I forgot about this forum, its been almost a year.
Well for my Senior Project I made my very own custom bass rod under careful supervison of my mentor.
It turned out great!
I have decided to make another one. My only major problem is dust.
I could apply the coats in my room or in my garage.
Both can get pretty dusty.
In my room, I have a ceiling fan and a window.
In my garage there is a small rectangle cut out with wire mesh, and a side door which I constantly use.

Which area would be best and how could I make it dust free as possible.

Thank you for reading through this rather lengthy question

If you are looking for a cheap fix get one of those square fans you buy at wall Marts buy one of those square air conditional filters of about the same size. Tape it to the back side and let rum overnight in YOUR ROOM to pull most of the loose dust out of the air. Keep turned off while applying finsh to your rod. If money not a probelm buy a dust collection system and use it, takes about an hour to purge the room of dust.

(from a rookie) That dust settles on everything and gets stirred up as you move things around. In addition to the fan/filter you'll need to do a good dusting around the room and allow the filter to pull out anything you kick back up into the air. I've been using a simple, slightly damp, cloth for dusting.

Do you pros have preferences for spray waxes or pre-treated dusting cloths?

Steve,would it also be good to tape a filter to an opposite open window to trap dust from the air coming in?


Also a spray bottle with water sprayed into the air before starting the finish operation will pull down some dust.If using a basement do it late at night when there will be less traffic above causing dust to fall from below the floor.And as always good housekeeping reduces the dust also.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2007 07:50AM by Fred Yarmolowicz.

From my experience re-finishing boats and varnishing furniture, the secret to "dust free" is still air. I'm currently restoring a classic teak sailboat interior. One day I sand and vacuum, the next day with no fan or porthole open I apply the slow drying varnish with good results.

For tabletops I usually construct a hood of some sort directly over the surface so airborne particle won't settle and I get that wood under glass effect.

My rod work is getting decent finishes with just the still air trick. The faster the epoxy cure the less pollution. When I have the time I will build a enclosed and heated box for applying finishes on one rod at a time.

...hope this helps some

Robert is on the money. For many years I routinely finished my rods on the same bench where I turned my cork and EVA. The overhead fixtures were covered in dust, along with most everything else in the place. But I never had any problem getting "dust free" finish jobs.

The key is just as he stated - still air. Dust that has settled on things is not a problem. It's the stirring up of that dust and getting it up in the air that you have to be careful about.

....................

I agree with Tom. My shop has limited space and Im a slob lol. I never have a problem but I am careful to not do the finish work till the shop has had time to "rest" from the other rod building tasks. Also epoxy dries fairly quickly to tack anyways so after that really dust is not a problem.

I've never had any problem with dust - I have a room in the basement and about the only thing I ever do in there is tie flies, and put finish on my rods. All sanding and other stuff goes on in the garage. If the their are masses of airborne dust in the room, then the its likely the whole house needs cleaning and I need to put down the rods for a little bit.

James Hicks Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> (from a rookie) That dust settles on everything
> and gets stirred up as you move things around. In
> addition to the fan/filter you'll need to do a
> good dusting around the room and allow the filter
> to pull out anything you kick back up into the
> air. I've been using a simple, slightly damp,
> cloth for dusting.
>
> Do you pros have preferences for spray waxes or
> pre-treated dusting cloths?


I would be careful about spray waxes as most of them contain silicone, which is a good recipe for "fish eyes".

Not sure how often it matters, but I've been grounding my blank with one of those computer tech wrist grounding straps. Once I saw some particles fall offf the blank just after grounding, but not sure how often it really helps. Might be interesting to try and build a positive charge on the blank to repel dust too. Anyone have a thought how to do that.

BTW,,,, Walmart was clearing out fans for end of Summer, so you might catch a decent sale. The ones with two small fans set side by side in a rectangle sure look like some size furnace filter should fit nicely.

I have cabinets and drawers where I keep all my thread and rod building materials. The doors and drawers have rubber gaskets to seal them. In the room I installed a portable air filter system that is cleaned weekly. I also cover my work bench, which is 4 x 16 with white butcher paper. The table has drwers and doors undneath. I have 2 wrapping lathes and 3 driers on my work table. I change the paper weekly. Over the lath I have a potable hood that has a vacuum hose attached. I made the hood from clear plastic. So when I am working with cork I can vacuum up all the cork dust. All my doors and drawers have seals. I picked up the portable air filter at a Good Well Store for 10 bucks. Also I place one of those draft socks you place under doors to eliminate cold drafts in the winter, under the doors. It may not be the correct way, but it works for me
Good Wraps Bob

Bob if you would wear a white paper suit and use all the stuff you have you could take on extra jobs cleaning Class100 A valve parts and components for oxygen service under NASA contract! If you get qualified as a Small Business Set Aside Contractor you could get rich!

A couple of thoughts.
I turned one handle in the room where I wrap.
Never again. There is simply too much dust, no matter what you use for filters or vacuums.
I now do all of the dirty work in the garage. When, I am through and have vacuumed most of the dust up; I simply open the garage door and use the air compressor to blow the rest of the dust that might be any where into the still night air.

With respect to the winding and coating room which is my Clean room.
About once a month - I will open the windows and use the air compressor to blow off everything that might contain any dust. Generally, there is very little, but I have found that by really stirring everything up and getting the high pressure air to the surfaces really helps to clean everything out. Then, I use a dust cloth on all of the surfaces, tables, windwow sills and shelving. Again, there is generally very little dust, but it is nice to have everything picked up.
Then, I wait a minimum of two days before I do any coating to insure that any dust that might still be floating around has settled.

Then, any time that I am coating, I turn off the heating or AC air supply to the room - to keep air movement to the minimum. Never have any problem with dust in the finish.

Take care
REW

Bill I live in the country lots of dust.. Besides that it took me a few years to accumulate all my stuff. A guy has to do what a guy has to do
Good wraps Bob

I don't build a lot of rods, but all my work is done in my garage. I apply finish at night and leave the area until the next day. Never had a problem. The one time that I tried to be smart and careful, I took the rod inside to an unused room, set up and applied CP, and left it to dry. Went back later to apply finsh (not knowing that my wife had gone in there and lubricated the dog clipper blades, turned the clippers on, and sent oil all over my rod) and you can guess what the finish turned out like.

OH NO! I have raised a couple of teenagers! Are we talking about getting one's room dust free? It can't be done! Just don't move the mountain of dirty clothes...or the mountain of clean clothes..It may keep the dust encapsulated.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2007 11:18PM by Bill Lane.

Teenagers are nothing Bill,,, try a parrot. :-)

OH my. Parrots are a mess! ... I thought Golden Retriever fur was bad....You could just pretend it was an intentional inlay....





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2007 12:18AM by Bill Lane.

I used to have a Yellow Nap Macaw Parrot. The darn bird would sneek in to my wrapping room a chew on my wraps and rods. Thank god my ex wife took the bird when we split.
Good Wraps Bob