Why bother with dust collection?

Good reasons to invest in a dust collection system. March 16, 2001

Q.
I've got a long list of equipment I need for my shop. A dust collection system seems like all expense and very little payback. How do I justify the cost?

Forum Responses
The justification becomes moot two hours after running all of these machines, when your lungs are filled with dust. This is a serious health issue.

You don't have to invest huge sums of money on a large system that can handle all off your machines running at the same time. You probably won't be running more than two machines at once, unless you're doing production work. The cheapest solution (depending on the size shop) would be to purchase a few mobile units that can handle a few machines independently, and move them around to the machine(s) being used at the time. As business grows, as well as running time on each machine, you can upgrade to a larger system.

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I can't imagine working in a shop without some kind of collection system. They pay for themselves in several ways: lower insurance premiums, a cleaner environment that has fewer distractions, and less time sweeping up.

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A good dust collector will reduce wear and tear on your machinery and employees. Without one, there will be a lot of cleanup time and dust on everything from top to bottom. Even after cleaning up, try to do some finish work. See what lies on your beautiful piece 24 hours later. And worse, breathing all that dust is simply not safe.

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When you make the selection, look at the filter quality. Blowing into a bag is like buying a dust pump. It is the fine dust (10 micron) that gets to the lungs. Filter it, or forget it!