How to eliminate dust particles - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Jane
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 08:00:50 am
content: During a repair process I face a dust particle problems ( small dust particles appear on a surface that needs to be clean). I can use air blowing but it is not best( after a moment new dust particles appear again). I have heard there are static eliminators that use ions to eliminate static electricity on the surface. Has anyone use them? Is it a good solution? Or does a better solution exist ?

author: saturation
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 12:44:19 pm
content: Assuming your work environment is dust free and clean already, the #1 source of dust is your skin. This is why bunny suits are worn in clean rooms, to prevent further shedding, those suits aren't sterile. Then to prevent further dust from appearing in your workspace you need at least a hood, as you can also bring in dust from the surface of a new bunny suit or skin shed from your face and hair [ even if you wore a hair cap].There are several levels of being 'clean' : dust free to sterile. It depends on the type of work you do.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleanroom#Cleanroom_classificationsIf all you're looking for is to be tidy, a plug in $60 reusable DIY self service air blower is easiest and cheap in the long run rather than those disposable air canisters.The next is get a portable and movable hood $1000 as above or make one, if you don't need it to conform to industrial specifications. It has the added benefit of being a fume extractor.http://www.filtrationtechnology.com/separative_devices.shtml#top

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 01:08:09 pm
content: If you have to use it often I would built a miniature cleanroom: a large plastick cage with gloves mounted in the plastick (as with biohazzard cages) a one way vent for letting air escape and a pressurized air intake (0,1 bar would suffice) which has an air filter with the required specs (0,5 micron for instance).Open the cage, put all required equipment, tools etc in and pressurize it blowing the dust out, then keep applying the pressure till you are finished with the repair.

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 07:48:35 am
content: Back before hard drives were measured in Tb it was possible to open up a hard drive that had seized so that you could rotate the platters and get it going again. The trick was to do the work in the bathroom (which is normally a low dust environment anyway) with the shower running. Air currents move towards the shower stall due to the Bernoulli effect and take dust particles with them.Just make sure that everything is at the same temperature or condensation will be an issue.

author: G7PSK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 08:05:17 am
content: My father used to be a professional photographer and he had in his darkroom a static dust collector, which was a box containing electrified plats and a fan the plates were charged to a few thousand volts and would attract any dust in the passing air. I would think that similar equipment would do what you want, as long as the source of dust is not too large that is such as a sanding machine or the likes.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 08:47:38 am
content: The only way to stop dust particles landing on the surface is to not have them in the air in the first place. I'm not an expert by any means, but that probably means either an electrostatic precipitator or dust filters.Be aware that electronic components are very sensitive to high voltages. ESD can either instantly destroy a component or can subtly degrade its I/O characteristics leading to reduced operating margin, "flaky" operation and early failure.Clearly electrostatic precipitators are based around high voltages, so you would have to assess that risk.More relevantly, in non-humid atmospheres ESD can be generated by blowing air and dust around. Effectively this is a microscopic version of the ancient way of generating static sparks by rubbing two insulators together. Perhaps surprisingly that effect can also occur while pumping liquids around, and (until the cause was realised) was responsible for aircraft exploding during refulling.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 07:04:48 pm
content: Quote from: mojo-chan on October 01, 2014, 09:42:18 amI remember seeing removable hard disks where the container had a layer of brick dust on top. But then that computer completely filled the owners garage.

author: eliocor
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 07:12:32 pm
content: 210Po

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 08:27:10 pm
content: Quote from: German_EE on October 01, 2014, 07:48:35 amThe recommendation I have seen is to run the shower hot and let the bathroom mist up and then wait for the mist to clear.One place I worked had laminar flow workbenches which worked amazingly well even in an otherwise dusty environment. They also included an ionizer across the full length of the workbench as an antistatic measure.