QUESTION ABOUT CLEAN UP??

I use a vacuum.

Don't use an electric vacuum. They can spark. We have a powder coat paint line at work and the only vacuum we use is a pneumatically powered to clean up. It's like throwing flour in a fire with an electric.

Shop vac, if you have a filter in, there's no way a few loose grains will get any where close to the brushes in the motor.

Worst case scenario my wife gets a new vacuum, and/or another spin on the husband wheel
Seriously, I think the vacuum is fine for a few spilled sticks of powder. That's what I do anyway. If I spilled more than that, God forbid, I'd probably gently try to sweep it up with something so as not to create any static.

ok. hearing about not using an electric vacuum because they can spark. With the recommendation to Instead, use a pneumatically powered vacuum peaked my interest. Had never heard of this.

I did a quick search on amazon. This is what I found





As one who has been using an electronic Stanley shop vac , I now have to ask; Who else uses pneumatic shop vacuum to clean up during clean up after reloading?

I use a vacuum too. However, the type of vacuum used is important.

Use the type that has the filter upstream of the motor. The detritus is filtered out prior to entering the motor housing.

I use a portable Oreck; an earlier version of this one -
https://www.amazon.com/Oreck-Commer...hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583451676745326&psc=1

I obtained it at a garage sale for very small money, several years ago.

I use a regular canister vac ,have for many years .

Crazy Horse said:

ok. hearing about not using an electric vacuum because they can spark. With the recommendation to Instead, use a pneumatically powered vacuum peaked my interest. Had never heard of this.

I did a quick search on amazon. This is what I found

View attachment 1026225



As one who has been using an electronic Stanley shop vac , I now have to ask; Who else uses pneumatic shop vacuum to clean up during clean up after reloading?

Click to expand...

We used pnuematic vacs similar to this to vacuum fuel puddles out of empty aircraft fuel tanks before doing entries for maintenance. Sensible in that case.

I use a Fox Tail Brush and a Dust Pan

I use either a shop vac directly, or compressed air to get it on the floor, and then use the shop vac. Good luck.

Sweep it in a loose pile and hit with a torch. Concrete floor maybe 30 grains at most. If it's a lot sweep it up in a pile and throw it on lawn.

I use a vacuum - if the stuff a regular vacuum sucks up circles thru the motor it will not last long. I am no vacuum engineer - I don't think they make them this way.

Industrial/Commerical settings & requirements are different

lordpaxman said:

I use either a shop vac directly, or compressed air to get it on the floor, and then use the shop vac. Good luck.

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+1

I use a Rigid brand shop vac, the contractors portable model. Has before and after filter.
https://www.ridgid.com/us/en/4-gallon-portable-wet-dry-vac
It's pretty hard to set smokeless gun powder off with a static spark so I never worried to much about it. I do keep it cleaned out so if I accidently pick up a live primer, there isn't a concentration of powder in there to make a bomb with because a static spark can set off a primer.
I've sucked them up before and just opened the shop vac to reclaim it. No kabooms so far.

Any spark, and I have been given mighty static zaps with our metal wand at work, isn’t coming from the motor. It’s coming from the debris building the electrical charge in the plastic hose.

I think the biggest fire risk with a vacuum is having the powder sit in the canister or bag out of sight and out of mind, just like other dry combustibles.
It isn’t the seven kernels at the end of the session, it’s the cup and a half over a year of single use dedication. Stockpiling, if you will.

It’s this forgotten danger that bites.
But, who the heck is vacuuming burning embers into a bag full of dog hair and ruining a perfectly good vacuum?
Uncle Dan, that’s who! Dumbest smart guy I know.

But the powder is just bits of graphite covered plastic at relative room pressure of 15psi. Once it is primed to 4-5,000 psi and hit with a flame it becomes what we know and love, BoomJuice!

I am currently looking for a little dust buster thing for my bench. A little cup to empty every time. And small enough I don’t trip over it.

I use a shop vac. Myth Buster tried to get one to explode and they could not. This may be the case when motors and brushes were exposed but not any more.

https://www1.milwaukeetool.com/Prod...ans/Compact-Vacuums/0882-20?bvstate=pg:4/ct:r

that's what I use...and empty after each clean up

Demi-human said:

Any spark, and I have been given mighty static zaps with our metal wand at work, isn’t coming from the motor. It’s coming from the debris building the electrical charge in the plastic hose.

I think the biggest fire risk with a vacuum is having the powder sit in the canister or bag out of sight and out of mind, just like other dry combustibles.
It isn’t the seven kernels at the end of the session, it’s the cup and a half over a year of single use dedication. Stockpiling, if you will.

It’s this forgotten danger that bites.
But, who the heck is vacuuming burning embers into a bag full of dog hair and ruining a perfectly good vacuum?
Uncle Dan, that’s who! Dumbest smart guy I know.

But the powder is just bits of graphite covered plastic at relative room pressure of 15psi. Once it is primed to 4-5,000 psi and hit with a flame it becomes what we know and love, BoomJuice!

I am currently looking for a little dust buster thing for my bench. A little cup to empty every time. And small enough I don’t trip over it.

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I agree with your observations because they agree with what I already believe

Did myth busters ever test this issue?

Most of us have read or heard of this admonition to not vacuum loose powder (the lawyers put it on powder containers and websites but don’t say why), but who among us has actually drilled into why?

It’s apparent from this thread (and all the scores of others on this topic here and on other forums over the decades) we each presume we know why to not use a vacuum.

Two primary camps—1) sparks from the motor are bad and boom there goes the neighborhood as powder goes whisking by and 2) powder accumulates in the canister or bag over time and we end up with a pound of powder we forgot about.

I’m of the second camp because I have tried and tried to ignite small amounts of powder with sparks and static electricity (outdoors) and simply cannot do it. (I say small amounts and outside because my mother didn’t raise a fool.).

These are not scientific experiments I admit and wonder if there are any such tests we can see/read to confirm or refute our already formed opinions.

Blue68f100 said:

I use a shop vac. Myth Buster tried to get one to explode and they could not. This may be the case when motors and brushes were exposed but not any more.

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I can’t find a myth busters video on YouTube. Have you?

I keep a soft paint brush and a small dust pan on my reloading bench to clean up small spills. Any that makes it to the floor is sucked up with a Venturi type (think Dyson) vacuum that isolates the dirt stream from the motor. I have been reloading for 60 years and have had no issues with sucking up powder with a vacuum. Primers are another issue. Kirby type vacuums run the dirty air through the impeller and a primer impacting the impeller can detonate and damage the impeller, ask me how I know. This was years ago, a primer had bounced under some furniture, I now inspect the area much more closely and don’t use the Kirby.

https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DCV581H-20-Volt-Cordless-Wet-Dry/dp/B00DD1UQ3Y/ref=sr_1_3?crid=29L8EONU3A9VH&dchild=1&keywords=dewalt+vacuum&qid=1631973045&s=automotive&sprefix=dewalt+va,automotive,193&sr=1-3
A bit spendy, but 1,001 uses, including powder clean up

I'm lazy. I use the air compressor to blow everything off the machines and benches onto the floor and out from under the shelves and from the corners. When all the crap is blown out into the room.......I run the Roomba. Then I pick through the Roomba bin and recover whatever good stuff I dropped...locating pins, bullets, primers...all kinds of goodies end up in there.

Any reloader who cares about having the best equipment uses a brass (no spark) vintage crumb brush to tidy up!