Dust from my Clarke blaster

[Bikerdaily]

Hi, I seem to have a lot of dust escaping from my 90l Clarke DIY sandblaster. I tape the joints, I have a small vacuum on the back filter. I'm blasting small bike bits. I think the pressure from my compressor is about 80psi at the compressor and the pipe is 5m long (could there be a drop?). The lid always rises up when I blast. Not happy about Silicosis, so I'm wearing a mask, but that fine dust seems to get everywhere. What am I doing wrong apart from buying a cheap piece of kit.

 

[brightspark]

Hi, I seem to have a lot of dust escaping from my 90l Clarke DIY sandblaster. I tape the joints, I have a small vacuum on the back filter. I'm blasting small bike bits. I think the pressure from my compressor is about 80psi at the compressor and the pipe is 5m long (could there be a drop?). The lid always rises up when I blast. Not happy about Silicosis, so I'm wearing a mask, but that fine dust seems to get everywhere. What am I doing wrong apart from buying a cheap piece of kit.

I have a 4inch duct on my cheapo machine mart bead blast cabinet and a 4inch duct fitted with a woodchipper fan on my larger cabinet that I made myself it can suck out more than than my pressure pot can put in at 28cfm

 

[Gareth J]

The cfm a vacuum cleaner can pull should be many times that which your compressor can pump out at 80psi (unless you're talking serious HP and BIG nozzles).

Is the filter between the vac and cabinet too restrictive?

 

[normspanners]

You need a decent extraction system a snail bodied high power fan about 3" connected to a cyclone, make one from a 45 gall drum then out into a bag of some sort. an old quilt cover will work.

 

[rtbcomp]

I have a 4inch duct on my cheapo machine mart bead blast cabinet and a 4inch duct fitted with a woodchipper fan on my larger cabinet that I made myself it can suck out more than than my pressure pot can put in at 28cfm

I have the same with some extra filter bags fitted to increase the flow.

You can use toilet pan connectors or plastic to earthenware pipes to connect the extractor to normal plastic soil pipe.

 

[Parm]

Stuff all the advice above!!!!

What are you blasting with??? You should never ever be using sand, only thing that can give you silicosis !!!!

 

[brightspark]

Stuff all the advice above!!!!

What are you blasting with??? You should never ever be using sand, only thing that can give you silicosis !!!!

lighten up a bit .ive done it for 40 years outdoor using air fed blasting helmet and my cabinets used with a 4inch woodchipper suction blower to outside AND I ALSO USE A BREATHING MASK even though I don't need to even when I'm filling the pot I use one. a bit of care and safety is all it takes I'm still here after 60 years and my breathings fine

 

[Parm]

lighten up a bit .ive done it for 40 years outdoor using air fed blasting helmet and my cabinets used with a 4inch woodchipper suction blower to outside AND I ALSO USE A BREATHING MASK even though I don't need to even when I'm filling the pot I use one. a bit of care and safety is all it takes I'm still here after 60 years and my breathings fine

No I'm not going to lighten up !!! you should never ever be blasting with sand, it well documented what it causes, that practice wasn't banned without good reason

Saying that you've done it for xxxx years and you haven't contracted any ill health doesn't mean it's safe, you might just be the lucky ones. It's the invisible suspended aerosol that your inhaling lng after any mask has been removed that's the most harmful

We share knowledge on this forum with lots of people chipping in with expertise on welding with many people saying this is wrong and that's right. In this case Im Sharing my knowledge, the OP shouldn't be blasting with sand regardless of what safety kit he's got.

If anyone doesn't categorically know the correct answer with out any authority or knowledge then they shouldn't be giving advice where people's health may be endangered.

I see it all too often where incompetent people give stupid advice that has impact on persons health.

I've got a case on at the moment where an idiot has told an entire factory that it's ok to do something. I've come along, asked a few questions, looked up some info and reported back that chemical harms male and female fertility. 140 persons affected and legal action commencing

 

[brightspark]

I get more crap from work by people cutting and drilling concrete and people sweeping up I wont even work near them when there doing it AND I WEAR A MAsk OR I WONT WORK .

 

[Parm]

I get more crap from work by people cutting and drilling concrete and people sweeping up I wont even work near them when there doing it AND I WEAR A MAsk OR I WONT WORK .

Also another major source of exposure to silica, just leaves the stonemason now

 

[brightspark]

Also another major source of exposure to silica, just leaves the stonemason now

how often do u see workers cutting blocks and slabs in public places and u cant see them for dust .there not wearing masks and there exposing the public to it also it ****** me right off but there u have it anyone working with me at work and its dusty I supply a mask and make them wear ithttp://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/96-112/

 

[rtbcomp]

Actually sand is only partially banned. Certainly in premises covered by the Factories Act, but it can still be used under some circumstances on structures such as bridges.

 

[Parm]

Quite often and it annoys me too, but that doesn't mean it's safe. To this very end the construction industry has launched the biggest ever awareness campaign for exposure to Silica. I was at a meeting last week where one very big gomp

Actually sand is only partially banned. Certainly in premises covered by the Factories Act, but it can still be used under some circumstances on structures such as bridges.

Factories act was repealed years ago and replaced by the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

There is no exemption for the use of Sand anywhere !

 

[Robotstar5]

There is no exemption for the use of Sand anywhere !

Still seem to be some sandblasting companies about - example

 

[Parm]

Schedule 2, Regulation 4/1, subsection 2 of the current COSHH regulations States " Sand or any other substance containing free silica" "is prohibited for use as an abrasive for blasting articles in any blasting apparatus"

It's quite black and white and has been for a long time that the use of sand for such purposes has been prohibited

Many companies still sell sand blasting but often use other blast media, but there probably are some that still use sand, only need to read the HSE prosecutions pages to see how many get fined every year.

The exposure limit for silica is 0.1 mgm over 8 hours. It's impossible to control exposure to this level when actively generating an almost 100% atmosphere.

Silicosis is a serious industrial disease that's made worse if you smoke. It's easy to eliminate exposure when blasting by substituting the sand for other media types.

At the end of the day it's up to the individual to take what ever risk they want to with THIER health, howver I want to dispel the myth that sand can still be used. It's use has been banned for a very long time and is only one of a very few handful of processes that's very specifically prohibited in the COSHH regulations

 

[Freddy0309]

Last year I needed some stuff blasting and a local company was offering "sandblasting" but didn't use sand, when they advertised it as anything other then sand blasting they lost loads of custom

 

[rtbcomp]

There is no exemption for the use of Sand anywhere !

It must have changed in the past 3 or 4 years then, according to the H&S bloke who visited my gritblasting business there are a very few instances where sand is permitted, but definitely not close to populated areas, inside or in cabinets.

 

[Parm]

It's been prohibited since at least 2005 may be even earlier but I can't confirm for sure as I'm not in the office and don't have any reference material with me.

As for the H&S Bloke, if he was from the HSE then he should have know better, they have topic inspection packs they should read before they conduct inspections, I regularly argue with these inspectors when they get it wrong. Now if it was a consultant like me that's also worrying as there is no requirement to have qualifications or demonstrate competency to become a consultants (f this fella knew what he was doing, the he should have known that sand is prohibited) Both examples are what give my trade the bad press in the media for giving the wrong advice.

With a schedule 2 situation, non compliance is a material breach resulting in a straight forward prosecution, where the HSE will also charge you £150/per hour, for every hour they spend dealing with your case, this is Fees For Intervention

Now back to sandblasting, sand is most definately banned and has been so for a long time. Many companies sell sand blasting but you'll find they use other media, equally some outfits are still using sand because it's very cheap to buy, but they get caught out and prosecuted, all prosecution records are available for inspection on the web

 

[rtbcomp]

Maybe he was wrong, even professionals don't always know what they're talking about.

 

[Parm]

Maybe he was wrong, even professionals don't always know what they're talking about.

This is what's the most worrying. As you might be able to tell this is a bit of a hobby horse of mine. There's nothing more dangerous than some one who doesn't know what he's doing giving advice to people where there is a risk of exposure via inhalation than can cause a well documented disease. The advice of this person allows another person to do something known to be dangerous. When disease is diagnosed, often after many years the person that gave advice in the first place has long since gone

I don't want to come across as an arrogant know it all (cause I don't - the first thing about competency is understanding what you don't know) but far too often in my day job I see poor advice being given that often results in people being exposed and becoming ill, often quite seriously