Grinder Dust

Mike Martinez

Mike Martinez

Well-Known Member
So, I was in the shop a few days ago planning where the grinder will go. Right now, I have a mobile sanding station for my other three grinder/ sander ( wood working) that all run into a small dust collection apparatus. This led me to wonder how adding an open face type grinder will affect the shops airs quality and my wallet. I thought of running another hose and a collection hood to where the bulk of the dust flies but I remembered the last accidental fire and it was a deal breaker. ( Teak Burl dust ... thin layer... hit by 1095 sparks ... kaboom... fire)

Anyhow, how do you guys go about it, aside from the bucket of water, open door and fan?

Thank you all for your suggestions and pictures.
 
There's a pretty cool how to in the tutorial section about making a box fan into an air cleaner by bossdog. I've got everything to put one together just haven't yet so I don't know how well it works.
 
Thanks Jay. I had one of those for a while before I rigged up the dust collector and bought a large (industrial) fan to blow the very fine airborne particles out the dual garage doors. They work better en-tandem versus the box-fan filter rig.
 
I don't think there is any one method/system for dust control that will be 100% effective. Like you, there was a time that I had a dust collection system in the shop, but nearly burned the place down.

I have a two pronged approach....using an old blower out of a furnace, built an Air Filter system that hangs in the middle of the shop. I used 16X25x1 furnace filters to gather dust and recirculate the air. The second prong is that I have 5 gallon buckets hanging under my grinders, full of soapy water. These bucket catch the majority of the heavier swarf, and the air filter system get SOME of the rest.

Neither work well enough to disregard using a good quality respirator! A couple of years ago I had a chunk of my right lung removed due to all the years in the shop without quality protection. I would not wish that on anyone! Don't go to Home Depot and buy some cheesy/cheap respirator! Do your homework and find a top quality one that will protect you. My personal choice is 3M 7500 series.
 
I built panel walls and closed off a corner of my garage to enclose my grinders and my blast cabinet. It has a small outside-vented exhaust to maintain negative air pressure and keep the heavily contaminated air from drifting through the shop. Gets a little warm in there at times but it solves what was a major annoyance for me.
 
I know it's common for wood shops to have big dust collection set ups but for metal and wood dust, combined with sparks from grinding seems like a bomb waiting to go off. Every time I get ready to set something up, I think of that. In the supply warehouse I had two wall exhaust fans installed above the grinding and cutting areas. These vent right to the outside and do an OK job of venting dust.
 
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