What is a Downdraft Table? How does it work? – Clean Air America
Do you work in the manufacturing industry? Is your idea of great customer service a minimized mess after you’re done sanding or sawing? If yes, perhaps a downdraft table is what you need.
Downdraft table, a powerful, steel-made, motor-run asset, makes working with small tools and compact machinery considerably more efficient. To protect the motors, many downdraft tables have pierced table tops with filters that collect all the dust.
In essence, a downdraft table enables you to keep your workspace clean when undertaking tool work through filters. And this is precisely the reason why they are so very popular among woodworkers. A downdraft table is largely used to collect dust particles and tiny debris that occur in the manufacturing processes, say sawing or sanding.
Application of downdraft table
Downdraft tables are most commonly found in metalworking and woodworking businesses. But, you will notice that most of these units have further applications in your company. Serving as a work surface, these tables can be utilized in any place where the fumes need to be kept away from employees. You can gather your materials and all the machines or tools, and simply proceed to the table to start working on it. These tables offer a significant advantage over a standard workbench in that way.
Downdraft is a name that is derived from the downdraft airflow that the table produces when turned on. It is this airflow that helps keep all of the debris from entering your body via your nose, lungs, or even eyes. It keeps the wooden shavings and sawdust hidden away from your workspace, giving you a neat and clean working environment along with clarity pertaining to your task at hand.
Types of Downdraft Table
There are different downdraft tables available for different purposes. Each has its own set of advantages and downsides. The design of these tables is also slightly altered to meet particular requirements.
Let us discuss the two commonly used downdraft tables – one for woodworking and the other for metalworking. You must thoroughly understand each type before making a purchase to ensure that it matches your requirements.
How to use a woodworking and metalworking downdraft table
Downdraft table for woodworking
Working with wood leads to the production of a lot of waste, like fine dust and microscopic particles. These pollutants can severely restrict your vision and make the entire experience of carrying out woodworking unpleasant and hazardous. Downdraft tables are common for woodworkers because of this reason precisely, since it helps in the proper elimination and disposal of the wood waste.
The perforated surface and dust collection system of the table allows you to remove dangerous wood dust particles, which can cause serious health problems if inhaled and thereby aid in the ensuring clean atmosphere for the manufacturers to work. Installing this table leads to reducing the risk of injury and contact with wood dust.
This is how a downdraft table can be used in workspaces that involve working with woods.
Downdraft table for metalworking
The application of a downdraft table is not just restricted to woodworking industries. A downdraft table has the potential to remove pollutants from dirty air because it is functioned to eliminate small particles. Contaminated air can be dangerous, so to be safe the system has to return clean air. This is what makes it popular amond metalworkers as well. For most, it is considered a good small company investment rather than an expense.
Welding fumes (carcinogen), and they also pose a serious health hazard for the staff. These benches are well equipped for grinding because they neatly catch all of the shavings from the process, drastically reducing the chance of harm, thereby ensuring safety.
Furthermore, if the downdraft table has a solid particle filter, it removes them from the workers’ surroundings, giving the worker a clean environment. An additional benefit for the people working on downdraft benches is that it reduces the likelihood of injury caused by metal products.
General uses of downdraft tables
Most downdraft tables have features such as protection from spark shields, dust collection system, exhaust funnels, and heavy-duty work surfaces, among others, making them the perfect fit for manufacturing industries.
Downdraft tables are commonly used for chemical preparation for welding, woodworking, crushing, pulverizing, and hazardous material processing. Such operations are part of millions of people’s daily labor, and downdraft tables help accomplish that job efficiently. Hardworking personnel can complete their activities safely, thanks to the services provided by these tables.
What are the health and safety benefits of metal downdraft tables?
Downdraft tables serve two key purposes in the workplace: they safeguard the workers and meet industry-specific workplace requirements. Additional advantages include:
Fulfilling your legal obligations-
Employers are required by law and regulation to create a safe and healthy work environment that is free of hazardous dust collection and smoke. An employer can meet these legal requirements and avoid penalties and sanctions from supervisory authorities by installing downdraft tables for its workers.
Elimination of fire and explosion hazards-
Numerous types of industrial dust are combustible or flammable. Large amounts of plasma and oxy-acetylene dust, in particular, can cause fire. So, adding an automatic downdraft table is the perfect solution as it is a preventative measure that can protect your workforce and avoid property damage if you conduct a lot of welding and cutting.
Do downdraft tables work?
This is largely dependent on the application. In many circumstances, downdraft benches are effective. It is dependent on two factors. Do you have a task that would benefit from the use of a downdraft table, and have you chosen an appropriate downdraft bench by going through all the useful information about the same? If your answer is yes for both, the tables should work for you.
Conclusion-
Your workers will thrive in a dust-free atmosphere with a downdraft table in place, which implies fewer sick days and missed labor hours owing to air quality issues. Everyone will be able to breathe easier, and your company will save money in the short as well as long term if a proper downdraft table is put to use in your company.