In any industrial work environment, there are certain safety precautions that need to be honored in order to ensure workers and products retain the highest possible level of safety. One such safety precaution is to utilize dust collection systems within your facility. A properly-configured system will serve as a useful tool to mitigate potential workplace injuries and it can also foster an overall higher level of worker productivity.
Benefits of Using Dust Collection Systems
- Improved air quality in the work environment
- Air becomes easier to breathe, improving the comfort for your work staff
- Productivity is optimized in a clean and safe work environment.
The benefits of using dust collection systems in your facility are many and the above list is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Failing to utilize an efficient and properly-configured dust collection system can even lead to potential explosions and fire. A bit of advance planning can serve to minimize or hopefully entirely eliminate any possibility of potential explosions resulting from excess particles in the environment, as well as any other health concerns that might arise in such an environment.
Dust collection systems employ a standard three-step process
- Capture: This first stage of the dust collection process can take place in various locations of your work environment simultaneously. Some such locations include in the near proximity of machines that have their own collection components as well as through a single or potential series of capture hood devices, which offer a general intake area.
- Convey: Collecting dust particles is an important first step to removing harmful particles from any work environment, but those particles need to go somewhere. All dust collection systems employ a series of ductwork, intricately connected, to ensure that dust is moved to the final stage of the process, which is the collection step.
- Collect: In this final stage of the dust collection process, hazardous particles are captured in a specialized receptacle. In this collection phase, your system will employ a HEPA filter which collects certain harmful particles that are often present in the air.
Once you have made the crucial decision to install a dust collection system to increase the safety and productivity of your fabrication shop, the question then becomes one of choosing a system type. Some systems can be purchased in a pre-fabricated form while others are made custom to the specific dimensions of the facility in question. You will soon discover that custom dust collection systems usually require a highly skilled installation team.
HVAC Integration and Fan Selection Options
When sifting through the various choices for dust collection systems to be employed at your facility, you will want to ensure that the fans being utilized are of a high enough capacity. The flow of dust particles to your capture units will be insufficient if the airflow and suction aspects are not optimized to the dimensions of your work environment. The manufacturer of your dust collection system will review fan options with you prior to selling you a system.
A relieving discovery for many facility foremen is the fact that in many cases, dust collection systems can be easily integrated into your facility’s HVAC system. This is an option that is more sensible for certain facilities over others and will still require the careful instruction and recommendation of a professional installation and dust collection systems sales team. While optimizing energy usage is a desired outcome, you don’t want to underpower your dust collection capabilities simply for the sake of trying to save a little bit off of your energy costs.
State Regulations and Permits
Be sure to consult with a legal representative from your company or minimally approach your local state’s department of environmental protection before choosing among available dust collection systems. In many cases, permits are required and, in those cases, you are going to want to have the relevant authorities look over your plans for the system prior to your beginning installation or even signing a sales contract.
Final Considerations
There are many serious considerations upon which you, your staff, and company executives need to discuss prior to choosing a system for your facility. The required budget can vary rather significantly between the various dust collection systems on the market and some have better capacity and efficiency than others. How your preferences and needs fall in line with the various solutions available will depend on budgetary considerations as well as how long you plan on occupying your facility. No matter what your demands might be a custom fabricator will be able to create a dust collection system to match each and every one of your specific needs.
The sooner your organization chooses an expert fabricator to create your dust collection system the better the overall result will be in regard to efficiency, environment air quality, worker productivity and, of course, how the bottom-line will be affected. Having a dust collection solution in place can increase productivity, keep your employees safe and improve the quality of your products. It is an essential component of any industrial facility. If you do not have a proper system in place yet there is no time like the present.
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Double Drop Trailer
Swanton Welding Company was contracted to construct a double drop trailer for a client in Ottawa, OH. The project took under two months after a mid-July 2024 start, with completion in early September 2024. A double drop trailer, also known as a lowboy trailer, transports oversized loads considered too large for a standard trailer on […]
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Stainless Steel Hopper
We custom fabricated this stainless steel hopper and finished it off with a polished interior for food grade application.
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Catalytic Converter
Fabricated stainless steel Catalytic Converter w/ Pipe Bundle. A customer approached us about doing this job out of stainless steel with the stainless pipe bundle being made out of a special seamless tubing. The timeline was critical as the customer had a two day plant outage scheduled and they needed this unit installed during that […]
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Purification System Filter
Waste Water Separator This project’s client needed a water tight clarifier tank fabricated. We had to build, weld, leak test, shop assembly, blast, caulk, and paint the tank. In the end, we delivered a completed clarifier tank assembly. Completion Date March 7, 2017 Materials All materials were carbon steel Fabrication Methods This project utilized […]
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CE Boiler Stack Replacement
Swanton Welding was responsible to create a drawing based printed CAD drawings to design and fabricate a replacement stack out of A588 material for the refinery
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Fulton County Hospital Office Addition
Swanton Welding was tasked with fabricating the steel framework for the new Fulton County Hospital addition in Wauseon, Ohio. We appreciated the opportunity to support Rupp/Rosebrock, Inc. and their construction crews as they constructed a four-story medical building that will attach to Fulton County Hospital. The team at Swanton Welding used our beam line to […]
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Fabrication of two large canopies out of steel tubing to be installed at an airport. The canopies were fully assembled in shop prior to shipping. Both canopies were hot dip galvanized to withstand the corrosive installation environment.
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Tire Separator and Hopper
The project involved making a hopper & separator for a tire recycling plant. The hopper was designed to dump truckloads of used tires. It has a motor and sliding floor system that was sloped to feed the tires to the separator, which would separate the tires based on size and feed them to additional equipment […]
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125 Ton Steam Car
We built a 125 Ton Steam Car. We fabricated it, blasted and painted it, did the assembly, electrical work, and shop tested it.
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Steel Thrustframe Fabrication
A customer from the gas exploration industry approached Swanton Welding & Machining to fabricate an A36 and A-514 steel thrustframe weldment. The 225,000 lbs weldment was fabricated using a variety of processes, including CNC milling, MIG welding, drilling, laser cutting, bending, tapping and forming. The 54′ long and 8′ wide thrustframe was skillfully fabricated using […]
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Swanton Welding was contracted to build a bridge and boardwalk for a client in Westfield, IN. Our estimation team and project manager worked with the client to make sure we provided an accurate and complete quote and timeline. This project took place from late May through late September of 2024. This bridge and boardwalk, weighing […]
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It is basically the structural arm for a heavy duty conveyor ship loader.
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Vertical Clarifiers with Thickeners
These were vertical clarifier tanks used to separate certain materials from water.
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4100 Grillage Fabrication
Barge Stabilizer Swanton Welding took on a project with a simple goal: support a 1500 tons crane with two barges. The heavy duty steel frame binding the two barges together, and the crane would be used to drive in bridge pilings.
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Lamella Style Inclined Plate Clarifier
Swanton Welding was contracted to fabricate a Lamella Style Inclined Plate Clarifier that will ship to Mt. Holly, NC, when completed. This fabrication will serve as a wastewater clarifier for the facility in North Carolina. Swanton began this project in June of 2024, and it is currently ongoing. When completed, we expect the fully assembled […]
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Stainless Steel Platform
Custom fabricated stainless structural steel platform with carbon steel columns and handrails.
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Acid Furnace Fabrication
Swanton Welding & Machining was approached by a chemical industry customer to fabricate a 125,000 lbs. acid furnace. We first drafted complete shop fabrication drawings for the furnace using AutoCAD software. We then used a variety of fabrication methods to complete the A516 grade 70 and A-36 grade steel furnace, including: drilling, rolling, laser cutting, […]
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Mixing Tank Fabrication
A customer from the water treatment industry approached Swanton Welding & Machining to fabricate a mixing tank assembly. The 50,000 lbs. tank assembly was made up of many different parts and systems including rapid mix, reactor and clarifier tanks, a 16′-8″ long platform, and a 15′ high draft tube. To fabricate these components and many […]
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Truck Dump Project
Swanton Welding fabricated two truck dump platforms. These are used in various industries where semi or other large trucks are driven onto a platform for unloading. After securing the truck, the platform is raised high into the air, and the load on the truck is transferred via gravity into a bin or hopper. Our client builds […]
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Accumulator Tower for Metal Coating Process
Structural Steel Tower This project consisted of constructing two similar towers. The entry side is pictured and the exit side can be seen in the distance. This new customer to Swanton Welding requested the project to be finish painted before it was delivered. These structural steel towers were assembled in the field and required very […]
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Support Structure
Swanton Welding is fully equipped to meet all your large-scale structural steel project requirements in-house at our cutting-edge USA facility. We take pride in being a dedicated partner in the success of every fabrication project we complete. Recently, we collaborated with a client based in South Carolina to construct a support structure. Given its critical […]
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Bottom Casing for Glass Furnace
This custom fabrication project was for approximately 30 Bottom Casings for a Glass Furnace. Each section had to have pads custom machined to ensure it was within 1 mm of flatness. After the individual casings were completed, we had to shop assemble the entire length of them and use a transit to ensure their critical […]
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Ladle Maintenance Carts
Customer needed a way to conveniently transport large ladles to areas where they will be used.
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Glass Furnace Rebuild – Support Steel
A client proposed and drew the initial design of this support steel project. It will encase and support a glass melting furnace for the engineered reinforcements industry. Swanton Welding supplied materials such as tie rods, platform steel, stairs, and ladders for the 20 ft tool glass melting furnace. Fabrication, blasting, and painting were customized to […]
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Discharge Hopper, Clarifier, Clarifier Structure, Catwalk & Stairs, Auger
We custom built a large Discharge Hopper, a Clarifier used to remove slurry, the Clarifier Structure, accessible Catwalk & Stairs, and a custom Auger for the Clarifier. The most interesting thing about this project was its overall size and the custom auger we built.
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Steel Stack Fabrication
Swanton Welding & Machining was approached by a client from the clean air industry to fabricate 950,000 lbs. of steel stacks. Eight large stacks were fabricated using a variety of processes including rolling, bending, forming and MIG welding. The stacks were fabricated using a combination of material such as, A36 steel and 304 and 409 […]
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Clarifier Tank Project
At Swanton Welding, we have the expertise and resources to meet all your large scale project requirements at our state-of-the-art facility. As your trusted partner in welding and fabrication projects, we are committed to providing exceptional craftsmanship, reliable service, and timely project completion. An example of our capabilities is the recent construction of a sizable […]
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Industrial Conveyor Fabrication
An agricultural industry client approached Swanton Welding & Machining to fabricate twelve, 5,000 lbs conveyor components. Utilizing AutoCAD 2009, we first drafted complete shop fabrication drawings of the component. We then fabricated the 20′ long, 3’6″ high and 8′ wide conveyor section using a CNC beam line, saws, and drills. After fabrication, during which we […]