Large chip production and dust collection

[Highland Pairos]

As I am waiting for the delivery of my dust collector, I have been planning out the piping runs and the upgrades that I will be making. I already have a Wynn filter here waiting for it. I have been thinking about the need for a separator this whole time. My understanding is that there are two primary reasons for a separator. One is to reduce the frequency of bag changes, the second is to protect the impeller and the filter from sizeable chips coming through and damaging one or both. In the couple of weeks since I got my new machines (TS, jointer and planer) I have noticed that none of them produce chips that seem to be potential sources of damage to my DC. The TS produces mostly dust, as expected, and the jointer and planer produce mostly fluffy shavings.

My question is what kind of machines or what kind of operations produce the kind of chips that will damage a DC?

SteveP.

[Patriarch]

"Highland Pairos" wrote in news:VHQXd.50$ [e-mail]:

Floor sweeps.

Band saws.

Drill press chip collection, perhaps.

The table saw sometimes sucks in thin offcuts, which I would prefer to stop, prior to their wedging themselves in the overhead ducting.

Before I redid my system, with a trash can cyclone. I found also that picking up hand plane curlies with a wand on a hose tended to cause said curlies to wrap themselves around the impeller (fan).

All good reasons to spend either a couple of hours, and/or $50, and buy/build a seperator.

Patriarch

[Highland Pairos]

I do plan to buy/build a separator at some point, probably a cyclone unit. I am going to run 6" from the impeller to the machines, so that kind of kills the use of a trash can unit.

SteveP.

[Woodchuck34]

SteveP,

I haven't noticed any problems with impeller damage. I do use a zero clearance insert on the TS which probably does as much as anything to reduce the problem.

I also noticed no problems with chips on the Jointer and Planer. I do make very small incremental passes on both though.

The biggest problem I have faced has been the shaving from the Jointer and Planer, clogging the tube from the DC. I use a Delta unit that I hook up to each machine when I run them. Without a seperater on these machines, its almost impossible to run without clogging the DC.

I made a very simple seperater. It is a small Rubbermaid toughneck trash can with 2 holes (1 for input, 1 for output) and a section of PVC pipe. Then I screwed a board across the can near the input side. Works like a charm.

Chuck