# An interesting experience



## Murphy's Law (Dec 15, 2011)

In my previous life I worked for a mechanical engineering company. We specialized in the design and testing of dust and fume control systems for heavy industry.

In 1991 my partner and I went to gather data to bid on a design near Kazan, Russia. We flew into Moscow and drove forever to the east to get to Kazan. We always liked to go on these kinds of adventures as we were getting paid a handsome amount of money to provide an engineering report and a cost estimate for the design and a cost estimate for construction.

The factory was a wood furniture manufacturer and it was without a doubt the dustiest, nastiest, woodshop I have ever seen. It was a 4 story concrete building with lots of woodworking equipment on all floors. There were many areas in the shop where the sawdust was 6" to 12" deep. They had a young man with a push type squeegee to push the debris to a hole in each floor and the chips and dust would fall to the next lower level. At the 2nd floor level they had a 60"??? blower with a hopper and duct connection to the fan inlet. The hopper was under the holes in the upper floors. The discharge of the fan went through the exterior wall on a 45° angle down toward the ground outside. There was a man-made pond under the fan discharge to collect the dust and chips. About once a month they would run a bulldozer through the pond and push the wet mess into trucks to haul away. The dust and chips went to farmers in the area for their fields. I would guess that 50% to 60% of the fine dust was carried away with the breeze. There was a mile long footprint of yellow dust downstream of the prevailing wind. The area where the dust settled was old broken concrete chunks, trash, weeds, and rough gravel (about 100 acres).

After 3 explosions in the plant they decided they needed some expertise and the Russian government contacted the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. ACGIH contacted us because we wrote most of their design handbook. I took about 80 photographs to document our findings for the report and to determine a cost for the engineering. When we went through customs in Moscow all of my pictures were taken away from me.

About 4 weeks into the report we received notice that the plant had blown up and there was no need for the report. 2 people died in the fire that followed. Luckily we got paid in full. A very interesting trip indeed. The Russian folks we met there were wonderful and very hospitable. There were parts of the country side that were beautiful but technology was severely lacking in their manufacturing.

Does this sound like any of our DC systems? :blink:


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## MastersHand (Nov 28, 2010)

Wow glad you weren't there. No I'm fortunate to have a great set up that I put a lot of time and money into ensuring it efficient and safe

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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Sounds like something from locked up abroad.


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## MastersHand (Nov 28, 2010)

Dominick said:


> Sounds like something from locked up abroad.


Lol love that show . Hey remember when we swallowed the balloons of hash and forgot to wash are hands in between. We were so messed up when we got to the Airport . That was Nuts

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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Oh yea I'm still recovering from that. Lol


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## joesbucketorust (Dec 13, 2011)

Murphy's Law said:


> I They had a young man with a push type squeegee to push the debris to a hole in each floor and the chips and dust would fall to the next lower level.


If I ever build a second story onto my workshop I'm going to have to incorporate this idea.


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## Murphy's Law (Dec 15, 2011)

joesbucketorust said:


> If I ever build a second story onto my workshop I'm going to have to incorporate this idea.


You should have seen the cloud of dust when he pushed the pile into the hole. Unbelievable!


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