How to improve jointer dust collection

[Alan Schaffter]

I posted this on another forum awhile back, but thought more folks might be interested:

I always had what I thought was inadequate dust collection from my Delta DJ-20 jointer, despite using 6" duct and a 3 hp DC. Though not excessive, I always had chips coming off the sides of the cutter and some on the floor under the cabinet. When I removed the jointer from the cabinet awhile back I happened to look closely at the rectangular dust chute that runs from under the cutter head to the rectangular port at the front of the cabinet- it did not have a top!!!! It was a three sided, open-topped, chute! Most of the air being sucked by the DC was probably coming from the open-bottom cabinet and not from around the cutter head!!

I figured that can't be good for suction, so I enclosed the top with a piece of ply. I would expect this might be a problem with many jointers, especially the clones. Check it out, you might be surprised!

Here are pics showing what I mean by an open-topped chute and my solution.

The rectangular chute angles down from upper right to the discharge at the front of the cabinet at the lower left.



Those are the fingers of the hand I inserted into the chute outlet that are sticking out where there is no top on the chute.



Plywood chute top. Since the sides of the chute were taller than the cutter head opening and the port on the front of the cabinet, I sized the top so it would fit inside the walls of the chute:



Screws through the chute sides hold the plywood top in place:



A view from the discharge port at the front of the cabinet showing the new plywood chute top installed:

[Jim Becker]

Very good discovery and suggestion. Making that chute "4 sided" gets the air flow coming directly from where the chips are being produced, rather than from all directions.

BTW, the chute is likely configured like this simply because powered dust extraction is a more recent event when you take the entire time period these particular type tools have been around. The chute was pretty much designed for gravity so a top was not necessary. When they started slapping a DC port on these machines, they didn't bother to change the internal design.

I suspect there are a lot of jointers out there with any number of nameplates that have similar issues! It will be interesting to note how many find this to be true on their own machines and post here about it.

[Alan Schaffter]

Very good discovery and suggestion. Making that chute "4 sided" gets the air flow coming directly from where the chips are being produced, rather than from all directions.

BTW, the chute is likely configured like this simply because powered dust extraction is a more recent event when you take the entire time period these particular type tools have been around. The chute was pretty much designed for gravity so a top was not necessary. When they started slapping a DC port on these machines, they didn't bother to change the internal design.

I suspect there are a lot of jointers out there with any number of nameplates that have similar issues! It will be interesting to note how many find this to be true on their own machines and post here about it.

Concur - the basic design of jointers has been around for a long time and it hasn't been that long that the DC connection replaced a coal shovel and barrel. A lot of responders on two other forums were quite surprised that their jointers had open tops to the dust chute. I [delete: guess I should] have just submitted this to the WW mags!!

[Jay Yoder]

I have the Delta X5 6" jointer and also was dissatisfied with the amt of chips thrown everywhere. I will check mine when i get a chance. Great solution!!!

[Peter Quinn]

I bought an older used DJ-20 at auction a few years ago, and like any used machine I went through it thoroughly before putting it into service. I too noticed the open top shoot and fabricated a top out 18GA sheet metal, a shop made brake, a few rivets and some silicone. It dramatically improved the chip collection.

It seems that jointer's three sided chip shoot, not really a dust port, creates just enough back pressure without dust collection to cause the spinning head to send a great deal of debris back to the user. Even with 1200 CFM dedicated to it I wasn't getting the performance I wanted. With the modifications to the shoot it works great.

A jointer is not one of those tools that in my mind makes a lot of fine hazardous dust like a table or RAS saw, but with out proper chip extraction I spend as much time blowing off the table as I do flattening boards.

Nice pictures and good post. You might have a lot of guys looking at there chip shoots after this!

[Larry Fox]

I did the same thing some time ago and I an tell you for sure that it makes a SIGNFICANT difference. I can't for the life of me figure out why Delta let that design flaw slip by them.

[Ron Breton]

Wow, great tip. I too have a DJ20 and have never been very happy with it's dust collection. Now I know why. Off to the shop........


Ron

[Izzy Charo]

Thanks for the great post! Did you have to remove the jointer from the metal stand to install the top of the dust chute, or was there enough room to work by simply removing the front panel of the stand?
Thanks!

[Alan Schaffter]

Thanks for the great post! Did you have to remove the jointer from the metal stand to install the top of the dust chute, or was there enough room to work by simply removing the front panel of the stand?
Thanks!

No. Make a plywood panel that slips in from the front. Remove the side panels so you can drill a hole in each side of the chute and use screws into each edge of ply panel to hold it in place.

[David Kumm]

Alan, I'm glad the post got revived. Improving the DC on my DJ20 has been on my list for years. My 50 year old 16" jointer is way better. I folded the sides on a piece of sheet metal and slipped it inside and attached with screws. Took about 15 min. Improved DC about a million times. Thanks for the heads up. For the rest of you, Alan has been a great help with my auto blast gates. Informative and more importantly patient. Dave

[David Nelson1]

Makes a lot of sense will have to check my griz to see if it's open as well.

[david brum]

This is a known issue with Grizzly/Shop Fox parallelogram jointers as well. I was advised to use cardboard and duct tape to make a top for the chute. It's worked great for several years, although not as elegant.

[Tom Gerken]

Fairly new DJ-20, same open top on the chute.

I was considering changing the DC in hope of solving the problem. Now I know what the real problem is.

Thanks a ton.

[Izzy Charo]

Alan,
Just to clarify,,,, when you say you slipped the plywood top "in from the front" I assume you mean you slid it up from the bottom of the dust chute?
Thanks!

[Myk Rian]

My late 30s JD Wallace had nothing for chip collection. Originally being a direct drive, the chips were allowed to fall to the floor.
Since I converted it to a belt drive, that wasn't going to work too well.
After making a wood top for the stand I cut a hole in it to attach a DC fitting from underneath. Then a 4" hose to a connection on the side.
Gotta do whatever you can.