Monarch Education

Metal and Woodworking Manufacturers

Nottingham based Monarch Education, its plant located at Tollerton Airport, has progressed over 20 years from making acoustic covers for dot matrix printer work stations to the production of a range of products aimed at the education market, including specialised storage units, furniture (including office furniture), and work stations.

Monarch is well equipped with both metal and woodworking manufacturing plants. Recently, most investment has been directed at the companies woodworking activities.

New Wood Waste Plant Installed

A major new introduction has been a new woodwaste plant, in this instance a Dustraction Dustrax 27 RV system. It replaces a series of individual dust extraction units intended to handle the waste from Monarch’s range of equipment, including a Biesse CNC machining centre, a Giben beam saw, dimension saw and an SCM Olympic edge bander.

The units had been in operation for many years, but it has become apparent that increasingly heavy and complex productions demands had stretched the units beyond their normal capabilities. John Raines, works director, refers to the use of individual extraction units as “rather antiquated”.

An unavoidable problem with Monarch’s individual units lay in the need to empty each unit in turn, bagging the waste content, or most of it, woodwaste being notoriously difficult to handle manually without appreciable spillages. Fine dust, in particular, gives a good deal of trouble.

An obvious drawback is the sheer time involved in emptying each unit and clearing up afterwards.

Dustraction System Improves Efficiency

Today, with the advent of the new Dustraction system, conditions in the plant have improved dramatically. As John Rains points out all the extracted woodwaste is now ducted directly into a sealed skip, avoiding bagging requirements.

Floor extraction sweep up points mean that any routine cleaning up of the plant is accomplished in a fraction of the time previously taken.

“What we now have is a very efficient system and one that is very labour saving” says John Rains. “Our previous dust control operation involved a lot of time and effort. We create a lot of woodwaste. Dealing with the clean up of the units was taking several hours each week”.

Monarch made a point of researching the waste extraction market before choosing Dustraction. A low roofline meant that ducting had to be brought through the roof at various points and sealed before connection to individual machines. “We worked around this” says John Rains. “Dustraction is a highly experienced supplier and ensured there was minimal interruption”.

Dustraction’s Dustrax 27 RV, utilising a tubular sock filter complete with automatic shaker cleaning mechanism, has provided an ideal choice. Waste is transferred into the end of the hopper section via the main floor mounted extraction fan set and discharged through a heavy duty ruggedly constructed rotary valve airseal that has been specially designed to handle woodwaste, composed of a series of automatic shaker mechanisms for the periodic removal of the surplus duct.

The filter has access doors to gain access to filters for periodic inspection and removal, and is fitted with suitable explosion panels in accordance with ATEX requirements.