One of the largest and most heavily-used wood machine complexes in the UK have taken a major step to improve its working environment, by introducing one of the most advanced dust extraction systems currently available.

Basford Hall College, in Nottingham has three modern and well equipped workshops, all of which are all linked to each other. The complex covers more than 900m², and has more than 35 individual woodworking machines for virtually every type of application.

The new Cattinair system, supplied and installed by Dustraction replaces equipment, which had been in operation for more than 20 years. The new system provided a dramatic improvement to the college’s working environment; the old system was running well below the required levels of efficiency and this resulted in a need for a change at the college.

The state of the art Cattinair system provides a number of improvements for the college. The Cattinair cyclonic filter, operating on a continuous basis, and because of the system having few moving parts means the maintenance costs are minimal.

The unique design targets wood-waste that is being blown into the filter chamber, 95 per cent of the waste is cyclonically separated before reaching the systems filters. The filter sleeves are made from fine (450g/m²) polyester felt, enabling air to pass through, but halting the passage of the remaining five per cent of the particulate.

Dust that settles on the outside of the filter sleeves is dislodged and extracted by the automatic blast function that fires compressed air at regular intervals. The life of the filter sleeves are extended not only because they come into contact with just five per cent of the fine dust, but also because the amount of movement and stress put on the sleeve is minimal. The system is guaranteed for three years (6,000 hours)

At Bashford Hall, the Dustraction team completed the work required at the college, including a variety of new ducting in the workshop, which Dustraction installed during the half-term break.

The most significant advantages to the new extraction system are that it saves the college money on heating costs. The system’s high levels of filtration mean that it can recycle warm, filtered air back into the workshop, which in turn increases the college’s energy efficiency.

The old extraction system created irritatingly high levels of dust, which often escaped into the workshop. The efficiency of the system has ensured that past problems have been completely eradicated, and now the working atmosphere at the college is clean and healthy.

Finally, the college also asked Dustraction to fit new hoods and connections to many of its machines, as well as providing new ductwork and sweep up points; these were included so that wood-waste can easily be removed. All the changes that Dustraction implemented into the college has created a positive atmosphere and eradicated any issues that the old system created. Another success story from one of the country’s leading extraction companies.

Oakham School, in Rutland is a co-educational centre of excellence in creative and technological design, for students aged 10 to 18 years of age, who are seeking to progress to university or other teaching establishments.

The new £2 million creative workshop is a state of the art facility. Money has been invested in new teaching systems, and in protecting the environment, which in turn offers a safe atmosphere for the students to learn in.

Dustraction won the contract for the new workshop. They were assigned to deal with waste that is generated by a range of machines working with wood, plastics and metal. The machinery and the Dustrax filter meet the needs of the facility, and help create a pleasant atmosphere which meets the needs of the creative students. The filter helps continue enhancing the school’s reputation for producing talented designers and technologists, while also building a strong bond between industry and the environment.

Two large, multi-material workshops on the ground floor provide an area for traditional processing of wood, plastics and metal. Two studios, one dedicated to computer aided design and manufacture, and the second concentrates on electronics. Both studios house a range of equipment synonymous with contemporary technology, including work stations for 50 personal computers.

As part of the environmental control system, Dustraction supplied an articulated arm for a wood lathe for optimum positioning by the operator to collect the light and floating dust generated whilst it is in use.

Dustraction also supplied one of their closed floor sweep up points, however, it was specifically designed with the schools needs in mind. Dustraction’s tailor-made approach enabled them to solve a problem that most other companies in the same line of work wouldn’t be able to offer a solution for.

The machines that Dustraction provide are extremely efficient. The air volume handled by the systems is 1.6m³, this capacity is based on all machines being in operation at any one time. The collector that the school decided to move forward with was the Dustrax No.40m filter with a filtration area of 40m², the machine is made up of multiple cotton filter elements operating a filtration velocity of around 5.7fpm. The schools unit is equipped with a fully automatic shake mechanism which is activated on shut down, this helps to get rid of excess waste, which in turn reduces the dependence on the generator.

The education sector is introducing full scale industrial machines and modern materials into colleges and schools, and the issues they face are now similar to those of industrial companies.

This may be viewed as a laudable link with the kind of real-life conditions which some students are eventually likely to experience.

In fact, design and technology courses are nowadays part of the National Curriculum, they demand the use of the kind of classic machines, such as- band saws, lathes, disc sanders and linishers. Machines such as these are standard operation in furniture and woodworking companies.

However, as educational establishments expect to match the machines and materials used by industrial enterprises, they have now realised the environmental and safety responsibilities that exist on a similar scale.

For instance, many furniture and woodworking companies are currently finding that tighter health and safety rules, as well as more stringent environmental regulations mean that dust contral has become a major priority. At the same time, companies have found that increasingly popular modern wood-based materials like medium density fibreboard (MDF) which tends to create large amounts of fine dust, which is difficult to control by anything but the most advanced extraction equipment.

Wreake Valley College in Syston, near Leicester, provides an excellent example of how a variety of dust associated problems have been solved by innovative wood-waste extraction. Wreake Valley has seven woodworking machines; which until a few months ago were served by a 21 year old extraction unit, which had begun to show signs of wear, as it was expected to deal with large amounts of dust.

Not only did extraction standards begin to falter, but the noise levels from the internally-sited collector reached a pitch where itinterfered with lectures and classes in other parts of the college.

As teaching staff and technicians are well aware, wood dust that collects on the floor can become a safety hazard, as people could trip or slip on it. Vision can also be impaired by airborne chips and dust that is generated during the machining and sanding operations, and in some cases, concentrations of wood dust can be a fire risk and even an explosive hazard.

Unable to make full use out of the original extraction unit Wreake Valley turned to Dustraction. Dustraction are one of the UK’s leading suppliers of dust contract equipment, they offered the college a solution.

The project has been a resounding success. According to design technician Stuart Cross: “Before, the noise of main collector had been deafening, now you can’t even tell when the new system is on, and, because of the improved suction and ducting, everything’s a lot cleaner.”

The problem was the excess amounts of dust lingering in the air, and Dustraction’s solution was to implement a Dustrax 50M filter and fan unit to handle the dust extracted from each of the seven machines.

When in operation, dust-laden air is drawn into the hopper section of the Dustrax unit. Heavy particles settle at the base, falling into a dust storage bin, and fine particles pass upwards into the filter element. The filter retaining the dust is automatically cleaned when the fan is switched off and the automatic shaker mechanism comes into operation.

Clean air from the extraction system is discharged into the atmosphere, and due to Dustraction’s attention to detail they managed to secure the unit in a vandal-proof cage, located on the outside of the college near the playing field and swimming pool. This ensured that the noise levels of an already quiet unit were reduced even further for those inside the building.

All extraction equipment, whether sited indoors or outdoors, must meet current legislative requirements. COSHH states that all personnel in working environments must not be personally exposed to levels of dust exceeding 5mg of dust over an eight hour period.

Dustraction’s systems operate well within these requirements. However, many schools and colleges are still employing dated dust extraction units, which are likely to be well above the recommended limit. In addition, extraction equipment should be checked every 14 months according to Health and Safety to ensure that it is operating correctly.

Steve Matuska, technical sales manager at Dustraction, argues that a large proportion of educational establishments continue to use extraction systems which have been incorrectly designed or which are not capable to deal with modern materials used in workshops.

Wreake Valley’s new system was installed during the summer holidays so there was no interruption to the normal activities of the school. Dustraction supplies a full technical back-up, including monitoring, COSHH, local exhaust ventilation (LEVY), testing and documenting, and annual servicing