Sawdust health and safety issues get a lot of attention. But its effect on productivity also merits concern, as evidenced in demo videos showing Royce//Ayr’s new Turbotec dust extracting cutting tool.

Turbotec comprises a tool holder with open-wing design, a fan on the holder and the tool. “When the tool gets up to rpms, the fan creates the vacuum,” explains Scott Burton, marketing manager.

Royce//Ayr says it has tested Turbotec on a variety of CNC machines on many materials such as MCP, MDF, solid wood and wood composites. Videos show a cutting tool with Turbotec contrasted with a conventional head. With the conventional head there is a lot of sawdust piled up in channels cut into panels, suggesting a lot of clean-up before the panel moves into the next stage of production. A circular indent cut into MDF is packed with sawdust after a conventional cutting tool routes it; with Turbotec it is nearly clean when the cut is completed.

Royce//Ayr (RoyceAyr.com) says Turbotec works with standard tooling and has no proprietary restrictions on tool shanks.