A Sawdust-free Wood Shop?
“Sawdust” is not only a daily clean-up and downtime issue, but excess dust can also lead to serious consequences for your employees, equipment, facilities, productivity, and the quality of your products. The airborne dust within your facility is inhaled by employees, sucked into machine motors, and coats everything within the facility, all of which lead to serious health, maintenance, and safety issues citable by OSHA.
Wood dust is considered carcinogenic to humans (Group 1)(IARC). IARC states that wood dust causes cancer of the upper respiratory system and is linked to health issues related to the inhalation of bacteria, mold, or fungi within the wood. Wood dust is also associated with toxic effects, irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, dermatitis, and respiratory system effects which include decreased lung capacity and allergic reactions. (Canadian OSHA 2017)
Dust on the workspace floor can cause slip and fall accidents, which account for more than 65% of (95 million) lost US workdays per year (US Dept of Labor). Dust is also highly combustible and can cause catastrophic explosions resulting in employee injury or death and destruction of facilities.
You may have invested in the best dust collection system available, with automated gates and spark arresting technology, but the problem originates at the cutting tool. Most cutting tools are engineered to eject dust into the cutting path of the tool, and most machine “tool hoods” fail to efficiently trap and extract dust from the cutting process. A large percentage of the dust simply flows in the airstream around the tool and is ejected back into the workshop.
Leitz utilizes dust flow control tool gullet designs (DFC) to neutralize dust velocity and trap it within the hood. Once the dust velocity is neutralized, Leitz aerodynamic dust hoods efficiently extract virtually all of the dust from the cutting process and send it into your dust collection system. Hoods are designed with easy tool access, and adjustable gate features, for ease of use and maximum encapsulation of the cutting process. Leitz dust hoods are also available with noise-canceling technology, which reduces cutting related sound by as much as 5dB.
Leitz has long been a leader in engineering custom dust control solutions which provide a clean and safe environment for employees, improve product quality, and optimize process efficiency. Whether you need to upgrade existing machinery, or have new machines in the budget, put our 20+ years of dust extraction engineering experience to work, ensuring the safest and most efficient tooling and dust extraction solutions possible.
Eliminate a costly and potentially hazardous contaminant from your manufacturing process with Leitz.
Fill out the form below or call 616.431.4096 to schedule a consultation with your local Leitz representative.
