Newbie question on Dust Collectors

[Stephen Saar]

Sorry for the rather simple question, but I haven't been able to find much usage information on the Dust Collectors. I'm just getting in to wood working seriously and I've been filling out my shop with different tools. I got a Nova 1624 lathe recently (yay!) as my first real big purchase, and I'm interested in getting a DC now. One question I had though is if they can be used like a normal shop vac, i.e. picking up non-wood debris. My grandfather had a really nice, really old HUGE Dewalt radial arm saw (I think the blade is like 24 inches), but it's been sitting in his unconditioned garage in FL for a while now so it's kind of rusted up. I want to go ahead and bring up here to Atlanta and refinish it up, and get it working and I was curious if a DC could handle the metal chips I would generate when grinding off the rust, and also if the DC could handle just basic vacuuming around the shop, or if DCs are only for dust/woodchips.

Thanks.

-Stephen

[Harold Shay]

They are two different opperations. The DC will pickup the rust you are talking about but it will go to the fan blade and then into the collection bag. It could hit the fan and cause sparks. a bad deal... A shop vac will pick up the rust and deposit it in the vac container and not the shop vack fan. DC work on large amount of air flow and Vacs work on suctio.
there is a dozen thread in the workshop division. you will be able to read for hours and then be really confused.:D
Harold

[Stephen Edwards]

Ditto. DC systems and metal debris don't go well together.

[Rick Dennington]

Under no circumstances, don't use a d.c. to pick up anything metal. Like Robert said, it'll go in, hit the fan blade, and could cause a fire from a spark. If you hook up a dust collector and want to pick up dust and chips off the floor, then hook up a floor sweep to it, but dust and chips, only. Use your shop vac for eveything else. Rick D.

[David Freed]

Although I don't consider a shop vac to be a very good dust collecter for a couple of reasons, this definitely improves its performance when used as a dust collecter.

http://www.clearvuecyclones.com/Ridgid_Conversion.htm

[Fred Hargis]

I have nothing to add to this, but I'm sitting here picturing a 24" RAS (in awe). Just moving it may take the space shuttle gantry/wheely thingy. Hope it already has a blade.

[Rod Sheridan]

The comments regarding debris hitting the fan are only correct if the system is a single stage.

Dual stage systems such as cyclones do not pass the debris stream through the fan.

That said, woodworking dust collection systems are only suitable for cold debris, not for use while actually grinding......Regards, Rod.

[Stephen Saar]

Thanks for all the help, glad you told me this before I tried it. I imagine starting a fire in a bag full of sawdust with large quantities of air available could be a bad thing. :-)

Thanks for the help.

-Stephen

[Jeff Willard]

Thanks for all the help, glad you told me this before I tried it. I imagine starting a fire in a bag full of sawdust with large quantities of air available could be a bad thing. :-)

Thanks for the help.

-Stephen

Fire? Might go all 'splodey :eek:.