the Wynn filter. 

[BernardNaish]

I would not contemplate working in a shop without some way of keeping the air free of killer dust. Given that I need a fine filter. Given that I need a cyclone or a Thien baffle to take out most of the dust so it is not always blocking the filter. If you use a planer/thickneser then it makes a lot of mess unless you use air extraction of the debris. It throws it all over the place and takes ages to clean up.

That amount of chipping and dust will fill the usual bag very fast and it is much easier to empty the bin under a Thien. These are easy to make and will not take long if you follow retired2's design. I strongly recommend you make one.

[BrianHood]

Bernard,
thanks for the reply.
I personally don't think wood dust is very harmfull to all but a few people with some preexisting underlying issue, just never saw it be a problem in 40 years in the construction trades. I do remember a big problem when MDF first came out, we all noticed it and most reacted badly to it until better products came along. For awhile we wouldn't let that stuff in the shop and now that I only build what I want to, the way I want to, I don't go near it.
I got the Delta dust collector with the floppy bag, swapped to the Wynn, and I'll get the SDD pretty soon. I've just got to many other projects with deadlines or that I'm excited about to be building something I can buy for $170, but if that wasn't the case I build a Thein in a heartbeat.
I've read the entire Retired2 thread a couple times, pretty amazing.

[BernardNaish]

I am sorry to say that you are quite wrong! The medical evidence is overwhelming that fine dust particles from machining wood are extremely dangerous and not just to those of us who have an immediate allergic reaction. No the response is not immediate but a time bomb waiting to kill you many years later.

Answer enjoy hand woodworking like me or kit up with fine filters, Thien baffles and earplugs.

[BrianHood]

Bernard,
I reacted to your phrase 'killer dust' because I suspect wood dust is nowhere near as bad as it is being made out to be, given reasonable precautions. However, it's just my opinion, and I'm open to changing it if the evidence appears. I agree with you that it's important to have a strategy to keep dust levels to a safe level, whatever that is. Because of a lack of standards and information it may be impossible to determine what that safe level is, so we each have to make our own decisions about what is safe what is not.
I found this study to be very interesting:
http://oem.bmj.com/content/early/2010/11/11/oem.2010.060004.short

From that study:
Abstract
We investigated whether a history of wood dust exposure through occupational and hobby-related activities was associated with increased lung cancer risk.

risk of lung cancer was examined in relation to employment in wood-related occupations, working with wood as a hobby, as well as cumulative wood dust exposure that took into account both occupational and hobby-related sources.

Results While we observed an increased risk of lung cancer associated with working in a sawmill (OR=1.5; 95% CI: 1.1, 2.1), we found no evidence of increased risks with other occupations, working with wood as a hobby or with estimated cumulative exposure to wood dust. Contrary to our hypothesis, we observed modest decreased risks with exposure to wood dust, although no dose-response relationship was apparent.

Another interesting read:
https://woodgears.ca/dust/dylos.html
If you read the article a point of reference is that in an ISO Class 8 clean room (the most dirty) a reading of 1,000 would be the highest allowable, and the author was getting lower readings in wood shop conditions using reasonable care.

I guess all we know is that opinions vary!

[qtron]

Cansomeone please tell me what is meant by scrubbing?

[bbain]

Cansomeone please tell me what is meant by scrubbing?

Scrubbing is the removal of collected waste from a separator into the filter or shop vac.