Dust collection for concrete grinding

[jt1103]

Hi, I'm planning on applying Nohr-S to my 2 car garage floor soon and was curious if anyone had experience using a high flow dust collector like the 70 gallon one from Harbor Freight for vacuuming up concrete dust instead of a shop vac. They're much hire CFMs but I'm not sure how well they handle concrete dust.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Get yourself a dust-deputy kit. Turns your shop-vac into a much better dust vac.


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[planecrazy]

Scotty speaks the truth!

I’m in the grinding phase now on another floor. I use a Dustless brand shop vac and a Dust Deputy on a 5 gallon bucket to capture most of the dust. Along with a shroud on my angle grinder, I find that there is next to no dust in the air.

BTW, don’t mess around with concrete dust. It is not good for your lungs! Spend the money to protect yourself.

 

[rjacobs]

do not buy the dust separator that Home Depot sells... I dont think it works for ****...

 

[wags999]

do not buy the dust separator that Home Depot sells... I dont think it works for ****...

If your speaking about the orange one, I use it in my cabinet shop all the time, rarely ever have to dump the vac tank. It works great on saw dust. It is connected to a miter saw and a planer, and sander (with shut off's on those not being used. I would buy it again in a heart beat, half the price of the options.

 

[rjacobs]

If your speaking about the orange one, I use it in my cabinet shop all the time, rarely ever have to dump the vac tank. It works great on saw dust. It is connected to a miter saw and a planer, and sander (with shut off's on those not being used. I would buy it again in a heart beat, half the price of the options.

it dont work for **** on concrete dust...

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Concrete dust is a wicked beast.
Many rental house offer the better dust-vac systems to go with the diamond grinders, make sure you ask.


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[jt1103]

Great, thanks!

 

[FJ4FUN]

As long as we're talking dust collection I'd be curious to know which dust shroud people are using for their angle grinders? The universal shrouds typically available at the big box stores seem to be the weakest link in proper dust extraction for the DIY crowd to the point where I now recommend getting two for when the first one self destructs...

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

As long as we're talking dust collection I'd be curious to know which dust shroud people are using for their angle grinders? The universal shrouds typically available at the big box stores seem to be the weakest link in proper dust extraction for the DIY crowd to the point where I now recommend getting two for when the first one self destructs...

They all are mostly terrible. We had a member here that manufactured a very good unit out of Australia. I think it was called a sit-up shroud. His was pretty beefy.



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[HaiKarate]

it dont work for **** on concrete dust...

I can confirm - same experience here.

 

[MoonRise]

Also note that 'industrial' conditions trigger OSHA required concrete dust protocols.

Just because you are doing concrete grinding in a DIY situation where OSHA regs do not apply does NOT mean that the concrete dust is any less dangerous to you!

A 'shop' dust collector like the HF unit (or similar from Delta, or Jet, or Grizzly, or whoever) is NOT-NOT-NOT adequate or correct for use with concrete dust.

Although it may have a pretty high CFM flow rate, it is made to collect sawdust and wood shavings and similar. The filtration is not even close to the required level for safe use with concrete dust.

Concrete dust collection requires HEPA level filtration. Both at the OSHA mandated level and for your own safety.

Your call. Your lungs.

 

[MarcSeattle]

This is the best excuse I can think of to buy a Festool vac. You know you want one anyway.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

The absolute best type of dust collector features a way to knock dust off the filter (pulse-bac). 2nd place utilizes a filter-bag (dustless technologies) with a Hepa filter as well and 3rd choice uses a separator (dust-deputy) before the vac, better if vac uses a filter bag.

Anything else will eventually get overwhelmed quickly by the intense storm of dust from concrete.





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[FJ4FUN]

The good news is that many of the larger, national chain, equipment rental companies now offer pro-grade grinding and extraction equipment. Its a step up in pricing but considering the increased production capability and the superior dust extraction its definitely worth considering.

 

[mobetta]

I use a milwuakee angle grinder and shroud attached to one of my festool vacs- The 36AC unit has a self cleaning filter but is NOT HEPA rated. They released a new 48AC that IS HEPA rated (for epa silica rules)
I have tried the Festool cyclone- not worth the cash...Only useful for your table saw or miter saw.
Milwaukee make several shrouds- I have the one that locks onto the Milwaukee tool- NOT the universal unit. Of course it only fits SOME of their grinders and they dont give you a model number. Look closely at the guard retention method on the tool and shroud.


Note that for me we're generally using this setup to knock the thinset off a bathroom or kitchen floor, maybe 150 SF MAX of easy to remove material.
If i were doing a Garage I would be renting the equipment to cover that much SF.

 

[nadogail]

In my shop, dust collection is done with nose hair.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

In my shop, dust collection is done with nose hair.

 

[BombShelter]

Concrete dust has become a big issue, up here you need dust collection even if your outside drilling holes in the concrete.

Before you buy the Festool HEPA Vacuum, check to see if it can do concrete dust, I bought one about four years ago but had to return it, the store said it was fine for my grinding but I still had concern and called Festool's USA HQ, they said no, do not use it with concrete dust.

I ended up with the Bosch that bangs the filter every 15 seconds, and like Legacy said, get the Dust Deputy, it gets 90% of the dust, otherwise your filters get "blinded" very quickly, even with the banging. Bosch seems to be at the front line with concrete dust collection portable tools but the others have also rapidly tried to catch up now that there's more regulation.

And don't forget to wear a mask.

 

[Killer95Stang]

I ground the concrete in my small 18 x 19 two car (just barely) today, using a Metabo 7" grinder, Amazon Dust shroud and Shop Vac. The shop Vac had the paper dust bags inside along with the filter. For breathing, I used a 3m respirator with P100 filters. A pair of eye pro and ear pro to finish up the package.

With the proper fitting shroud, I was getting almost zero dust flying off the grinder. I also only needed to replace the internal collection bag once during grinding. Although it was enough torture on my back to never use this method again, I wasn't disappointed with the results.

The picture below was taken about half way through my 3 hour grinding day. I did notice that my 1961 concrete was rock hard in some spots and really soft in others.