Sunday, November 27, 2011
Dust Collection a Strong Focus at 2011 STAFDA Show
CopTool - Power Tool Reviews & News Blog: As OSHA and EPA get tougher on regulations and penalties it is a fairly safe bet there is no such thing as over cautious when it comes to dust containment. All the power tool manufacturers are getting on board with more solutions to work with traditional tools as well as building in more dust collection features on new units. Here are just a few of the highlights we saw from the recent STAFDA trade show.
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7 comments:
These products present some innovative methods of dust containment and collection. I feel like this practice becomes more important with large scale work such as on concrete which produces harmful dust, but these technologies could also be useful in a construction shop where having material dust everywhere in the air is large concern. For heavy industrial use, however, some of the dust containment products just don't look sturdy enough to hold up to more than a few months of service...
I am glad that companies are realizing the importance of safety. I have been around someone drilling concrete before, on this campus actually, and it was awful. Particles were blowing every which way and there was very little they could do to keep it away from the general public. The thing I really liked about this article was that they are taking already successful designs and adding things to them. Sometimes companies will completely reengineer their equipment to allow for safety measures and oftentimes this can result in a less good product.
I mean, sure worker safety and all is good. But sometimes I do get worried about all of the regulations and the stratification that leeds to in worker ability. Then again, I suppose we never take every safety rule 100% seriously. It does not seem like these new regulations will have a direct effect on our industry for some time. And maybe that's a good thing. These products were just debuted. Let them get some field time to get tweaked before we put our money into them.
It's nice to see people working more on dust collection for hand tools. In many situations it seems like the dust is not a big issue, or at least that the visibility to the workpiece is a bigger issue than the dust created. There are, however some cases where I feel like it's really important. I spent a fair amount of time working drywall on home improvement projects. For a lot of it I would wear a dust mask or drywall respirator to keep from breathing too much dust in, but it still leaves a lot of dust around, so localized collection would be much better. This could also be handy for homasote, MDF, or other unpleasant dust-producing materials.
I really like makita dust collection attachment, its an effective and cheap addition to increase safety. Dewalt's concrete dust collection system seems great except that I don't think it will stay attached to the work surface. It adheres via suction and anyone with a gps or a shower caddy knows that suction isn't reliable. I much prefer that makita's version attaches to the tool rather than the work surface. I'm glad that a lot of the products mentioned are adding HEPA filtration to dust collection. Not only does that make the environment safer for the worker but also the general public.
These products are quite inventive. Thinking of ways to apply dust collection to many common tools is new to me, and many others as it appears. Many of the products look like they might be a hassle because they add more length to drills or bulk at the cutting site. I wonder how the wear and tear on the items will affect their 2.0 versions and later attachments in the future. It seems like these will get a lot of abuse being so close to cutting and drilling surfaces. Maybe if they can stabilize the attachment more so the it doesn't ever get knocked it will be great. Its good to see people jumping on HEPA filters more.
most people today don't realize how much various dusts actually affect workers on a regular basis. even saw dust can cause serious harm. Of course people all think to just use dust masks or respirators but what most people don't know is that unless the Dust mask or Respirators are fairly ineffective if they have not been fitted. These dustless systems are fairly innovative and as dev says is nice to see companies actually putting effort towards individual health and safety. Im particularly impressed with the dewalt rig that attaches to wall around your drill site.
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