"Unboxing" - Harvey G700 DC

[Thomas Wilson]

Remind me, Thomas...where did you scarf the rugs from?

This is actually a somewhat serious request because the source for all my existing anti-fatigue mats isn't within my shopping domain anymore for personal reasons.

The one in center foreground is from Home Depot. The other five are from a discount oriental rug importer in Atlanta,

https://www.pacificrugs.net/

I had been looking at online sources like esalerugs.com but wanted to seen the rugs in person. I just happened on Pacific Rugs while out on an errand in Atlanta. Good company, nice people. The Turkish made polypropylene oriental rugs are widely available, lowes, rugs.com, etc. The choices are overwhelming.

[Howard Rosenberg]

Wow, Jim. That is mighty impressive.

When you get it up and running, I'm sure we'd all welcome hearing about its real-world performance.

Thanks for this info and the pics.

[Jim Becker]

Howard, it runs very well and the performance is impressive even with "just" the 5" duct and hose in the temporary shop. I'm sure it will come into its own when the main duct gets up to 6" in the new shop building.

[Patty Hann]

HI Jim... sorry for the 2month+ necro-posting ....
I've been looking at the G700 on the Harvey website and all the YT videos.
So, about cleaning the filters.... there are two, right?
Someone on YT made a wye connection to route the filter debris right back into the Harvey, and others have said they just take one of the flex hoses and suck it up right back into the Harvey.
Well, if the dust that has collected on the filters got by the bigger chip and smaller chip cyclones the first time, wouldn't it all slide right by them a second time around? It's the same dust, same size particles etc.
But all those folks have said that the cyclones (at least one of them) would capture the dust. I don't see it....What am I missing?

[Jim Becker]

Jason' Bent's method of using the system to clean the system is perfectly valid and I may implement that in the new shop once I get to the duct work' cause it's easy. The "caveman" version of just connecting a hose and blowing it outside or back through is also valid. Sucking it out with a shop vac also works. What you are primarily trying to do is remove any "cake" off the two filters. It kinda doesn't matter what method you use as long as you do it regularly to keep the filters operating efficiently. I don't yet have enough experience with the process to know how well things work because my use to-date has been minimal due to the temporary shop situation with very little work being done while I concentrate on getting my new shop building completed.

I will say, however, that I'm very pleased with the performance so far. The singular thing I've identified that I need to "fix" is to remove the grid from the inlet. I'm sure it's there to keep any "chunks" of something from passing through the blower, but it's also a trap for fluffy shavings when using the thickness planer. I will not be using a floor sweep with this system because there's no pre-separation before the blower, so there's less risk of larger debris from the kind of work I do.

[Carl Beckett]

The singular thing I've identified that I need to "fix" is to remove the grid from the inlet. I'm sure it's there to keep any "chunks" of something from passing through the blower, but it's also a trap for fluffy shavings when using the thickness planer.

Did you do this? Mine does occasionally build up planer shavings at the inlet due to this grid. My planer is straight knives and I have heard a helix head might give smaller shavings? But the tradeoff of removing it risks allowing something to pass through (although even with the grid, a fairly large chunk could pass through). And if removed, I wonder if the impellers could get clogged with shavings (a more tedious cleanout).

Other thoughts after having used it a while? In particular, how has it done with the tablesaw collection you have? (to this day, capturing dust from the tablesaw is still my weakness in part because I often move the overhead out of the way to do a cut)

[Jim Becker]

Carl, my J/P has Tersa knives and from species like pine, the shavings really are "shavings" that easily can clog something up. The grid assures it.

I'm happy with the machine to-date for sure. I can't give you much around table saw since it's been months since I had one (I sold off the used PCS I was using temporarily when the new slider arrived a few months early and I needed the space for the pallet) but I don't believe it will be a poor performer. "Cranked up" to top RPM, it has impressive air movement.

[Carl Beckett]

Thanks Jim, I think its about time I will cut out that grid... A large planning job is a certain clog.

The unit has done well for me (some particle monitor post when I put it in confirms this)

[Jim Becker]

Yea, I do believe I'm going to cut the grid out, too. I will not be doing a floor sweep with this machine so there's a limited chance that anything "large" will come tumbling through the duct work. It's easy to clear a clog right now in the temporary gara-shop since it's a hose to the temporary ductwork, but that will change in the new shop building to a hard pipe connection which is "less convenient" to clear, despite being quick connect.

[Carl Beckett]

As an update - I grew tired of the change over on my jointer/planer combo and have a large project coming up. So bought a Dewalt 735 lunchbox. The shavings off it are much smaller and not as curly.

No issue with clogs on the inlet grid at all.

(the CU 300 has tersa blades, the dewalt the factory straight blades, but the shavings are quite different in nature)

I may still cut the grid out someday but for now it is less of an issue.

I wonder how a shelix would do in the combo machine...

[Jack Frederick]

Once we move in Feb I am planning on the G700. It seems there are advantages to having the filter in normal operations. How about making a fixzture to hold the filters in a kind of gate valve operation. Planning pine, pull it out. anything else, leave it in. Also install a wye backwards with a cap on the lateral. That would offer easy access to the face of the grid to check or to vacuum it out. Not sure on the turbulence at the filter face with a wye, but worth a try?

[Jim Becker]

Jack, for the pine I was recently working with, I had to literally pry the clog away with my fingers. The air flow from the blower really packed it in tight on the grid. That's why I'm considering eliminating the grid once I'm hard-piped.

Carl, a cutter head with the small, narrow knives, such as the Shelix or other similar type would certainly make for smaller chips and make what I was struggling with less likely. Tersa and other straight knives can take a pretty "fluffy" shaving on certain species, but that doesn't happen so much with the little cutters.

[Bob Falk]

FWIW, I planed/molded a lot of dry Doug fir recently and the grid in my G700 stopped some pretty long splinters that this wood often produces......they weren't very thick so not sure what they would have done if they had gotten into the guts of the machine.

[Jim Becker]

I will likely try it unaltered with the full ductwork before I make a final decision on the grid. I'm hoping that since I rarely work with pine and similar "sticky" species, perhaps I'll not have too may instances of clogging.

[Christopher Stahl]

My G700 will be delivered tomorrow. Hoping it's everything I'm expecting it to be.