Eggshell Dust Collection Dilemma

Eggshell Dust Collection Dilemma

Rick Peil from the Toolking Superstore in Lakewood, Colorado, was presented with an interesting dust collection dilemma. Tamera Seevers creates unique fine art out of ostrich eggs (www.tameraseeversstudio.com). Carving and finishing the ostrich eggs takes up to three months and creates a very fine, ostrich egg dust. Her problem was with her 1-micron bag on the dust collection system, the dust was still escaping into the air, creating a small cloud of ostrich egg particulates.

Tamera brought a sample of the dust into the Toolking Lakewood Store to demonstrate and Rick Peil had the same problem when he tested the dust at the store. So, he called around to his manufacturers of dust collection systems and dust collector bags and found a solution.

Derek Williams from American Fabric Filter explained that the problem was that there was too much velocity in the dust collector for such a small dust particle. Basically, the high velocity of the dust collector was blowing the dust right through the bag. Their solution was to put a larger bag made of singed felt on the dust collection system. “Singed felt allows a very thin layer of fine dust particles to collect and build on the surface of the bag. This “dust cake” then does the actual filtering of subsequent dust blown in to the bag and prevents the bag from blinding (preventing the free passage of air). When the dust cake becomes heavy, it sloughs off the surface of the bag and leaves behind a thin layer to continue this self-cleaning process.” This lets the filter maintain high airflow and allows your collector to work at its full capacity, collecting ostrich dust, wood dust or whatever else.

Viola! Problem solved.

Submitted by Jude Herr, Editor