Three types of wood dust collectors, separated by how the filter media takes dust out of the air stream. Bag, sleeve and cartridge each suit a different particle and a different duty cycle. Get that right and hoods, ducting and fan selection all follow from it.
A dust collector is filter media with a fan attached. The only question that really matters is whether the media can hold the particle you produce, at the rate you produce it, without blinding.
Three things settle that in almost every wood plant: what the dust is made of, how much arrives when the shop is busiest, and where the unit can physically stand. Answer those and nine models narrow to two.
Coarse planer shavings drop out of a slowing air stream on their own. Respirable MDF dust does not, and green sawmill waste carries moisture that changes how any media behaves.
Peak simultaneous demand sets the size, not the machine count. Whether the plant runs continuously decides if you need automatic filter cleaning or can clean between shifts.
Floor area is the obvious constraint. Ceiling height is the one that catches people out, because it decides whether filters can be lifted clear of the unit at all.
Three ways of separating dust from air. That one difference drives filter life, cleaning method, footprint and how often somebody has to touch the unit.
Air enters a chamber and slows. Heavy chip drops into the collection bag while the fine fraction builds a cake on the inside of a fabric bag. Cleaning shakes that cake into the hopper.
Sleeves are long fabric tubes hung vertically. Packing media upward rather than outward is the point: more filtration area stands in a narrower machine. Pulse models clear them while running.
A cartridge is pleated media on a frame, folding far more surface area into the same volume than a bag can. That area is what lets it hold respirable dust without choking.
Two collectors can move the same air and still cost very different amounts of production time.
Dust builds on the upstream face, resistance rises and airflow at the machine drops. The operator sees chip sitting in the hood long before anyone looks at the collector. Fine dust builds a tighter, less permeable layer than chip, so an undersized cartridge on fine dust needs attention far sooner than a bag unit on a moulder.
Shaker cleaning is simple and reliable, and on most units it happens with the fan off, so somebody has to schedule it. Automatic reverse pulse fires compressed air back through the media while the collector runs, so nobody schedules anything. That matters most on two shifts, where there is no comfortable window to stop extraction.
Whatever the media, the dust has to leave the building. Small units drop into collection bags somebody changes by hand. Larger ones discharge to bulk bags, bins or a rotary valve. On a high volume site the discharge method, not the filter, usually decides how big the unit has to be.
Not a preference. A trade between heat, noise, fire separation and floor space, decided by the plant rather than the collector.
Filtered air stays in the building, so heat you have already paid for is not thrown out through the roof. In a heated plant that is the strongest argument for keeping the unit inside. The costs are floor space, fan noise near operators, and a combustible dust load stored inside the production envelope. Seven models are configured for indoor duty: see the indoor dust collector range.
Moving outside gives the floor back, takes fan noise off the shop and puts the most explosible material in the plant beyond a wall. In exchange you exhaust conditioned air unless return ducting is designed in, and the unit lives in the weather. It earns its place on waste volumes an indoor unit cannot practically handle: see the outdoor dust collector range.
No two rows solve the same problem. Airflow and dimensions are sized to your plant and available on request.
| Model | Technology | Siting | Mobility | Dust it suits | Typical application |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Icon Bag | Bag | Indoor | Fixed, configurable | Fine dust with coarse chip | Cabinet shops and edge banding lines |
| Clen Portable Bag | Bag | Indoor | Portable, no fixed ductwork | Dust and chip from one machine | Small shops and single point capture |
| FM READY Sleeve | Sleeve | Indoor | Fixed, modular and expandable | General wood dust and chip | Millwork shops planning to add capacity |
| Icon PRO Sleeve | Sleeve | Indoor | Fixed, simple controls | Saw, router, sander and planer dust | Furniture lines and mid size shops |
| Airalt M Sleeve | Sleeve | Indoor | Fixed, cylindrical, compact plan | Fine dry dust, mixed duties | Tight installations around existing structure |
| Aircompact Cartridge | Cartridge | Indoor | Fixed, vertical for low headroom | Dry fine dust, continuous duty | CNC routers and nesting cells |
| Airalt Cartridge | Cartridge | Indoor | Fixed, cyclonic pre separation | Fine respirable bonded dust | Beam saws and panel sizing centers |
| Aircom Sleeve | Sleeve | Outdoor | Fixed central, automatic pulse | Dust and chip under sustained load | Moulder and planer lines running hard |
| MEC / D Sleeve | Sleeve | Outdoor | Fixed central, integrated fan | Heavy sawdust, chip and bark | Sawmills and high volume central systems |
Know where the unit will stand, start with a range. Know which machine is the problem, start with the application.
What our engineers answer most often before a plant commits to a technology.
Bag, sleeve and cartridge. The names describe the filter media, not the machine. Bags catch dust on the inside face of fabric. Sleeves hang fabric tubes vertically so more media fits a narrower cabinet. Cartridges use pleated media, which packs far more area into the same volume.
Not automatically. Cartridge media handles fine dry dust such as MDF far better than fabric bags. On coarse planer waste, or on damp dust, pleats blind faster than a bag. Match the media to the particle, not to the price list.
When waste volume is high enough that an indoor unit would need emptying too often to be practical, when floor space is worth more than the heat lost by exhausting outside, or when you want the combustible dust load beyond a building wall.
Yes, and most industrial installations do. The sizing question is not how many machines you own but how many extraction points open at once. A shared main also needs blast gates, or airflow is spread across idle machines.
Airflow demand comes from hood sizes, simultaneous pickups and the length and diameter of the duct run. None of that can be read off a product page. We measure it on site during a free factory visit.
Send the machine list and we will tell you which technology fits and which one would cost you money.
