Measuring dust with a Dylos air quality monitor

[Bob Eustace]

http://woodgears.ca/dust/dylos.html

This is a very detailed report on dust in workshops and of particular interest is the workshop with a Shopbot showing readings below the outside air. Also some good stuff at the end on how your lungs work and whether problems are actually caused by allergies.

A meter costs $300 but obviously it is not the perfect answer.

[gc3]

here's how I measure dust...

[myxpykalix]

I measure dust by "depth"

[cr2]

Fortunately (or unfortunately?) it's not the dust on the floor that kills you.

[genek]

best way to measure dust is by your dust collection system and your air filters on your air filtration system.
not what is in the air or on the floor. both should not happen. I empty a 55 gallon drum of saw dust and fine dust every other day.

[bleeth]

If you have the best dust collector system available on all your equipment, AND it is placed outside, AND you have a strong air filter system, you are still going to have fine sawdust particles in the air in a functioning woodshop. Wood dust is carcinogenic.
Those are facts that are indisputable.
The only tried and true method for ensuring as much as possible that you don't breathe it is to wear a proper fitting respirator with the correct cartridges and change them on a regular basis. "Pig Nose" dust masks help, but they are nowhere near 100% in keeping dust out of your system. Neither of them work for those who are not clean shaven. You also need to wear a "white suit" and latex gloves as many airborne particulates can be absorbed through your skin and end up in your kidneys and/or liver.
If you truly want to minimize the possibility of damaging your lungs then odds are you need to find another way of earning a living or learn to work with some very uncomfortable gear on.
It could be worse.
The folks who know the most about the odds of body damage from work environment is the insurance industry. If you want to get coverage at a relatively reasonable cost, you can tell them you are a cabinetmaker, but don't tell them you are a painter!

[Ernie Balch]

I spent many years working in semiconductor cleanrooms that were continuously monitored for particles at every machine. If we could smell anything it indicated a problem that had to be fixed.

Walk into your shop in the morning, can you smell anything? Start a woodworking machine, now do you smell the wood? If so, you are breathing in loads of tiny particles. The small ones in the air cause damage not the big shavings on the floor.