Grizzly GO 442 cyclone dust collector -filters....

I am wondering how bag filters work with a cyclone. My filters are plugged up at this point,after about 4 years of use. I am using this dust collector in a small (2 man)cabinet shop. I work about half the year in my shop but am gradually working more and more in the shop heading towards full time. My collector runs about half a day on average when I am in the shop. Machines hooked up : Sliding t.s.,cabinet saw, 20 planer,16 jointer,two shapers,edge sander,edge bander,2 bandsaws etc. Usually two machines running at the same time at most. I have a drum sander that gets used sparingly. I am looking at getting bags made by American Filter Fabric or a similar source. I would like anyone with experience to let me know how good these work. I have a 16' high ceiling so am looking to get tall bags made. I am thinking of cutting down a couple of barrels to catch dust and having the bags cinch over these drums. Would it be a good idea to have the discharge of the cyclone into a plywood box to help protect the bags ? More of a baghouse set up. Also is it possible to clean the spun polyester filters that are on my Grizzly now? I am talking about taking it apart and washing etc.trying to restore it. Or is that just a waste of time ? Lately the collector has way higher back pressure,I have noticed that more fines are ending up in my bags under the filters. Also the plastic bags themselves are very taut when the collector is running. Air movement out of the filters is reduced significantly from what I remember when this was first put in use.Could there be another issue here as well that causes some of these problems?

I run an AFF bag on one of my DC’s. It works very well. Based on the size for my 1 HP unit your bag(s) may be quite large. Use their CFM-to-bag size calculator to get an idea.

Yes you can clean the filter. Air not exceeding 60psi from the outside works well. Fanning the air so the pleats flutter loosening the dust and the air flow carries it out. Air nozzle should not be closer than 10-12” to the filter.

Take this for what it is worth as I don't have any experience with pleated dust filters on dust collectors
For blowing out/ cleaning air filters on diesel engines on farm and construction equipment we use a blow gun with a pipe attachment with multiple holes drilled in it. You insert the pipe in the middle of the filter and trigger the air, which blows in all directions at the same time. Rotate the filter slowly and the dust gets blown out. Need enough holes so that the air pressure is not great enough to damage the filters, as it is very expensive to "dust" an engine and have to rebuild it.
good luck
Ron

Hi Mike,
I have the G0440-2hp model --!0 yrs+--and am using the original filter. When the vacuum level seems to drop I unhook the filter and use the leaf blower to clean it out. The unit had the built in "brush on a cable" set up but it never worked well for me. Full disclosure--my DC is in an attached shed that exhausts outside so I don't have to worry about recycled air or filter efficiency. I would try cleaning the filter you have and see if that gets your vac pressure where you want it. I reversed the bolts up thru the threaded insert on the top of the filter and attach with nuts--much easier than lining up the holes to thread the bolts in. Not sure of regular maintenance needs for bags but the pleated filter blowout only takes 20-30 min. Good luck, JCB

Yesterday I took both filters off my machine and pulled them apart. They were plugged up badly.After finding my owners manual I took a garden hose to the filters,it took me over an hour to clean them out. I let them dry in the sun and slight breeze and reassembled everything. The difference is unbelievable. The bags at bottom of filters are soft instead of puffed out hard,machine is quieter and the air movement/suction is about 2-3 times stronger. I was not using the brush system because of different things I had read about that being bad for my filters. Compressed air does not seem to work very well on my filters either,I tried blowing one before I pulled it out to see how well it worked. I also discovered that I had a leak in my system at the intake. Grizzly shipped a reducer from 10" to 8" with my collector. I had somehow missed silicone on this joint. I used a lit mosquito coil with the collector running to find this leak.