[geeks] Dust control in the workshop...

[James Fogg]

> Short story:
> I need to pull concrete dust out of the air in my [computer]
> workshop. Neighbor is a concrete factory; this is a *lot* of dust.
> Cost and noise are factors. Ideas?

Cement dust is incredibly caustic (alkaline) and will eat copper and
other metals when moisture is available. Not good.

In my woodshop I use what I call my RedNeck dust collector. It has
proven to be very good at collecting even the finest of sanding
particles, and I sand down to 1000 grit. It's not just wood that I'm
sanding, but acrylics and Corian countertop materials too. I have one of
my racks within 2 feet of my lathe (where I do lots of high speed
sanding on the lathe) and the fans and filters stay clean.

Buy some 20 inch cheapo "box" fans, the kind you find a Wal*Mart for
$12.00.

Buy some 20X20 high-efficiency furnace filters. These will be a white
paper-like material that is z-folded (accordion folded) and not the
see-through blue fiberglass gauze type.

Turn on the fan, hold the filter up to the suck-side of the fan until
the filter is sucked onto the fan grille and you are done. In classic
redneck fashion you might want to duct-tape the filter to the box incase
the power fails (you don't want the filter to fall away while the fan is
off).

Total cost = $15.00 per unit.

Airflow = very high.

I clean my filter with a shop-vac vacuum outside (cause the vacuum will
exhaust some dust). You might want to do the same from time to time. Use
the brush attachment and rub the accordion folds till clean.