Dust Control with Air Sander

[john lawson]

I have a question, or perhaps a dilema, and would like some opinions from the experts. The question is this; What kind or brand of random orbit air sander is used that incorporates dust control/pickup? Do you hook it up to your dust collector or does it work off of a venturi from the air line?

Some background: I just went from being a hobbyist to a professional. I have teamed up with a fellow in our guild who has an existing shop with 4000 square feet. We have complimentary skills and equipment. I do mostly furniture, he does cabinetry. We decided to go in together and do upscale cabinetry and some furniture, mostly through designers. The shop is very well laid out. He has a dust collector on his side of the shop, I just installed my cyclone on my side.

I am concerned about sanding dust, and use a vacuum or the dust collector on all my machines. He uses the dust collector on his larger machines but uses nothing on the air sander, a Porter Cable unit that does a great job. I approached him today about the sander, about my concern for breathing sanding dust. He is a bit reluctant and somewhat skeptical about the health hazards. He uses the dust collector as more of a house keeping tool than a safety tool and he keeps a good shop.

He is reasonable and open to suggestions. I told him I did not worry too much about sawdust made by the tablesaw or jointer, just the sander. So, I will approach him somewhat diplomatically, but I feel strongly that I want a solution.

So, based on your experiences, what are the best solutions? Low cost is always good, but if that is not feasible what are the high cost solutions?

thanks for your thoughts and replies

john lawson

[Don Baer]

I'd make a down draft sanding table hooked to the DC and then put a dust cleaner to clean the air.

[Matt Meiser]

I played with a air unit with self-contained dust collection made by Mirka at a show in January. I seriously considered it, but ultimately decided on an electric Festool for portability. I think it ran about $300.

[Ron Jones near Indy]

Yes, I agree with Don, The down draft table sounds like a good solution to me.

[Jim Becker]

Festool makes some very nice air sanders with integral dust collection.

[Dev Emch]

Wow. Not the best situation to be in. But you gotta look for a win win solution and it sounds like you moved into his shop. Soooo, how about you buy a festool air sander and give it to him as a house warming gift. One time out and he will be hooked and you will have your clean air back.

[CPeter James]

I have a Dynabrade with built in dust collection via a venturi to a hose with a bag on the end. I have modified it to hook up to my dust collector and use a bleeder connector (two 1" holes drilled in it) at the junction between the small hose on the sander and the larger one on the dust collector. The air jet get the dust to the connector and the vacuum carries it from there. I find the the air sander is much faster that me electric, but I don't have a Festool.

CPeter

[Steven Wilson]

I would call up your local Festool rep and have them demonstrate their air sanders. You can always try one for 30 days to see if you like it (you will). I swaped out my PorterCable electric sanders for Festool electrics and have been very satisfied with their performance and dust collection.

[tod evans]

john, dynabrade, dotco and sioux are american made pneumatic sanders that offer dust collection....02 tod