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Some tips for the selection of a dust or chip collection system
for smaller factories or workshops.  

One of the most difficult considerations in buying a dust or chip collection system is how big a collector do I need? There are no straight answers, but we can help you find the dust collector that suits best your requirements.

Quite often people elect to use an industrial vacuum cleaner as a first attempt specifically for smaller woodworking applications. This will work specifically for small power tools, but it cannot move the vast volumes of air and the negative pressure is usually not very good. A high air velocity is required to move heavy shavings, aluminium chips and dust satisfactory over a decent distance. The vacuum cleaner has usually a universal motor (with brushes) that is naturally is not going to have a long service life; it also is not

An industrial dust collector is designed to move high volumes of air through a larger diameter extractor hose. This provides the air velocity required to move fine particles as well as chips to the collector bag or container. An industrial strength brushless dust collector's motor has a life expectancy of it least seven years of continuous duty.

There are basically in principle two types of dust collectors for that are used for smaller application. Single and two stage extractor system.

The single stage design has the advantage of being less expensive to buy, but they do have some drawbacks. The dust-laden air is drawn through the blower housing colliding with the

impeller as it passes through. The dust exits the blower unit at a very high velocity and beats into the dust bag and collector container as air speed suddenly drops. These causes wear on these parts.

Despite this disadvantage the single stage dust extractor is the most common unit sold as one two or more bag units depending on the air volume requirement.

TAMA usually supplies single stage dust extractors as they have proven to be the most cost-effective and reliable for the customer base we are dealing with. If you want to purchase a two stage unit please ask us for a specification and price as they might not be in our typical sales range.

We sell a variety of dust extractors to match the usual applications we supply them for. All units we sell with steel fans are suitable for extracting of aluminium chips and of course wood processing applications (presently full range). 

If you are using the extractor in combination with aluminium fabricating equipment (non ferrous) we recommend to use Lunasol as saw blade lubrication. You can use the normal bags that are supplied with the unit.

Customers sometimes replace the lower bag with a drum or with a plastic bag to make removing of the collected stuff easier. The Lunasol saw blade or cutting fluid is a water based synthetic product which does not leave any residues and unlike oil is not causing the aluminium chips to clot.

If you are using cutting oil or a water based oil product for cutting, the oil will after a time saturate the extractor bags and produce a very fine mist in your factory or workshop. I have been to a lot of workshops over the years and sometime if enter the workshop and a layer of mist sits in the height of the bag throughout the workshop. This mist can be unhealthy depending on the product you are using. It might contain other then hydrocarbons also additives that will give you a nice cut on your product but could make you sick in the long run.

If you need to use such products because you are processing special aluminium alloys or titanium you are best advised to chancel the extracted air to the outside. Depending where your workshop is you might need council approval (special regulations apply in Europe). 

If you are producing very small dust particles like cutting MDF or extracting dust produced by eg processing pigments we supply cartage filters for these applications. Not all extractors are suitable for the cartridge filters – please ask us. The cartage filters heave a manual cleaning handle and filter up to 3 micron of particle size.

If you need to filter something smaller you out of luck buying something inexpensive off the shelf. However, TAMA can help you to overcome this problem.

Because TAMA also builds special purpose machines we can design a simple unit for you that will do the trick.

Basically you have to run the exhaust air through water to get the fine particle out or alternatively there are units available that are specifically designed for this application. They are usually have to be setup for your application unfortunately they are quite costly. Running the exhaust air though water does not work with all fine dust particles we have to check your application first before we can give you a recommendation.

In any case, if you supply us with the information and a lay-out of where you like to position your dust extractor, we will be able to advise you.

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