Dust collectors are used to remove the dust created by woodworking, or other machining operations to a storage area for later disposal. They assist in creating cleaner and healthier air in the work place environment. Dust collection is legally required in any shop larger than a home work shop. The collectors range from small interior units drawing less than 500CFM with motors as small as 5HP to large exterior units drawing up to 100,000CFM and greater with motors up to 300HP and greater. Interior units generally collect to 45 gallon drums or plastic collection bags for manual disposal. Exterior units generally have built in collection bins and either drop the collected dust to a container from time to time. The collectors generally filter the dirty air through cloth bags which act as a filter media. Many have a cyclone to drop out the heavier particles prior to arriving to the filter bags. The filter bags of exterior units are periodically cleaned either by a shaker or an air pulse cleaning system to prolong their useable life.
