Air quality monitor readings ?

[NuggyBuggy]

Air-borne dust is a big concern for me.  I do most of my power tool woodworking at my cottage, where I have room for a cyclone and duct work.... but at home in the city, I don't have that kind of luxury, mostly resigning myself to working in a very small basement area that would make most people duck.

I have a fair collection of Festool stuff, which I bought for their reputation of excellent dust collection, but even still I am not sure whether I dare run the stuff into the house without the room for, say, an air cleaner.  I see a lot of claims by people here about dust-free operation but wonder: is this all anecdotal or has anyone actually tried to measure particulate counts before, during, and after Festool use ?

I do know I brought the RAS115 out, and had a Dylos running, and will say particulate counts of both sizes at about 6' shot through the roof within a second of hitting wood, so that's out for me.  I know the RAS is known to not be so hot at dust collection, so this isn't necessarily representative of all Festools, but has anyone else run some of the other stuff - say, routers and sanders ? My own experience with the TS75 is that it spits out too much dust for my liking, especially at the end of cuts. 

I am thinking of hauling some of my other stuff and measuring with the Dylos but wonder what sort of measurements others here have taken ?

 

[Allen Akin]

I have a basement shop, and my Dylos shows pretty high readings even when I haven't used a power tool for days.

Allen

 

[Deansocial]

My dust sensor gives a reading of mildly discoloured bogies when cutting all day

 

[jmbfestool]

lol haahaa

 

[mouppe]

My dust sensor gives a reading of mildly discoloured bogies when cutting all day

I find walnut is more noticeable than pine!

 

[NuggyBuggy]

Well, since evidently noone cares to see exactly how clean our air really is when using our tools, I'll provide the first data point.

I have a Dylos DC1100 Pro.  This is the small particle model which measures down to .5 microns.

I had turned my RO150 on for a few seconds and noticed the particle count go way up.  I turned the RO150 off, left my CT33 running for about 5 minutes, and puttered around in my small space for a while.  After about 5-10 minutes, my small particle count had gone down to 1100 ("poor") and large particle count was at 100.  I know that both counts would go down a lot lower if I had waited.

I turned on my RO150.  It had a worn out sheet of paper on it, but was the only piece I had.  Put it to a piece of finished oak hardwood flooring.  The paper was worn out enough that it was barely removing any of the finish.  Within less than 30 seconds my small particle count was at ~ 6700 (well in the "very poor" range) and my large particle count at 2500.

If I had other brands of sanders to work with I would have tried them, although maybe not since I really don't want to be generating this dust in my house any more than I need to.  As it is, I'm a bit discouraged.  This may be a lot better than most sanders, but not as good as I had hoped.

 

[wood wiz]

I have the same Dylos you have and there are just way too many variables to consider for comparing numbers from one shop to the next. I think a monitor like the Dylos is best used in your own shop for comparisons. I sanded for a few hours last night and monitored the particle count on my Dylos. I saw a very small bump in numbers over that time running a ETS 150/3 and a Midi with a DD cyclone separator. I also had my JDS air scrubber running. I ended that session at around 300/75 particle count IIRC it started at around 200/30.

I know that without question the two most important things I can do in my shop to keep the air particle count down, are to run the JDS air scrubber and to keep my Grizzly Cyclone DC running with a couple blast gates open. The JDS does a decent job of scrubbing the air but the Grizzly cyclone brings the particle count crashing down in no time at all. Again, last night I only had the JDS air scrubber on while I sanded with the ETS 150/3 and the Midi.

One thing worth noting is that we had wild fires in my area the last few months and the particle count outside was WAY worse than the particle count inside my shop. I can't remember actual numbers but there were times the reading outside was over 5000 on the small particle count. [eek]

 

[John Stevens]

I've barely done any woodworking since receiving my Dylos about a month ago.  Partly because I'm in the middle of reorganizing my entire basement, including the woodshop area, but partly because the Dylos shows me that I need to completely revamp my DC system and after that, do a thorough vacuum-cleaning of the floor, walls, ceiling and contents of the basement.  The Dylos shows that the air quality in the basement is usually "fair" but the particle levels rise to "poor" just from walking around.  It also shows that the air quality goes to "very poor" when my furnace turns on--time to call the furnace guy and have him see if something can be improved there.

Agree with Wood Wiz that running the ambient DC does wonders, contrary to what you read in the mags and on the message boards.  Even for particles in the 0.5 micron range, the ambient DC is amazing.

I was pretty surprised at the readings for my Festool CT vac--it increases the count even when not connected to a tool.  Not sure if that means I need to change the bag or the filters, or if maybe it's just a sign that I need to vacuum the floor.  When cutting ply with the ATF55 (the predecessor to the TS55), the particle count increases to "very poor" almost immediately.  Again, not sure whether I need to change the bag, filters or if it's because it's making a little breeze that's stirring up the dust on the floor and walls.  Just FWIW, I'm running a Dust Deputy going into the CT vac.

Hope to post back in a month or two with some better news.

Regards,

John

 

[jonathan-m]

I was pretty surprised at the readings for my Festool CT vac--it increases the count even when not connected to a tool.  Not sure if that means I need to change the bag or the filters, or if maybe it's just a sign that I need to vacuum the floor.

For what it's worth, in my opinion is important to make sure you have a TRUE HEPA filter in your vac. Otherwise it'll simply blow all the particles, that are small enough to get through the filter, back out. Which imho kind of defeats the purpose of the extraction.
The dust deputy is a very good choice to seperate as much dust as possible before it gets to your dust bag & filter. This is not only a huge savings on bags, but also your filter will last a lot longer. And we all know filters and bags can add up quickly

So in conclusion, if I were you I'd start by opening up the vac and checking the filter type & the condition it's in.
As an asthma sufferer I'd love to get a Dylos to test my setup (which seems very similar to yours) and it's efficiency. I've been eyeing  one for some time now but unfortunately, over here in the EU they're hard to get and of course, rather pricey.

 

[Timtool]

Anyone using one of these testers in a shop with an air filtering unit like a Jet? Been thinking about getting something like that, but i am wondering how effective they are.
I also think it's logic that Vacs get the dust count up, they blow warm air on the floor which picks up all the dust and disperses it in the air.

 

[Stone Message]

When I got rid of my heavy machinery I also sold my Jet air filter (JTS 1000 I think). I thought that the combination of the CT26 with a Dust Deputy would be sufficient for a small workshop. I must say that the last cold that I had seems to have left me with catarrh that just won't go away.

I would like to know as much as I can about the particulate levels and whether anyone with the Jet has figures to demonstrate just how good it is. I am quite prepared to buy another filter system if required.

Peter

 

[wood wiz]

Anyone using one of these testers in a shop with an air filtering unit like a Jet? Been thinking about getting something like that, but i am wondering how effective they are.

That is what I was referencing when I was talking about the JDS air scrubber. I assume any of the brand of hanging air cleaners/filters/scrubbers like the JDS, Jet, Delta, etc. will be equally effective as my JDS at bringing the particle count down. I went from sometimes running the JDS for certain tasks to always running it when I am in the shop.

Like I stated my Grizzly cyclone really filters the air and brings the particle count crashing down. I have changed my practice here as well in that I don't power up and power down as frequently. Instead I just let it run with a few blast gates open in between tasks.

 

[Paddyfin1]

For many years my job was filtration for the likes of Aston Martin , jaguar etc
I don't understand your preoccupation with dust, what I mean is that unlike asbestos particulate which is barbed hence when it comes in contact with lung tissue is likely to imbed itself hence causing asbestosis
Whereas wood dust tends to be of a smooth in texture meaning it won't bed into the lungs, it will cause some breathing problems but these tend to be temporary.
Also why are you checking for dust down to 0.5micron that's nigh on sub micronic, the human eye can only see dust particles over 30 micron in size,
My work was to do with dust levels in paint spray booths and clean rooms,ALL human interaction causes high levels of dust movement whether it be from clothing even human movement.
No environment is dust free even wearing Tyvec suits entering a booth via body blowers and .5micron filtration system means a dust free environment
Festool filtration is very good.... Perfect,no, but then no process involving cutting or sanding can be dust free
My advice would be use some common sense, put the particle counter away and enjoy what your doing

Ps don't use your particle counter outside, if inside scares you... Outside is no place for you  [eek]

 

[John Stevens]

My advice would be use some common sense, put the particle counter away and enjoy what your doing

I'm pretty impressed by the number of assumptions you've made (or variables you've overlooked).  Thanks for your advice, but I'm enjoying what I'm doing just fine.

Regards,

John

 

[John Stevens]

Anyone using one of these testers in a shop with an air filtering unit like a Jet?

Yes--a Jet AFS1000.  Note what this web site says about the type of filters it uses:

http://www.wynnenv.com/jet_filters.htm

My readings from the Dylos confirm a rapid decrease in performance in only about eight hours' use of the filters.  Wynn has a very good reputation on the woodworking boards, so I'll be driving over there in a couple of weeks to pick up some of their replacement filters for the Jet.  Nice to be able to use the Dylos to check whether the Wynn filters hold up any longer.

Regards,

John