Rant, do all dust collectors just #@*#

[Patrick Walsh]

Lots of good thoughts. Namely the air lock as I have no idea what one is so I’ll have to google my Brains out on that then ask more questions later.

You know I get the volume thing and having to empty on the regular baring being able to send the crap outside into a dumpster. I’d love that but you know it ain’t gonna happen.

At work I’ll easily empty a 55 gallon drum twice in a hour milling stock for doors face frames whatever. Yeah I hate pre dimensioned stock.

At home however it’s rare I’ll mill for more than a hour at a time, once in a while maybe a couple hours but that’s only a few times a year. So you know two 55 gallon drums would be the sweet spot. Thirty five gallons would never work for me. Two of those Harvey units might be viable but thats more space and money than I want to spend. Might as well jus buy a AL-KO for that price point I bet.

Fact is I like to be very very clean at home. I huff enough dust 40 hrs hours a week at work. Enough I’m pretty sure it will be what kills me. When I’m home I want my Woodworking to be zen like and nothing takes my zen. Away more than a mess. I believe at least for me that ones workspace is a reflection of their mental state. I like cool calm organized systematic executed with carful intention.

My new god should be interesting in this regard as I was told dust is the enemy of a pipe organ so a clean shop is paramount. Not sure what they do other than “ being neat” as they don’t have fancy equipment. So you know if I’m gonna be able to be all anal retentive clean at work my home situation just ain’t gonna fly the way it is with this RL poc..

Sometimes a mess can’t be avoided but you know a constant mess as result of faulty equipment is what I’m trying to fix. I’m ok with maintaining something “emptying the bins before full” other than that though I don’t want to think about it. The questions are because I have used a little bit of everything and I pretty much see all of them can be problematic. I don’t want to spend more money only to find myself in the same place again. I just don’t have money to throw away.

Sounds like if I could put a cyclone outside with a monitor inside I’d be golden. But my yard space is limited as I live on a 5500 sq ft lot and my neighbors are no more than 20’ away. I often work late at night and early in the morning and I don’t want to get complaints. I could make the enclosure sound proof but still the space and eye sore won’t fly for me as I like the outside of my house to be well nice.

So I guess air lock and cyclone it is or maybe AL-KO although I still am not thrilled to spend $10 plus on a dust collector.

[Patrick Walsh]

So who wants to buy a lightly used R125. It’s one sweet piece of equipment lol and I’ll give it to you for a Sind hahaah..

[peter gagliardi]

The rotary airlock is for industrial sized equipment with lots of room under it. Don't think it would be doable with your limitations.
Sorry to say, but everything is pointing you to a move to a more realistic shop space, ideally above ground and not backed up to neighbors.
If a move is for real, I would not invest any real money in another "make do" solution now.
I have none of those issues- I am a full mile from ANYONE else, and my 7500 cfm cyclone is outside, about 25' tall, with a hopper under it. Back a truck under and dump- the horse farmer handles it all himself for the shavings.
My system vents to outside.
Full suction always.
When its full, I can see some chips being exhausted out the back window. I call the farmer, the problem goes away.
Of course I am running a full time shop.
But you have industrial class machines, and larger and more projects than a typical hobby setup. You need to set yourself up for your reality, and soon, or just keep suffering....
I do not disagree with the suffering in general.
One thing my kids know- my saying to them- " Suffering is good! Suffering is necessary! It helps you realize when things are good, and builds character! "

[Patrick Walsh]

Peter I couldn’t agree with you more especially the last part. If it’s all good all the time we tend to get complacent and take for granted what we do have. Most all of us are so fortunate in so many ways we never stop to agnolage.

As for moving it’s realistic. Gotta see about this job. If it’s good then I’m going to have some serious thinking to do As happiness and fulfillment in my vocation is very very important to me.

But you know geography I think may play equally into my overall happiness so you know I just gotta figure it out.

The funny thing is with me and and at least my home shop I see myself as a hobby woodworker. I guess it’s because I approach all my work from the angle of enjoying all of it and always wanting to do my very best if and when allowed.

I’ll keep at it with the phase converter as I’m pretty sure where ever I go I’m not gonna have three phase power as if I go I want to be pretty much on the moon. But when I go I will without a doubt have plenty of space. At this point I also will want a metal shop so now I’m up to 3500 sq ft from what was a want for 2500 for Woodworking. I really do think just a huge metal building in a slab with huge plate glass windows floor to ceiling for like $1500-2k of living space then pure functional shop space for another 3500 sq ft for a total of like 5-6k sq ft. Just gotta make sure it’s what I really want as I suspect a setup like that would be hard to sell if I even wanted to leave.

[Jim Becker]

The primary thing that a rotary air lock provides is the ability to get material from the cyclone "out" for disposal constantly without breaking the required 100% air seal necessary to prevent blow-by past the separator and without shutting the system down. They are pointed at high volume operations that can't stop to change/empty the bin.

The bottom line here...ANY form of dust collector has disadvantages and "pains in the posterior" that come with them. For those of us with cyclones...overfilling the bin and then stuffing the filter is one of them. But that's not the fault of the system most of the time...it's the fault of human error in not paying attention or ignoring the blinking light if there's an indicator. The RL type system has advantages and disadvantages, too. It's easy on headroom for sure. But it still needs to be cleaned out and emptied. Most of the urgency for both of these systems in that respect is when we are using the jointer and planer which produces prodigious amounts of material really fast. I can easily fill my 55 gallon drum in 15-20 minutes if I'm working wide material. (which is typical of me, too) How fast depends upon the species, too...some comes off in smaller chips and some comes off in very fluffy shavings which pile up darn fast and don't compress on their own in the bin.

If I lived in a place where I could exhaust outside without significantly affecting my HVAC, I'd do that. But I don't. Hot and sticky in the summer and cold enough in the winter to make it impractical to vent outside. For your area, winter would be the challenge, but the way things are going...summers aren't getting any cooler...and your shop is physically in your home.

[Patrick Walsh]

What do they say high expectations and champagne taste on a beer budget lol. No wonder I have carpal tunnel I’m always working so I can have what I want.

I think you know if I find I don’t leave I’ll have to do something. I was thinking of breaking through my floor and pouring a trench down. Honestly before the front porch went on I was considering extending my basement into my front yard and panting lawn over it.

I’ll have to hold tight. Live with the crap RL probably amend my use of it to cleaning it everyday including maybe taking the front panel off and blowing the filter back down into the bin. Maybe that will work maybe it won’t.

In the meantime I’ll see how the Harvey units work for people. If I stay I could see putting two of them side by side and having a bench built over them with room for them to breath. Expensive but imma very patient person till I’m not and I just don’t have it in me for the aggravation of a the RL and I don’t have the height for a cyclone. Maybe the 3000 series with two 55 gallon drums could work? The idea of the Uber quiet Harvey is attractive.

The primary thing that a rotary air lock provides is the ability to get material from the cyclone "out" for disposal constantly without breaking the required 100% air seal necessary to prevent blow-by past the separator and without shutting the system down. They are pointed at high volume operations that can't stop to change/empty the bin.

The bottom line here...ANY form of dust collector has disadvantages and "pains in the posterior" that come with them. For those of us with cyclones...overfilling the bin and then stuffing the filter is one of them. But that's not the fault of the system most of the time...it's the fault of human error in not paying attention or ignoring the blinking light if there's an indicator. The RL type system has advantages and disadvantages, too. It's easy on headroom for sure. But it still needs to be cleaned out and emptied. Most of the urgency for both of these systems in that respect is when we are using the jointer and planer which produces prodigious amounts of material really fast. I can easily fill my 55 gallon drum in 15-20 minutes if I'm working wide material. (which is typical of me, too) How fast depends upon the species, too...some comes off in smaller chips and some comes off in very fluffy shavings which pile up darn fast and don't compress on their own in the bin.

If I lived in a place where I could exhaust outside without significantly affecting my HVAC, I'd do that. But I don't. Hot and sticky in the summer and cold enough in the winter to make it impractical to vent outside. For your area, winter would be the challenge, but the way things are going...summers aren't getting any cooler...and your shop is physically in your home.

[Brian Behrens]

I have none of the problems listed in this thread. I'm using a Clearvue CV1800, with no filters, it's vented through the wall of my shop. I couldn't be happier with it. I have no neighbors however - and it is LOUD outside. Don't try this if you have neighbors that would care about the noise.

[Patrick Walsh]

Yeah we used to vent our cyclone out the window at work. Being on the fourth floor or was pretty funny when it would overfill.

Only issue we had was people complaining of chips and dust on their cars at the end of the day lol..

I have none of the problems listed in this thread. I'm using a Clearvue CV1800, with no filters, it's vented through the wall of my shop. I couldn't be happier with it. I have no neighbors however - and it is LOUD outside. Don't try this if you have neighbors that would care about the noise.