Every woodworking machine makes dust, from the chips off a planer to the fine dust from sanding MDF. Good dust extraction keeps the air safe to breathe, keeps machines running properly and keeps the workshop clean. This guide covers why it matters, what the rules say and how to choose the right extractor.
Why Wood Dust Is a Problem
Fine wood dust stays in the air long after the machine has stopped, and breathing it in over time can cause asthma and other lung problems. Hardwood dust is also linked to nasal cancer, and MDF dust is especially fine. Dust also settles in machines, where it wears bearings and slides, clogs motors and spoils finishes, and a build-up of dust is a fire risk.
What the Rules Say
If you employ people, COSHH requires you to control their exposure to wood dust, and in most workshops that means local exhaust ventilation (LEV): extraction at the machine. An LEV system has to be thoroughly examined and tested at least every 14 months. Sweeping up and a dust mask aren’t enough on their own.
How a Dust Extractor Works
A fan pulls dust and chips from each machine through ducting into the extractor. Heavier chips drop into collection bags, and filters catch the finer dust before the clean air goes back into the workshop. Returning the air rather than venting it outside means you keep the heat you’ve paid for.
Choosing the Right Extractor
Size the extractor for the machines that run at the same time, not the total number in the workshop. A single-bag unit can serve one machine, and a small joinery shop with two or three machines running together usually needs a three or four bag unit. If you cut a lot of MDF or chipboard, a multi-filter unit handles the finer dust better. Where space is tight or the dust is very fine, a cabinet extractor filters the air in a compact unit. The ducting matters as much as the extractor: long runs, tight bends and undersized pipe all cut the airflow at the machine.
Dust Extractors We Supply
We supply Inventair bag and multi-filter extractors, built in Yorkshire, along with AES SAF fine dust cabinets and extractors from Salvamac, Minimax and SCM. See our full range of dust extractors, or send us a list of your machines and their outlet sizes and we’ll recommend a unit. If you produce a lot of waste, a briquetting machine can turn it into fuel instead of paying to have it taken away.
