Simple trash can separator and a surprise

[Richard Dooling]

Thanks to Steve Schlumpf for mentioning that he uses a trash can lid style separator on his DC. I have the same DC and had read that at 1hp it was too weak to work well as a two stage setup. It seems to work fine and I guess that I'm benefiting from the very short pipe runs.

Seems like I read that the DC collection bags reduce performance if they get too full. Since only the finer material goes to the DC bag, that doesn't need to be emptied nearly as often. The trash can is a lot easier to empty than the bag.

It was past time to give the filter cartridge a good cleaning and to my surprise I found a plastic grocery bag inside that had been blocking a fair bit of the filter. Potentially up to about a square foot depending on how it got thrown against the cartridge wall when the blower was turned on.

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[Steve Schlumpf]

Glad the separator is working for you! I haven't found a plastic bag yet but can usually find a few blue sanding disks! :D

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I use a shop vac just for the sanding dust, the filter in the shop vac was clogging up quite fast with then the airflow going down considerably, I bought the Dust Deputy and to keep this mobile with a small footprint, mounted that on top of my shop vac.

It works as well as one can expect with the problems of trying to capture the sanding dust from sanding turnings, the filter just doesn’t get clogged up for a long time as the Dust Deputy takes almost all the dust out of the air and the little that remains is separated in the Shop Vac.

I got a picture here that is actually part of a larger picture of my shop, and so the quality is quite bad, but you can see the setup, good enough if one wants to go this route.

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[Lamar Wright]

Very nice system Leo.

[Richard Dooling]

That looks like R2-D2's ancestor Leo. Very clever!

[Al Launier]

Nice setup Leo, very creative and very space conservative. My immediate response was to incorporate your idea. I have a small shop and use the long length of shop vacuum hose & the hose length on the Dirt Devil (also set up on a base with casters) to provide the reach I need.

However, I'm going to pursue your concept thinking a shorter vacuum hose to the Dirt Devil will increase performance while a longer power cord mounted on a rotating drum attached to the assembly would be less bulky while giving the reach I need.

Thanks for posting - great idea!

[Robert Willing]

Richard

After seeing your setup reminds of the cyclone dust/chip separator that I made about 5 or 6 years ago. http://www.woodworkersworkshop.com/store/index.php?app=ccp0&ns=prodshow&ref=31_MD_00068 I made this one and hung it from my shop wall. I have a 1.5 hp Delta unit that it hooked up to and I take care of my complete shop. I also like Leo's idea for an individual vacuum. I am going to duplicate that one for my shop vac. I like his bungy cords to hold it on top.

I also have two dust deputies from Rockler with expandable hoses that service my miter saw and table saw, one that services my planer and drum sander. So on my system I have dust/chip collection at miter saw, table saw, lathe, oscillating spindle sander, router table, drill press, band saw, and floor pick up wand. The planer and drum sander are serviced with my floor pick up. All my gates are the metal self cleaning ones from Blast Gate. I use my floor pick up to pick up chaveing from in and around my lathe when I am done.

[Bill Berklich]

I use a shop vac just for the sanding dust, the filter in the shop vac was clogging up quite fast with then the airflow going down considerably, I bought the Dust Deputy and to keep this mobile with a small footprint, mounted that on top of my shop vac.



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Like it -gotta build it - thanks

[Richard Dooling]

All my gates are the metal self cleaning ones from Blast Gate.

That brings up a good point. I've wondered how inefficient the cheap plastic gates are. Are the pricier metal ones worth the money? Of course I only have two gates for this setup.

[Robert Willing]

The gates for 4" are around 16.00, but I got tired of wood chip hanging up in the bottom of the plastic ones that why I got the self cleaning ones. The gates also have a nice thumb screw to hold the gate open. They leak (the plastic ones) when the gate no longer closes all the way. I have not seen a self cleaning one in plastic. They could all provide a bigger flange to connect your tubing to IMO.

[Robert Willing]

For what it is worth Menards sometime has the Onida on sale.

[Ricc Havens]

I use a shop vac just for the sanding dust, the filter in the shop vac was clogging up quite fast with then the airflow going down considerably, I bought the Dust Deputy and to keep this mobile with a small footprint, mounted that on top of my shop vac.

It works as well as one can expect with the problems of trying to capture the sanding dust from sanding turnings, the filter just doesn’t get clogged up for a long time as the Dust Deputy takes almost all the dust out of the air and the little that remains is separated in the Shop Vac.

I got a picture here that is actually part of a larger picture of my shop, and so the quality is quite bad, but you can see the setup, good enough if one wants to go this route.

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Leo - any chance of getting a better photo of the dust hood set up at the lathe for collecting the sanding dust?

Thanks
Ricc

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Leo - any chance of getting a better photo of the dust hood set up at the lathe for collecting the sanding dust?

Thanks
Ricc

Rick I just made a picture of the dust “Funnel” as it isn’t really a funnel but I took a plastic sheet that the realtor left at our place,as she and her husband moved to Australia, she had no use for it anymore.

I cut and then made it tapering in and the opening is one of the shop vac’s accessory ends, the dust collecting is a difficult thing with woodturning sanding, it does collect dust as it shows up in the 5 gallon pail, I don’t think I will ever catch it all, so I keep it simple and easy to hang down and move out of the way.

I also made a better picture of the shop vac with the dust deputy.

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[Ricc Havens]

Thanks Leo!!