shop cyclone vs. dedicated dust collector for drum sander

[Mike Stelts]

I talked to someone who uses a standard 2 Hp dust collector for his drum sander to avoid having to clean the big, hard to access filters in his 5 Hp cyclone. I'm in the same situation, now running spiral duct to a couple final locations which got me thinking... Should I keep my 2 Hp dust collector for the Woodmaster sander? It seems like he had a reasonable argument, since there's always a vacuum in the barrel under the cyclone, so maybe all the fine dust will go straight to the 5 Hp filter instead of the barrel.

Does anybody have any experience with this topic?

Thanks,
Mike

[sean meltvedt]

I do have my woodmaster drum sander connected to my cyclone. It does put most of the dust into the barrel, but after a lot of sanding, I do have to clean the cyclone filters. If I don’t use the sander, I think the filter cleanings would be dramatically reduced. But, the filters do remove the fine dust that a portable bag collector is not going to catch!
cheers
Sean

[Mike Stelts]

Dear Sean,

Thanks very much for your advice. It sparked a different reason for keeping the portable system (Delta 2 Hp, Dust Dog, trash bag inside cloth bag): I can use it to collect the fine dust from the cyclone filters, blasting air on the outside of the cyclone filter and drawing out dust from the 4" duct at the bottom using the Delta. Hopefully, I can avoid dismantling the cyclone filters for cleaning, which is my biggest concern. Since my cyclone is outside the shop, this also frees up some space.

Kind regards,
Mike

[Jim Becker]

The answer to your question is somewhat predicated on how well your particular cyclone separates...some do an excellent job and a sander is handled well enough that there's no general increase in the maintenance schedule for your filters, etc. Some don't separate as well and.... Go with your gut, but if you dedicate the "bagger", consider putting REALLY GOOD filter bags on it because that kind of filtration is necessary for the intended purpose.

[Mike Stelts]

Jim's comment begs the question... Does anyone know how well the PSI separates?

[Andrew More]

Jim's comment begs the question... Does anyone know how well the PSI separates?

Seems like the best answer to that would be to test it yourself, using the intended hook up. Get a set amount of dust, say a few cups full, measure it on an accurate scale, then see what collects in the collection bin, and measure again. I'd guess it's pretty good, in the 99% range, so you might need a lot of saw dust.

[Bruce Lowekamp]

I would say cleaning the DC is secondary. The drum sander is one of the poster children for putting unhealthy amounts of fine dust into the air. You should be using the best filtration you have.

With that said, if one of the aftermarket HEPA filter retrofit kits fits on your 2HP DC, and it's easier to clean, that might be more convenient to clean and not much more expensive than running more spiral pipe to your sander.

Bruce

[Mike Stelts]

For what it's worth, I reached a conclusion without experiment. I will attach the portable DC to the 4" clean-out at the bottom of the cyclone filters. This way I can occasionally clean out the junk that collects in the cyclone filters and use the portable DC to collect dust when I clean the cyclone filters when I spray high pressure on them from the outside. I will also experiment: When I run the Woodmaster sander, I'll turn on the portable DC and see if it collects any sanding dust by pulling it from the cyclone DC.

Having removed the portable DC from my workshop (cyclone DC is in another room), I was staring at the next space hog and had an inspiration. I have an extra Jet air filter ($15 at an auction) sitting on a rolling cart. This will stay in the shop and I'll wheel it up to sanding areas to clean the air more effectively.

Thanks everyone for your kind advice. You kept me thinking about the big picture - clean air.

[sean meltvedt]

Mike that’ll work better than the shop vac I use for the same purpose. A leaf blower is best, a regulated air hose second for cleaning the filters.
Cheers
Sean

[Mike Stelts]

Thanks for the leaf blower idea. I thought I was lucky selling the leaf blower when I moved to a house where the wind conveniently blows my leaves onto the neighbor's yard. Now, I don't feel as lucky.

[Rick Potter]

Your question is exactly why my 3 HP Oneida is direct vent outside. It gets most dust in the barrel, then exhausts outside. I started with the filters, and dumped them after taking it apart once to clean them.

The only time I see evidence of dust being on the building it exhausts against is when I forget to dump the barrel in time.

[Mike Stelts]

That sounds like a good idea; in my case it's unworkable. The cyclone is outside my shop; but, there's another 30 ft. to the barn wall, then there's that 2 ft. stone wall to deal with...
Here's what I ended up with. The second barrel is for when I'm planing and jointing, to make bedding for the animals. Sorry for it being sideways.