Wood Floor Edgers with Vacuum Dust Control

A wood floor edger with vacuum dust control is a device that reduces airborne wood dust during wood floor sanding.

Description:

Vacuum dust control for wood floor edgers, which are small and maneuverable compared to floor sanders, is an engineering control that can reduce exposure to wood dust.  Wood floor edgers with vacuum dust control are machines with a rotating sanding disk that is enclosed to allow for the removal of dust created by the sanding process. Air is drawn from the floor and the sanding disk and into the dust port within the machine by an internal fan and a vacuum attachment, capturing dust near the point of generation. The wood dust is then collected and removed from the work environment, reducing the concentration in the worker's breathing zone and the opportunity for skin contact. Cyclonic pre-separators, either as an integral part of the vacuum or as a separate unit, should be used to collect the majority of the particles before they reach the filters.  A cyclonic pre-separator spins the air and dust, forcing particles to outside of a cone-shaped portion of the vacuum and then down into a bag or hopper.  Use of a cyclonic pre-separator reduces the amount of dust that collects on the filter, which increases the useful life of expensive filters and helps to maintain the vacuum’s initial airflow rate.

A wood dust capture and control system is recommended by OSHA and is commonly used in the form of a vacuum dust collector, which allows for the safe removal of most airborne dust particles generated by sanding. Using a vacuum with filters, instead of a dust bag, greatly reduces the risk to operators and other workers on a site.

The following are examples of commercially available wood floor edgers and compatible vacuums:

Bona Wood Floor Edgers

ModelSanding Disk Diameter (inches)Sanding Disk Speed (revolutions per minute)Weight (pounds)
Edge73,00031
Edge XL73,00032
Mini Edge64,40020

The Bona wood floor edgers are compatible with the Bona Portable Dust Collection System.

  • Power Requirements: 115 volts, 15 amps
  • Built-in 20 watt halogen work light
  • Diameter of Connection to Vacuum: 1.5 inches
  • Sound Pressure Level: 87 dBA (OSHA’s Permissible Exposure Limit for an 8-hour time-weighted average is 90 dBA)

Bona Portable Dust Collection System

The Bona Portable DCS uses a cyclonic separator and a HEPA filter.

  • Dust Capacity: 18.5 gallons
  • Airflow Rate: 140 cubic feet per minute
  • Maximum Static Pressure: 132 inches of water
  • Power Requirements: 115 volts, 14 amps
  • Weight: 95 pounds
  • Vacuum Hose Inlet Diameter: 1.5 inches
  • Filtration: primary coarse filter and secondary HEPA filter, capable of removing 99.97% of 0.3 micron particles (the most penetrating size)
  • Sound Pressure Level: 80 dBA (OSHA’s Permissible Exposure Limit for an 8-hour time-weighted average is 90 dBA)

Essex Silver-Line SL-7 Wood Floor Edger

For dust reduction, the Essex SL-7 wood floor edger can be used with the Oneida-Essex Silver Line Retrofit Handle and the Oneida Vortex vacuum.

  • Sanding Disk Diameter: 7 inches
  • Sanding Disk Speed: 3,600 revolutions per minute
  • Power Requirements: 115 volts, 10 amps (a 220 volt version is also available)
  • Weight: 30 pounds
  • Diameter of Connection to Vacuum: 1.5 inches
  • Sound Pressure Level: not available but likely to exceed 90 dBA (OSHA’s Permissible Exposure Limit for an 8-hour time-weighted average)

Oneida-Essex Silver-Line Retrofit Handle

The Oneida handle installs on the Essex Silver-Line SL-7 edger and attaches to a Vortex vacuum.

  • Uses a cyclone pre-separator, eliminating the need for cloth dust bags
  • Filtration: HEPA filter, capable of removing 99.97% of 0.3 micron particles (the most penetrating size)
  • Weight: 10 pounds
  • Diameter of Connection to Vacuum: 1.5 inches

Clarke Wood Floor Edgers

For dust reduction, the Clarke wood floor edgers can be used with an Oneida-Clarke Retrofit Handle and a Oneida Vortex vacuum or a Clarke CAV 12 vacuum (shown below).

ModelSanding Disk Speed (revolutions per minute)Power Requirements*Weight (pounds)
Super 7R2,800115 volts, 12 amps28
B-22,800 or 3,200115 volts, 25 amps32

*230 volt model is available

  • Sanding Disk Diameter: 7 inches
  • Diameter of Connection to Vacuum: 2 inches (adapter 30563A available for 1.5 inch hoses)
  • Sound Pressure Level: not available but likely to exceed 90 dBA (OSHA’s Permissible Exposure Limit for an 8-hour time-weighted average)

 

Oneida-Clarke Retrofit Handles

The Oneida retrofit handle installs on the Clarke Super 7R and B-2 edgers and attaches to an Oneida Vortex vacuum or a Clarke CAV 12 vacuum (shown below).

  • Uses a cyclone pre-separator, eliminating the need for cloth dust bags
  • Filtration: HEPA filter, capable of removing 99.97% of 0.3 micron particles (the most penetrating size)
  • Diameter of Connection to Vacuum: 1.5 inches
  • Weight: 10 pounds

 

Clarke CAV 12 Dust Control Vacuum

  • Airflow Rate: 137 cubic feet per minute
  • Maximum Static Pressure: 99 inches of water
  • Dust Capacity: 12 gallons
  • Power Requirements: 120 volts, 8.3 amps
  • Weight: 31 pounds
  • Filtration: Fleece bag with optional HEPA filter, capable of removing 99.97% of 0.3 micron particles (the most penetrating size)
  • Vacuum Hose: 1.5-inch diameter hose and fittings and 13 or 25 feet long
  • Sound Pressure Level: 62 dBA (OSHA’s Permissible Exposure Limit for an 8-hour time-weighted average is 90 dBA)

 

Cherry Hill U-Sand Mini Wood Floor Edger

The Cherry Hill floor edger uses 3 circular sanding pads.  The edger is compatible with the Cherry Hill U-Sand VAC Mini (shown below) and other vacuums that connect to a 1.25 inch hose fitting.

  • Sanding Disk Diameter: 5 inches (3 random orbiting disks)
  • Sanding Head Width: 9.5 inches
  • Sanding Disk Speed: 3,300 to 4,500 revolutions per minute
  • Power Requirements: 120 volts, 8 amps
  • Weight: 19 pounds
  • Diameter of Connection to Vacuum: 1.25 inches
  • Sound Pressure Level: not available but likely to exceed 90 dBA (OSHA’s Permissible Exposure Limit for an 8-hour time-weighted average)

Cherry Hill U-Sand VAC Mini

The U-Sand VAC Mini attaches to the U-Sand Mini edger.

  • Airflow Rate: 120 cubic feet per minute
  • Dust Capacity: 1.5 gallons
  • Power Requirements: 120 volts, 12 amps
  • Weight: 11.5 pounds
  • Filtration: HEPA filter, capable of removing 99.97% of 0.3 micron particles (the most penetrating size)
  • Diameter of Connection to Tool: 1.25 inches
  • Sound Pressure Level: not available but likely to exceed 90 dBA (OSHA’s Permissible Exposure Limit for an 8-hour time-weighted average)

Oneida-Lagler FLIP Retrofit Handle

The Oneida handle installs on the FLIP sander and attaches to a Vortex vacuum (shown below).

  • Uses a cyclone pre-separator, eliminating the need for cloth dust bags
  • Filtration: HEPA filter, capable of removing 99.97% of 0.3 micron particles (the most penetrating size)
  • Weight: 10 pounds
  • Diameter of Connection to Vacuum: 1.5 inches

Oneida Vortex Dust Collection Systems

*The vacuum is shown with a sander but it is also compatible with edgers

The Vortex dust collectors attach to the 1.5-inch connections on any retrofit handles from Oneida. Using the airflow provided by the sander, the dust-laden air is passed through the cyclone on the handle, removing the majority of wood dust, before passing through the handle’s HEPA filter. The Vortex vacuum pulls the dust captured by the cyclone through a hose to the remote cyclonic separator where the dust is captured in a waste container. The air is passed through a HEPA filter at the vacuum before being exhausted.

Model Name and NumberAirflow Rate (cubic feet per minute)*Power RequirementsWeight (pounds)
Vortex 110V VSKOAA000210110 volts, 17 amps210
Vortex 220V VSKOBB000260220 volts, 14 amps230

*Approximate airflow rate were provided by the manufacturer but are not published

  • Cyclonic separator
  • Dust Capacity: 35 gallons
  • Filtration: HEPA filter, capable of removing 99.97% of 0.3 micron particles (the most penetrating size)
  • 1 ½ inch static dissipating hose
  • Sound Pressure Level: approximately 75 dBA (OSHA’s Permissible Exposure Limit for an 8-hour time-weighted average is 90 dBA)

Risks Addressed:

Exposure to wood dust in the workplace has several associated hazards. Wood dust irritates the eyes, nose and throat, in addition to leading to pulmonary function impairment. Western red cedar dust is considered a human carcinogen and has also been shown to cause asthma. Significant accumulation of fine wood dust particles can also be a fire and explosion hazard in the workplace.

The woodworking industry creates significant amounts of wood dust. The dust generated from saws, sanders, routers, etc. is generally not controlled, and workers exposed to wood dusts have experienced a variety of adverse health effects such as eye and skin irritation, allergies, reduced lung function, asthma, and nasal cancer. Excessive amounts of dust can also inhibit sight within the work area creating hazardous conditions for not only the worker, but also others within the work environment. By using dust control methods, exposure can be significantly reduced. For example, sanding is one of the largest producers of dust, but with the use of controls, the inhalable fraction of wood dust emissions was reduced by 66 to 98% (NTP, 2000).

Spee et al. performed task-based monitoring of 26 carpenters at 13 building projects to measure exposure to wood dust. Eight hour time-weighted average (TWA) exposures to wood dust ranged from 0.8 to 11.6 times the occupational exposure limit (0.8 to 11.6 milligrams of wood dust per cubic meter of air, mg/m3, with a geometric mean of 3.3 mg/m3 and a geometric standard deviation of 2.1).

Numerous studies in have addressed whether Hodgkin’s Disease (HD) is linked to wood dust exposures. Studies involving those who have already died from the disease, those who currently have the disease and woodworkers who were believed to be at risk of getting the disease were conducted. No study included sufficient information to find a correlation between length of employment, type of position, exposure to certain products, or contact with chemical agents that may be used in woodworking and HD. These investigations have shown that those with the greatest risk are among the carpentry and lumbering occupations. In the end, twelve studies were looked at, and five yielded statistically significant relationships between woodworking and Hodgkin’s disease (McCunney, 1999).

The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) published a Threshold Limit Value (TLV) of 1 mg/m3 for wood dust, excluding western red cedar. The TLV for western red cedar is 0.5 mg/m3. Oak and beech wood dust have been confirmed as human carcinogens and birch, mahogany, teak, and walnut are classified as suspected human carcinogens (ACGIH, 2011).

How Risks are Reduced:

Wood floor edgers with vacuum dust control are machines with a rotating sanding disk that is enclosed to allow for the removal of dust created by the sanding process. Air is drawn past the floor and the sanding disk and into the dust port within the machine by an internal fan and a vacuum attachment, capturing dust near the point of generation. The wood dust is then collected and removed from the work environment, reducing the concentration in the worker's breathing zone and the opportunity for skin contact.

Using dust collection techniques will visibly reduce airborne particulate matter, but the extent that it reduces the small, inhalable particles is significant. Although exposure is not reduced to zero, substantial reduction has been documented. This is dependent on the amount of air flow through the machine, the distance between the object creating dust and the port within the sander, how effectively the collector removes particles from the air, the nature and amount of work and the extent to which workers are exposed to particles that are not captured. While published sampling data on these specific tools are not available, evidence indicates exposure to inhalable wood dust can be significantly reduced through the use of dust extraction methods.

In a study of dust extraction systems for hand-held sanders, Thorpe found that “the use of a filter bag resulted in large decreases in dust concentration when flat wood was sanded (typically 85% reduction) for all types of sanders.” In the same study, Thorpe concluded that “Dust capture efficiencies and the reduction in dust concentrations were greater for all sanders tested when used with an external source of extraction rather than an integral filter bag” (Thorpe, 1993).

Clarke states that using a dust collector with its edgers effectively reduces airborne dust concentrations (Jake Mosbek, personal communication, June 9, 2011).

The results of two cross sectional studies in the furniture industry indicated that “The following determinants of exposure were found to ‘decrease’ dust concentration: manual assembling/packing; sanding with adequate exhaust ventilation; adequate exhaust ventilation; vacuum cleaning of machines and special cleaning staff” (Schlunssen, 2008).

Effects on Productivity:

Vacuum dust collectors should have a positive effect on productivity and definitely improve the quality of the work by removing large amounts of dust, which provides a cleaner environment for operators and reduces the effort and time required for clean-up. In some cases, particularly where work is intermittent or in an area with general ventilation, use of dust collectors may be adequate to reduce the need to wear a respirator, and the need for an employer’s respiratory protection program.

Additional Considerations:

There are additional conditions and practices that can improve the performance of dust collectors and reduce dust exposure: 

  • Keeping your head away from dust created by the process and using adequate ventilation are keys to controlling exposure to airborne dust particles.
  • The Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limits (SCOEL), which was established by the European Commission, stated that exposures greater than 0.5 mg/m3 of wood dust could cause pulmonary effects and should be avoided.
  • The particles that can do the most damage in the lungs are small enough to penetrate or bypass the filters found on many shop vacuums. Additionally, some inexpensive shop vacuums pull the dust through the motors, which can destroy the vacuum on really dusty jobs, eliminating any initial cost savings.
  • Vacuum performance must be monitored on a regular basis. A vacuum with a pressure gauge allows for frequent and easy monitoring of air flow. For high dust generating tasks, dust caked on the filter may reduce flow to a level where it no longer provides adequate dust capture. Automatic and manual filter shakers and coarse pre-filters are available with some vacuums and may help maintain the air flow rate.


Large electric vacuums commonly require 20 amp electrical circuits. Cords and extensions must be rated for the tool's power requirements, be inspected regularly, replaced when damaged, and used in combination with ground fault interrupt circuits.

Some large vacuums, cyclonic separators, and exhaust ventilation blowers can be very loud. Noise levels may be high enough to cause significant hearing loss over a work lifetime. Buy quiet devices and maintain them properly. Noise exposures can be reduced by working further away from the noise source, enclosing the noise source, or using ear plugs or muffs.

As is the case with any construction equipment, users should follow manufacturer scheduled maintenance and safety recommendations and comply with any applicable regulations.

Hazards Addressed:

Availability

Cherry Hill U-Sand Floor Edger and Vacuum
To obtain information, visit http://www.u-sand.com or contact 1-800-392-8894 info@u-sand.com

Clarke Wood Floor Edgers and Vacuums
To obtain information, visit http://www.clarkeus.com or contact 1-800-253-0367 info@clarkeus.com

Oneida Retrofit Handles and Vortex Dust Collectors
To obtain information, visit http://www.oneida-air.com or contact 1-800-732-4065 info@oneida-air.com

Bona Wood Floor Edgers and Dust Collection Systems
To obtain information, visit http://www.bona.com or contact 1-800-872-5515

Essex Silver-Line Wood Floor Edger
To obtain information, visit http://essex-silver-line.com or contact 1-978-957-2116

Return on Investment

To calculate the return on investment (ROI) for your specific application, please visit our Return on Investment Calculator. While a specific ROI example has not been developed for this particular solution, the ROI Calculator provides a useful tool and guidance on how to generate your own on investment analysis.