Grizzly Cyclone Filter brush question

[mike mcilroy]

I am about to attach the filter to the cyclone and I tried moving the brush by using the cables but it wouldn't budge. Is there a pulley that the cable could have slipped off in shipping. Don't want to tear it apart if I don't have to. I'll email Grizzly tonight when I get home from work. This computer won't let me.:(

[glenn bradley]

Even after years of use, the pull on the brush is pretty substantial. One time I overfilled my bin and had to remove the filter to clean it. Moving the brush with the filter unmounted was nearly impossible. I'm not a big guy at about 180lbs but, when operating the brush, I squat by the filter, grab the handle and pull with my body weight to get the brush to start down. It is only a little less effort to get it to reverse and go back up. I generally run it up and down 3 - 4 times whenever I empty the barrel and using a mirror and flashlight to look up into the filter from below, it appears to do a pretty fair job.

[mike mcilroy]

Thanks Glenn, maybe I'll have better luck when its mounted. I've just been trying while balancing it on the floor. By the way when I looked inside the filter the bristles of the brush seemed to be bent on the ridge of the pleat instead of straight between the pleats do you recall how yours appeared?

[glenn bradley]

Mine were actually bent pretty much as you describe. This is what makes it hard to get the brush started in the other direction once it has made it to one end of the filter. The bristles are flexed slightly down for example and you want to make the brush back up. It kind of like petting a porcupine the wrong direction if you get my drift. Then the bristles will finally bend back the other way and you can draw the brush down and repeat the little "ooph" to get them to bend back the other way.

[Rick Moyer]

Mine were actually bent pretty much as you describe. This is what makes it hard to get the brush started in the other direction once it has made it to one end of the filter. The bristles are flexed slightly down for example and you want to make the brush back up. It kind of like petting a porcupine the wrong direction if you get my drift. Then the bristles will finally bend back the other way and you can draw the brush down and repeat the little "ooph" to get them to bend back the other way.
Glenn, is there a right way to pet a porcupine? :D

[glenn bradley]

Glenn, is there a right way to pet a porcupine? :D

Ah, so the analogy gave the proper mental image! :D:D:D

[mike mcilroy]

Got the filter attached today. Filter brush would not move. I'm 265 and way almost hanging off the handles. The red grip portion actually slid off the handle part way.
After laying on the floor and looking inside I was able to twist the brush assembly so the brushes lined up with the pleats , now the brush glides smoothly with just a little effort. It must have been installed on Friday at @ 4:45 pm;)

[Ed McEowen]

The brush in my Grizzly filter was always very difficult to get moving, and after a couple of years impossible. I removed the filter element recently to clean it (with a water hose) and found the cable frayed and about to break completely. The pleats of the element were totally caked with sawdust and it took a lot of work, and water, to get the filter clean. I permanently removed the whole brush mechanism and resolved to manually clean the filter at least once a year. The pressure of the water didn't hurt the element at all and, with persistence, yielded a pretty clean filter.

[mike mcilroy]

I think that after todays adjustment with the little amount of effort needed to pull the cable now that fraying should not be an issue. However if there is an increase in resistance I now how something else to look into. Thanks for the tip about cleaning with the hose.
How difficult is it to remove the filter from the cage, I didn't really look at that today while I was rolling around on the shop floor.

[John C Bush]

I had the same issue with mine. I removed the brush and remove the filter canister regularly and blow it out with a backpack style leaf blower. Nuts are attached inside the canister and it was a PITA holding the filter up and trying to align the bolts thru the support brackets down into the threads of the attached nuts, so I threaded the bolts from the inside-out so I can lift the canister and the now attached bolts are easy to align with the brackets. Much easier to thread the nuts onto the bolts.The cyclone is in an attached shed with limited room to wrestle with the canister. The filter seems to get clogged easily--- I've been wondering if there is too much vacuum and maybe leaving another gate open would help the finer particulates drop out in the cyclone. I mill a lot of rough stock and use a drum sander a bit so there is lot of sawdust. Any suggestions??

[mike mcilroy]

I didn't have too much trouble putting the canister on the brackets. I just lifted it high enough to get one bolt started then added the gasket and other bolts.
With that said and knowing what I could do a year and a half ago and what I might not be able to do in a couple of years that is a great tip for modifying the filter/ bracket attachment.
It would be excellent to hear about whether it would help the fines drop out better by leaving a gate open/partially open. This is my first cyclone so I would love to know too.

[Jim Andrew]

John B, I'd look at all the gaskets and look for leaks. I was having that trouble,and found a leak between the blower and the cyclone. Different brand, but it was filling my filter regularly, and since cleaning up, cauling between the joints, hardly any dust gets into my filter, and I have an edge sander and small wide belt. Amazing to see that fine dust in the barrel.

[glenn bradley]

Got the filter attached today. Filter brush would not move. I'm 265 and way almost hanging off the handles. The red grip portion actually slid off the handle part way.
After laying on the floor and looking inside I was able to twist the brush assembly so the brushes lined up with the pleats , now the brush glides smoothly with just a little effort. It must have been installed on Friday at @ 4:45 pm;)

Great info Mike. I wouldn't have considered that.

[mike mcilroy]

Update on this problem
After thinking I had this solved the problem came back. I again turned the assembly from the bottom and was good ... for 3 pulls of the handles. I ended up taking both the outlet flex hose and the lower collection bag off to watch the brush assembly. I first noticed that the guide from top to bottom is a square tube and the brush assembly was twisting and wedging "locked" on this guide bar.




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After resetting it work for 3 more pulls. I then noticed the tines of the brush were not between the filters pleats but were bent around the inner diameter of the pleats in a pinwheel fashion not up and down.







I straightened them all by hand and putting them between the pleats the brush assembly worked the easiest it has ever worked...

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for 3 pulls then jammed again. The brushes tines ended up in the same position so I fixed them again with the exact same result.


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I think when this was assembled the brush assembly was twisted or jammed in the filter incorrectly then sat that way until I got it and the tines became permanently bent and that's why it rotating the assembly until it jams.
I took some before and after photos and sent them to Grizzly and they have replied saying they will ship a new one( brush assembly) at no cost. Glad this occurred while under warranty.
With that said if you are having the same problem at least you can try to get a new brush assembly.


The second pic is supposed to be the brushes lined up properly there is a better pic in the manual but I can't figure out how to get it here.

[Steve Peterson]

Glenn, is there a right way to pet a porcupine? :D

Yes, there is a right way to pet a porcupine. The quills only have barbs on one side, so you can pet in one direction, but not the other way.

Steve