Dust collector system help ...

[FOMOGO]

Getting ready to plane down a bunch of lumber, and looking for tips on setting up a portable for now system. Opinions on integrating a cyclone, and 20/30gal trash can into the system, and final out filtering, or just run it outside. This is what I'm working with. Thanks, Mike

 

[cathead]

Mike,

My 20 inch Oliver sits in the shop with a vane fan(4 inch inlet and outlet) mounted on the ceiling right above it. I open the
shop window and blow the chips outside when it is in use. While it not may be the best setup, it does quite effectively
get rid of the chips. I could also add 20 feet of sewer pipe to get the chips into the woods a bit. So tell me Mike, what
is the purpose of the cyclone thing? What kind of wood are you planing? I remember trying using the planer with a 40 gallon
Craftsman vacuum and it was filled with chips very quickly. How about some photos?

 

[Martin W]

You can make a two stage dust collector by adding a cyclone before the dust collector into a garbage can or stell drum. You need a fair bit of suction especially if you are planning soft woods. We only collect shavings if they a very dusty like Oak, Walnut or Cedar. The rest like pine, just gets run into a pile and swept up afterwords.
If the weather is nice, maybe you could plane it outside and use the shavings as mulch, or fire starter for a wood stove or fire pit.
Martin

 

[jwmelvin]

The cyclones I have used on a shop vac and whole-house vac are great. I’d definitely want one for dust collection. But if you can exhaust outside then it’s not a concern really. I have a similar 1-1.5 hp blower that I’ll use with external venting when the temperatures are good for that.

 

[mikey]

Planers and jointers create huge amounts of chips so you're going to be emptying whatever you come up with, often. I have a Super Dust Deputy between the working machine and my Jet dust collector and it works really well. I rarely have to clean the Jet; just empty the Dust Deputy bin. Keeps most of the dust out of the air and the shop stays clean.

 

[Gnpenning]

I use a couple versions of the cyclone. A small portable for my chop saw a portable table saw. A 30 gallon that can be portable as well that I used as my main shop one until I bought a whole shop system. They all work great for what I use them for.

The whole shop one during warm weather after the cyclone I duct outside thru a dryer in the wall, hardly anything comes out of it.

Warm weather and if you have the place to do it, blowing it outside works.

Those bags as they get clogged with fine particles become clogged and reduce efficiency. Think of it as a air pump, to get anything in you need to be able to push it out the other side. Cyclones help be keeping the filters cleaner.

 

[FOMOGO]

I have have around 170' of 4quarter thick x 11" wide spruce siding that was custom made with a sort of scalloped finish on one side, and relief cuts on the other. I don't like the stain color, so I want to plane it down to get rid of the color, which should leave me 3/4" material, that I will be using for trim material around the inside garage, and man doors, and for capping additional metal wainscoting like that in the welding, and machine shop areas. The material was free so I figure its worth a little labor. Going to run a short piece through the planer to see how it goes. Might try blowing it into the back of the truck. Then I could just shovel it into the fire pit and burn it. Thanks for the replies.

How about some photos?

 

[MikeInOr]

My 2hp Jet dust collector is very similar to yours. I have been using it on my 15" planer for years and it does fine in its default configuration without a cyclone. I picked a 5hp blower mounted on top of a nice cyclone that came out of a wood shop the was closing. I haven't looked it up yet but look forwards to plumbing the woodworking side of the shop!

 

[woodchucker]

Use solid pipe as much as possible, the corrugated or expanding pipe reduce airflow, and that's a light duty unit.
I have a Thien cyclone that I made. Simple.

J. Phil Thien's Cyclone Separator Lid w/ the Thien Cyclone Separator Baffle

www.jpthien.com

Mine is working great. I have a small DC like yours. It was given to me, it's a JET, and unfortunately it was built incorrectly. It was built so that the chips came in on top of the baffle so most wound up stick to the upper bag. I broke the welds and moved the baffle to the top, re-welded it.
I went to a plastic bag bottom, and a 1 micron bag topside.

I used 4 inch PVC pipe, and made myself a ply top. I have 2 collectors, one for 4" pipe, and one for 2" pipe. The 2" is attached to most small tools, miter, sander, drill press, bandsaw. The bandsaw also has a 4" at the bottom, 2" at the table.. Planer, Jointer, are dedicated 4"
All have gates attached.
The Thien collector works very efficiently. Cost to make back then $32 for the can, and a few bucks for the pipe, elbows. Works unbelieveable. For the 2" units it will collapse the can, so I added stiffners to the inside of the can, and created a pressure relief valve..

 

[f350ca]

Most dust collector systems suck the shavings through the cyclone, so you have to use a ridged barrel to collect in. I had a 2 hp portable one that blew the shavings into the normal two bag filter setup. I tried to make a cyclone separator but never could get it to work right so I bought one from Oneida, they don't sell it anymore, 6 inch inlet and 8 inch outlet. I blow the shavings into it and use heavy duty clear bags on the bottom of the cyclone. the bag puffs up REALLY hard but the shavings go into a bag thats easy to change. Had filter bags after the cyclone to catch the fines. This shop didn't have room for the filter bags so the air just blows into the shop off the cyclone, surprisingly little dust comes out. Until you over fill the bag, then the shavings come out the top of the cyclone.

Greg