Do you suck or do you blow?

[charley1968]

G'day...
Cleaning my machines, i wonder: What's better ? To suction them or to blow them out with compressed air?
Your's truly : A.

 

[tbellemare]

Think, harmonica...

Tom

 

[charley1968]

Errr.. Could you elaborate?
Thanks: A.

 

[tbellemare]

It was supposed to be a joke in response to the Title...

That's how a harmonica is played, with both. With both, some nice music can occur.

I try to use a vacuum normally but if the tool gets encrusted, and they can, I use compressed air. You have to be careful how you use compressed air and how strong it is. If just blowing out a port that has nothing in it but gunk, it's blow away. If cleaning out the cooling ports of a motor or PC boards, etc., back off.

Tom

 

[#Tee]

imo suck is better but when i have a blower in hand i cant help it but to blow

 

[stvrowe]

I always clean by vacuuming.  Using compressed air to blow just relocates dust to many other locations and is just the reverse of dust collection.  I call it dust re-distribution. [eek]

 

[Tyler Ernsberger]

With my big shaper and table saw the only way to get the dust dislodged is to blow with my air compressor and than clean up with the vac.  So you can say I suck and blow.

 

[rmwarren]

Infrequently I clean the whole shop; first don a mask then blow everything starting at the top (gravity is your friend) then suck/sweep/collect/dispose.

Taking a break to let the upper dust settle on the middle stuff before blowing the mid-level helps.

"What's that..., who are you calling a#*l"..??? [big grin]

RMW

 

[Stone Message]

I always clean by vacuuming.  Using compressed air to blow just relocates dust to many other locations and is just the reverse of dust collection.  I call it dust re-distribution. [eek]

I agree 100% with Steve. Blowing dust from around a machine should only be done if you are wearing a good quality respirator but why do it at all?

The dust that you see on top of machines is the lighter element of the dust that gets around the workshop. The lighter it is then the smaller the particle size and the higher concentration of the seriously bad sizes of dust.

I never have and never will blow wood dust around my workshop.

Peter

 

[wow]

I take a hybrid approach.

I first try to vacuum up everything I can so it doesn't go airborne. If I get into a spot that requires some air to get the sawdust out, I try to hold the vacuum nozzle close with one hand while I blast it with the other. After that I may make a sweep around the shop with the air hose. When I do this I have both of my air filtration units going full blast to help remove particulate from the air.

Finally, after literally allowing the dust to settle, I vacuum the floor.

 

[Red Devil]

Blowing dust around the shop has never made sense to me either.
However to clean my tools I use the blower. Especially for the jig saw dust extraction ports. Which r way too small.

Nigel

 

[Bohdan]

About 40 years ago I used to own a woodworking factory on the edge of town with vacant lots on all sides. When the wind was strong enough and blowing from the right direction we would open the large doors at both ends and using a large (1") air hose stir the dust into the air and the wind would remove it all.

Best and quickest system I ever had but these days, since I live on a farm, I just use a leaf blower as it moves more air than the smaller compressor that I now have.