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Magnetic sweep for bench grinder

John Whitley

John Whitley

Joined
Jul 18, 2020
Messages
188
Likes
191
Location
Seattle, WA
This is my implementation of an idea I picked up from a short video by Richard Raffan. His tip is just to turn a small handle and glue a magnet on the end for sweeping up metal dust around your bench grinder. I have a metal dust collector base, but it doesn’t quite catch everything, especially during heavy grinding such as tool reshaping. I like Richard’s idea of dumping the filings in a running bottle of vinegar / iron acetate, and I added one thing: a small epoxy cup fits precisely over the 1” disc magnet, which makes it easy to remove the filings from the sweep with out getting any on your hands.

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Yep, and there's been some related discussion on magnetic control over on the Metal Dust Control thread as well. In my case, I find that there's still a fair bit of metal dust that accumulates outside of the guard, on the grinder platform and the floor, not to mention in the ambient air. Bench grinders are kinda "designed" to spray dust all over the place – the platform is often positioned to redirect the dust stream fully/partly away from the guards and any magnetic or airflow collection systems placed there.
 
When I am using my big belt sander to 'shape' tools, I will use one of the 'Mag Switches'. They are rated by pounds of pull, and I do have feather boards of a couple of different ones for my table saw. Turn the switch one way, and it magnetizes. Turn it the other way and it demagnetizes. Works well for picking up the dust around the grinders as well, and will pull dust out of wood shavings. Have to hold it a bit away from the grinder though to keep it from sticking to the grinder itself. I think the 70 or 80 pound ones are in the $70 range.

robo hippy
 
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