[Woodworkers] Dust collection

[Dave Heitstuman via Woodworkers]

Paul, as usual I'm a day late but I thought I would throw a few thoughts in.  John and Royce have already given you Bill Pentz's words of wisdom by Bill so you have plenty to read.  Back when I started the design for my shop I spent allot of time reading everything I could find including all of Pentz's stuff.
Delta puts out a nice (or they did) publication on dust collection for the hobbyist. Although very basic it gave some good info.
When everything was said and done I just used good common sense in my design.  
Although Bill has allot of knowledge he is very one sided on a portion of the subject.  As you read his stuff I would not get too concerned about static build-up and grounding of your system.  With that removed I think a fellow can pull some valuable info from his ramblings.

As for his stance on grounding and his very huge concern about fires and or explosions.  In all of my research I never found a single alleged case of a fire or explosion caused by a dust collection system in a hobbyists shop, not one.  As a matter of fact I continually found information proving that it was not possible.  There was one fellows blog I read that backed up all of his research on the subject of hobbyist shops and "dust explosions" with a whole bunch of physics stuff.  There were others that published similar stuff. 

I type the following only to shed a little light on Bill's personality.  I understand being passionate about a subject but not to the point I have personally seen Bill take it.  On more than one occasion I witnessed Bill attack people on Woodnet for questioning his writings.  Ultimately he was banned from posting because of his "personal" attacks.  I believe that he was kicked off of at least one other woodworking forum for his "it is my way or the highway" stance on the subject.  If I was as passionate as he is on a subject and I was continually provided information that at a hobbyist level I was wrong I would have to step back.  Maybe I would still believe I was right but I would not continue to argue with and certainly never attack those that question it.  I would just let it go.  Kind of like my stance on using PVC for air lines.  I know what I learned in all my research and I know I will never use PVC for air lines.  I also no longer get involved in the subject when it is brought up.  Maybe in my lifetime I will be vindicated.......  Who knows maybe Bill will be too...........   

 
2Dave