With the new OSHA Silica Dusts rules getting ever closer there has been a lot of scrambling for manufacturers and users to get the right solutions in place. The good news is the June 23rd deadline has been pushed back 90 days to September 23, 2017 allowing for some more solutions to hit the market. Milwaukee Tool has just announced it will have a new 8 gallon HEPA dust extractor vacuum with self-cleaning filters and 148 CFM out well before the new deadline.
In addition to the new vacuum there will be several available attachments for cutting & grinding up to 5” for use with the vac as well as several options for drilling. The unit is a corded unit so unfortunately not a cordless M18 solution for vacuums to comply with the new OSHA Table 1 rules just yet. For drilling solutions they do have several cordless HammerVac options which will comply (using objective data standards) but for cutting and grinding operations corded solutions look to be the only option.
Milwaukee along with many other manufacturers are certainly working on new cordless solutions to comply for these cutting and grinding applications but the 125+CFM required to meet the demands for many 5” tools is a tall order in a cordless solution. That being said they are most certainly coming!
For those users in Central Ohio, there is a Silica Awareness Event Co-Hosted by Ohio Power Tool and Safex on Wednesday April 26th (7:30-10:00+ am) which will cover some of the basics of Silica on the Jobsite as well as feature products and on-hands demo from Metabo, Bosch, Milwaukee (hopefully will have this new vac on hand), Makita, CS Unitec, Diamond Products and others. Space is limited please contact Zach at 800-224-4424 to register.
