I feel like I won the lottery! Bill Pentz came and evaluated my dust collection system and shop today. I can't believe how much time he invested (over 3 hours) and how thorough he was.

He started with an overview of the process, what he was measuring, and why. Next, he inspected all of the transitions to my tools and made many recommendations. Next, he tested the air outside of my shop for an ambient baseline, and then the shop air before running any equipment or the opening of any doors. Next, we fired up the cyclone and tested the air without cutting anything (my filters exhaust inside). The next test was done after cutting a 3 foot long piece of MDF, 18 times. Finally, the last test timed how long it took for the air quality to return to the baseline measurement.

What I learned: (Please keep in mind that I am a layperson and I am trying to process and regurgitate a TON of information).

1. All dust hoods and guards must do two things: They MUST be an effective physical barrier to dust being spewed away from the blade, and thus away from the air collection stream. If you don't have this first, then no matter how much CFM you have at the tool, you simply are not going to catch the harmful dust.

2. There was, is, a significant residual dust problem with my shop....meaning that I haven't been in there for two days prior to the test and there was enough total suspended particles (by weight) that I was almost halfway to requiring a mask, and I had 100,000 more particles in the 0.5 micron range than the outside air! Eeeeek!

3. I learned that my filters do an excellant job of cleaning the air in my shop. By running the cyclone and not cutting anything, the filters reduced the total particles from comment #2 by half.

4. After cutting the MDF, the particulate matter (both in size and weight) doubled to just past the point of requiring a mask for my safety. This means the cyclone and filters are doing their job, but my dust hood needs some improvement.

5. By just opening the garage door, and putting fans in the back door, I reduce my exposure significantly.

6. For those of you who have a Pentz' design cyclone. I have the 14" impeller and my real world, direct measurement came out to be 1,099.564 CFM, with the 5hp Lesson motor at only 10.8 amps. That means I can upgrade to the 15" ClearVue impeller and get another 300 CFM when I expand my shop and still not overload the motor. smirk!

I hope this is helpful.

Jay