more dust collection

[abknight@zzzzzz]

Hi All,

I must rejoin the dust collector discussion as I try to correlate what
I have learned by research and what list members are saying.  I have sat
down and talked with a person whose profession is the design of dust
collection systems, from factory size down to the individual.
Donaldson/Torit and Unimaster were the collection systems manufacturer he
most worked with. These are the companies that produce collection systems
for monument shops.  He asked pointedly what I would be doing and was
confident a cabinet style collector, with bag filters would do the job,
provided I went with a 3 to 5 horsepower unit.  But I have to admit I have a
hard time imagining how virtually any collector could collect the debris
stream from a grinder or a saw unless you were very careful to always grind
towards it.  And I suppose that is what you must do.

I recently posted a web site of a granite carver's studio that had a
good photo of his collection system
http://www.granitesculptor.com/studio.html which looks pretty much like an
old Torit or Unimaster, both of which often appear on E-bay for under
$1,000, unless I am mistaken.  They are harder to find in single phase than
3 phase.  Isn't this what a person would want? The collection systems
designer had the idea that I would want a fairly large plenum, say 2x3 feet,
and to draw air through that large an opening is what would require the 3-5
horsepower.  The system at Eric Obergs uses much smaller collector openings
and I wonder if it isn't possible a system which would run fine on a 1-2
horsepower unit.

Bill