Focus on Dust Control

Many of our clients sought out Temple Allen because our equipment offers significantly better dust collection than conventional sanding methods. This month’s newsletter will focus on the reasons why dust collection is such an important part of the surface preparation process, and how it affects so many aspects of the operation, including Health & Safety, Environment, Quality, and Process Time:

Health & Safety

Traditional sanding operations generate a lot of dust and, regardless of the application, dust from sanding operations can be hazardous. Of particular concern are the hexavalent chromium, cadmium, and lead often found in paint, and the dust from resins associated with fiberglass and carbon fiber composites.

Proper dust control starts with the facility design. Then processes are established with minimum dust generation as a goal, and the last line of defense is the protective clothing (PPE) operators wear while sanding.

Traditional sanding generates so much dust when the abrasive disc is not flat on the surface, however, that no procedures or facility modifcations can control the exposure risk completely, and thus operators are more dependent on their PPE than is desirable.
 

Process Time & Cost Saving

Without optimal dust collection, abrasive discs load prematurely, wasting still sharp abrasive grains and creating a need for more frequent (and time-consuming) paper changes. Loaded paper, prior to replacement, sands less effectively, thereby extending process time.
 

Quality Improvements

Dust left on the surface by inadequate vacuum performance can load the abrasive, creating undesirable swirl marks. Excess dust on the surface also makes inspection more difficult and quality issues harder to identify.

Even with attached vacuum systems, manual sanding risks tilting the sander rather than staying flat on the surface, which breaks the vacuum seal and flings dust into the shop environment. Tilting the sander can also leave gouge marks that potentially require expensive repair.

Problems with Central Vac Systems

Large air-walls play a large role in limiting dust egress into non-sanding parts of the facility, but they require very expensive filter replacement every few months. Central vacuum system filters are less costly, but lose efficiency over time, and the associated long hose runs often develop leaks. The combined inefficiency of these factors requires a facility to install a more powerful vacuum system to start with or suffer from inadequate suction. The long hose runs required by a central vacuum system also put more weight on the sander, take longer for setup and cleanup, and represent a trip hazard.

Problems with Stand-alone Vac Systems

Fine dust particles often clog a vacuum filter long before the bag is full, reducing performance accordingly. Once the bag is full, even the best industrial pneumatic vacuums take some time to empty, and doing so can interrupt process flow if the operator needs to empty the canister in the middle of a shift. Emptying the bag can also risk exposing the operator to its contents. While typically offering better vacuum performance than central vac systems, standalone units are still only as good as the sander itself allows them to be, and if that sander does not stay flat on the surface, the vacuum performance is inherently compromised.