There are all kinds of things that make our world a better place, but when you start thinking about what really matters, manufacturing plays a significant role in the progress of our civilization. From moving forward with creating mechanical products to doing what you can to identify and resolve challenges, manufacturing helps people to enjoy the kinds of things that they once only thought about casually. Check out these posts that discuss manufacturing, since there are a lot of things to keep track of. By understanding how different products are made, you can identify and resolve small challenges in your own life.
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Creating Manufacturing Changes
Choosing The Right Air Filtration Systems For A Metal Finishing Workshop
Johnny Murray
Grinding, polishing, and finishing the surfaces of a newly forged or fabricated piece of metal can be a very rewarding task, not to mention a very profitable business endeavor. However, investing in a significant amount of air filtration equipment is essential for any successful metal finishing business, both to protect your employees and prevent contamination of vital processes.
A variety of common metal finishing processes can create excessive dust and airborne contaminants. Unless your finishing business only handles one specific kind of metal finishing, you may need several different types of air filtration equipment to effectively handle them. Here are three types of air filtration equipment that will be useful to almost any metal finishing business:
Downdraft Tables
Grinding and polishing metal surfaces is one of the biggest causes of excessive airborne dust in any metal finishing workshop. The airborne particles of metal created by grinding and polishing processes can cause severe illness and injury if they get into your eyes or lungs. Stray metal particles can also find their way into the moving parts of your machinery, causing severe internal damage and excessive wear.
Downdraft tables are specially designed workbenches that contain integrated filtration and ventilation equipment. The working surface of a downdraft table is perforated and covers a powerful vacuum system that captures metal particles as soon as they are created. Many downdraft tables also feature overhead dust extraction hoods, which capture any particles that are not captured by the primary vacuum.
Environmental Booths
If you already have work surfaces suitable for metal grinding and polishing and don't want to replace perfectly serviceable surfaces with downdraft tables, you can install environmental booths. These specialized filtration systems are installed directly over the work surface, creating a sheltered working space surrounded by air filters and dust collection systems.
Like downdraft tables, environmental hoods use suction and filters to capture metal particles as soon as they are created, keeping employees safe and the local environment uncontaminated. Many environmental booths also feature integrated lighting to improve visibility, and some are fitted with sound-insulated walls that can help to reduce ambient noise levels inside your workshop.
Fume Collectors
If your metal finishing business offers electroplated finishes, powder coatings, or other surface finishes that can create toxic fumes while being applied, your business will also need access to fume collectors.
Unlike conventional industrial air cleaners, fume collectors are designed to collect smoke, airborne moisture, contaminated water vapor, and other moist contaminants (although most models can also collect solid dust effectively). These collectors are very effective at collecting the toxic fumes and contaminants created during most chemical-based finishing processes, such as zinc-nickel electroplating.
If you operate a more generalized metal fabrication workshop that also performs metal finishing, fume collectors are also very useful for collecting noxious welding fumes. Portable models are available, allowing you to save money by using the same fume collector at different work stations.
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