Using Magnets to control grinding dust

[Curtis Myers]

With CBN wheels you do not have to worry about the wheels exploding. So the safety shields can come off.
I made the magnet shrouds from the bottoms of 5 gallon paint buckets. The magnets I used came in a roll with sticky tape on back. After applying magnets to shroud I put packing tape over magnets for easier removal of grinding dust.
I screwed the shroud to a vertical piece of plywood just behind the grinding wheel.

Works really well.

cbn magnets 2.jpgcbn magnets.jpgCBN wheels.jpg

All the Best
Curt

[Dave Fritz]

Great idea. I have a roll of magnets at the base of the wheels and they really pick up the metal.

[Reed Gray]

Magnets will get a lot of the dust, but not all of it as the dust comes off in a swirl around the whole wheel. I keep thinking of putting my grinder in a box/hood and having a small fan and filter to take the metal dust out of the air. It does float like wood dust.

robo hippy

[Curtis Myers]

Magnets will get a lot of the dust, but not all of it as the dust comes off in a swirl around the whole wheel. I keep thinking of putting my grinder in a box/hood and having a small fan and filter to take the metal dust out of the air. It does float like wood dust.

robo hippy

I would like to see what you come up with. I do not have a way to measure it but I think my magnet shroud is capturing somewhere in the upper ninety percent of the dust.

all the best
curt

[John K Jordan]

I would like to see what you come up with. I do not have a way to measure it but I think my magnet shroud is capturing somewhere in the upper ninety percent of the dust.

If you want to check, place some super magnets in various places in your shop. I have some stuck to the back of my bandsaw cabinet at least 10 ft away and facing away from the sharpening area. They are all coated with fine steel dust.

I hope to connect my CBN wheel grinders to the dust collector some day.

JKJ

[Mike Goetzke]

If you want to check, place some super magnets in various places in your shop. I have some stuck to the back of my bandsaw cabinet at least 10 ft away and facing away from the sharpening area. They are all coated with fine steel dust.

I hope to connect my CBN wheel grinders to the dust collector some day.

JKJ

I have CBN wheels and right now they are wide open. Been watching what users are doing to control metal dust. I have a dust collection port close to my sharpening station but I'm wondering if metal dust would harm the filters designed for wood. Any comments welcome.

Thanks

[Curtis Myers]

I have CBN wheels and right now they are wide open. Been watching what users are doing to control metal dust. I have a dust collection port close to my sharpening station but I'm wondering if metal dust would harm the filters designed for wood. Any comments welcome.

Thanks

Just be careful with sparks entering the dust collector. I think it would be unlikely that a spark generated from a grinder will survive the pathe to ignite the fine saw dust inside the collector. Not sure I would want to test it out either without a good quality spark arrester. It could also be one of those things where one gets away with it 99 out of 100 times then kaboom.

[Roger Chandler]

The wheel shrouds on my grinder were wide enough to fit two 1.5" wide CBN wheels on it and it has a dust collection setup that hooks to the shrouds and has a 2.5" dust port to connect a shop vac hose to it. I rarely use the shop vac hose, and do have a strong magnet attached to the Wolverine jig that pulls the filings from the grind. From time to time I do connect the shop vac hose to that port and suck anything out.....I am concerned that fresh filings off the wheel might be hot enough to ignite any dust in the shop vac, so I always wait till a time when everything is cooled down... no fire hazards!!!

[Jamie Straw]

A word of caution, product of a conversation I recently had. One of our chapter members told me of having a not-tiny disc magnet below his CBN wheel to catch the metal dust. Had used it for a long time, no problem, then one day it somehow jiggled up and got caught on the wheel and YIKES!! came up and around and flew straight away from the grinder at a goodly (or ungodly) speed. No injury to report, but probably took a day or two off his life.

Reed, doesn't Dave have dust collection on his grinders? I seem to remember..... Also, a tip: if you have a small plastic bag wrapped around the magnet before you pick up the filings, you can just turn it inside-out and pull away the filings tucked nicely into the bag.

[Chris Parks]

I always wondered if a smoke detector in a dust extractor bin or exhaust was a good idea?