I am building a small studio and wondering if anyone has a Quarto
Velocity dust collector or a Quatro Clearview hood. If so how do you
like them?
I like the idea of the dust collector filtering out more
particulates than your typical dust collector and the idea of the
enclosed hood makes sense. I do wonder if the small opening in the
hood for your hands would be somewhat restrictive and I would
imagine that the inside of the hood would become scratched fairly
quickly as you use and clean it. I have used the standard open hoods
with under the counter dust collectors for years and was just going
to go with that, but the idea of cleaner air makes me consider the
fancy hood even if it is a little inconvenient.
I installed one of the Clearview hoods a couple months ago. Having
your hands inside the openings does take some getting used to, but
it’s not really uncomfortable. As a part of polishing, I use a
flexshaft with bristle brushes and this hood allows the handpiece to
be working inside the chamber. It’s so nice to walk away from a
polishing session and not have any compounds on my face. I
appreciate the health safety that this brings to the shop. It’s
something I have wanted for years. On the other side, keeping all
that dust inside the unit will not only keep the shop cleaner but
will pay for the hood eventually with the gold dust reclaimed. I
ignored it for awhile in the catalogs because I thought it looked
rather flimsy, especially for the money. But it’s really pretty
sturdy. When installing mine I ran a small bead of clear silicone
inside all of the seams and put some foam insulating tape under the
hood before screwing it to my polishing table. Use a soft cloth to
wipe off the dust inside because a paper towel scratches it. I
haven’t gotten the dust collector yet, but if I was buying another
one it would definitely be a Quattro machine. I have seen these at
the trade shows and they rock.
While I do not have the Quatro Velocity dust collector, I can
suggest the Vanniman vacuum unit. It is designed for the dental lab
market as a bench dust collector, and has a centrifugal
pre-collector, a dust bag filter, and is very quiet. I modified their
bench collector head with a attachment plate for the GRS bench plate,
so I can change it out with a bench pin and bench mate. Since dental
lab techs use fume producing materials as well as grinding dust,
there is an add on filter to absorb chemical fumes as well. Some
jewelry tool suppliers sell them. The clearview hoods sound like a
very good idea, my polishing unit has two open hoods, to which I
attached polycarbonate safety shields. While they are connected to a
second dust vacuum unit, there is still airborne dust that slowly
accumulates in my polishing area.
I recently purchased the Quattro free standing buffing unit with the
Plexi- box enclosures - love it - they have great technology - their
filtering system cleans the air before it returns it to the
environment. Wish I had bought it yrs ago - great not to wear a
respirator any more.
It is also nice to not have a fine film of rouge drifting around the
studio - never really saw it - but whenever I wiped down a surface
in my studio - there was rouge on the damp rag - even though my
previous polishing unit had a filtering exhaust.
About 12 yrs ago - actually had a cabinet maker build similar plexi
cabinets for the classroom that I teach in - but due to the
technology at the time - it involves a VERY noisy wall mounted motor
and extensive HVAC duct work.
The Quattro system is MUCH more quiet and does not require duct work
to exhaust the air filled with particulates. They claim it is more
efficient at trapping metal that is removed during the polishing
processes - so perhaps in a few yrs., in addition to the benefits of
better air quality in my studio, my refining returns will offset the
expense.
Usual disclaimers- I am in no way (other than being a customer)
affiliated with the company
Mark I have had the Clearview hoods on my polishing equipment for a
couple of years now and love them. I am convinced that with gold
they will pay for themselves in short order due to the greatly
superior capturing of the dust and metal fines. I don’t have the
Quatro dust collector but I would seriously consider it when and if I
need to replace my Torit unit.
Jim
James Binnion @James_Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts