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Not all motors make sparks, and I’ve never seen a woodworking tool with a brush or non-sealed motor. Maybe something incredibly cheap from a country with no saf

Not all motors make sparks, and I’ve never seen a woodworking tool with a brush or non-sealed motor. Maybe something incredibly cheap from a country with no safety regulations, but even with robust dust collection, there is a layer of dust covering everything in a wood shop, you’re constantly sweeping it. The arguments for dust collection tend to be around human health and comfort.

brudgers 4y ago
The lay discussion tends to be around convenience and air quality. Professional discussions with the fire marshal are about preventing explosions. Your personal woodshop isn't going to have ten ten horsepower machines generating dust ten hours a day ten days in a row to get the big order out. And a spray booth spraying the good stuff next door. Ordinary amatuer experience is a consumerized version of industrial dust collection...the existence of the industrial dust systems is why consumer dust systems are practical. The only reason I mention all that here is because intelligent people like yourself don't have exposure to the big picture and because sometimes they wind up involved with ten the horsepower machines running all at once.
- MarkMarine 4y ago
  I've got more experience in this than I'm betting you expect. Wood dust isn't explosive, and class 2 protection for explosive dusts allow sealed case motors. Wood is class 3 at best, flammable fibers.
frosted-flakes 4y ago
You've never seen a brushed motor on a woodworking tool? Brushed motors are standard, and until recently brushless motors were simply not available or were very expensive. Most of my tools are Makita (Japanese, excellent quality), and apart from a cordless track saw, all of them have brushes. Drill, electric planer, thickness planer, shop-vac, mitre saw, table saw (Dewalt), jig saw, orbital sander, corded Fein saw... all brushed.
- MarkMarine 4y ago
  Hand tools are not what I’m talking about, I’ve got 3 powermatic tools in my garage that all have sealed case motors.
  - frosted-flakes 4y ago
    Thickness planers, shop-vacs, table saws, and mitre saws, as well as pillar drills and jointers/surface planers are not hand tools, or even cordless. Your powermatic tools probably use 3-phase power, but that is simply not necessary for home workshops, nor is it a mark of quality or safety.
    - MarkMarine 4y ago
      Single phase 240v, but I still fail to understand your point. You're saying that brushed electric motors are a fire risk in an environment with wood dust, and therefore dust extraction is a matter of industrial safety in a woodshop? What is the allowable amount of wood dust in the air before it's a fire risk? If this is actually a risk, and dust extraction is far from perfect in an industrial setting, why aren't we requiring explosionproof motors and light switches, as you would if you're in an environment with this kind of airborne hazard? Sealed motors are allowable in class 2, expected actually, and I don't see wood dust on any class 2 listing of hazards. Or are you proposing that industrial dust collection is perfect, and wood dust isn't being ejected into the air when you've got a good industrial system? This just strains credulity, I've designed the electrical systems for class 1 and 2 locations, and wood dust at worst would be class 3. I think you're talking out of your depth.
      - frosted-flakes 4y ago
        I'm not the OP. I never claimed that sawdust in a home woodshop is a fire risk (it's not), just that brushed motors aren't what you make them out to be.
        MarkMarine 4y ago

brudgers 4y ago

The lay discussion tends to be around convenience and air quality. Professional discussions with the fire marshal are about preventing explosions. Your personal woodshop isn't going to have ten ten horsepower machines generating dust ten hours a day ten days in a row to get the big order out. And a spray booth spraying the good stuff next door. Ordinary amatuer experience is a consumerized version of industrial dust collection...the existence of the industrial dust systems is why consumer dust systems are practical. The only reason I mention all that here is because intelligent people like yourself don't have exposure to the big picture and because sometimes they wind up involved with ten the horsepower machines running all at once.

MarkMarine 4y ago
I've got more experience in this than I'm betting you expect. Wood dust isn't explosive, and class 2 protection for explosive dusts allow sealed case motors. Wood is class 3 at best, flammable fibers.

frosted-flakes 4y ago

You've never seen a brushed motor on a woodworking tool? Brushed motors are standard, and until recently brushless motors were simply not available or were very expensive. Most of my tools are Makita (Japanese, excellent quality), and apart from a cordless track saw, all of them have brushes. Drill, electric planer, thickness planer, shop-vac, mitre saw, table saw (Dewalt), jig saw, orbital sander, corded Fein saw... all brushed.

MarkMarine 4y ago
Hand tools are not what I’m talking about, I’ve got 3 powermatic tools in my garage that all have sealed case motors.
- frosted-flakes 4y ago
  Thickness planers, shop-vacs, table saws, and mitre saws, as well as pillar drills and jointers/surface planers are not hand tools, or even cordless. Your powermatic tools probably use 3-phase power, but that is simply not necessary for home workshops, nor is it a mark of quality or safety.
  - MarkMarine 4y ago
    Single phase 240v, but I still fail to understand your point. You're saying that brushed electric motors are a fire risk in an environment with wood dust, and therefore dust extraction is a matter of industrial safety in a woodshop? What is the allowable amount of wood dust in the air before it's a fire risk? If this is actually a risk, and dust extraction is far from perfect in an industrial setting, why aren't we requiring explosionproof motors and light switches, as you would if you're in an environment with this kind of airborne hazard? Sealed motors are allowable in class 2, expected actually, and I don't see wood dust on any class 2 listing of hazards. Or are you proposing that industrial dust collection is perfect, and wood dust isn't being ejected into the air when you've got a good industrial system? This just strains credulity, I've designed the electrical systems for class 1 and 2 locations, and wood dust at worst would be class 3. I think you're talking out of your depth.
    - frosted-flakes 4y ago
      I'm not the OP. I never claimed that sawdust in a home woodshop is a fire risk (it's not), just that brushed motors aren't what you make them out to be.
      - MarkMarine 4y ago