Thread: Dust Extraction for my Bench top Thicknesser

Planer /thicknessers -need a lot of extraction -apart from anything else will start to clog up. sANDERS OF ANY DESCRIPTION will make ridiculous amounts of unhealthy dust. (take particular attention to Blackwood and a few other species as the dust can have long term effects) look up Any thing questionable! - Blackwood for instance has barbed fibres -has a similar effect to asbestos! - more the nature of it -hooking into the lungs. But technically asbestos is biologically neutral as well apart from the way it hooks into your lungs. If you sand Blackwood -try picking up the dust from say the disk sander - will look like its held together with spider webs. Many more have question marks about them as well.
My radial arm saw is doing very well with a simple chute to a bin underneath. Planer /;thicknesser obviously NEEDS dust extraction. Band-saw can live without. and various sanders (disk / linisher) SHOULD be hooked up.

My biggest need for extraction is the Planer/Thicknesser mostly because of the volumes involved -the next would have to be the sanders (linisher and disk) The saws as such seem to throw most of the dust in a predictable way. Dealt with with chutes and such. Wood lathe -well that is it's own thing -there are things that help -but curing the issue is problematic.

You admitted the DC is lousy so as long as you wear a good mask and keep the doors open you're not damaging your health to any extremes. You'll expose yourself with what ends up on your clothes and what you stir up as you move around latter. Since at the moment you are not up for replacing the DC you have I suggest you improve it by making a ring/hoop to push the dust into, much like a store bought one with a big filter bag on top and either a trash bag or can on the bottom. Replacement 1 micron bags are not a lot of money, even a big one. Ditch the plastic square to round piece and have the housing connect directly to the bag ring like the third Sticky on the top of the page about modifying a 2hp dusty. The mods would make your DC perform a little better with the upside of being easier to empty.

As for your concerns about the thicknesser. They were made, sold and used for umpteen years with no dust collection of any kind without damaging the machine or the wood. Nobody can say they didn't make a big mess though. Using one with poor collection though allows for the possibility of the chips backing up in it. That leaves the chips in it to be recut and be beat down in the surface of the wood. Unless you see the chips are backing up in the hose or see signs of chip recutting on the wood surface they are just a nuisance you have to clean up. They are an indicator that there is fine dust will be escaping too.

Pete

The very small DC in the photos will be virtually useless at capturing fine dust. A new bag will make no difference as the flow rate is too low even to start with and then gets worse as it fills up with chips. The flow rate problem also applies to chips.
Over head fans are near useless at ventilation - all they do is spread the fine dust around a shed.

Thanks all for your thoughts, I appreciate the time taken to reply.

My Dewalt has an inbuilt chip ejector fan that ejects through a 57mm outlet. Around that outlet is a 100mm “outlet” that you can connect to an extractor hose

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I have a 100 mm flex pipe from the 6” main pipe connected to it and it works exceptionally well. I also connect the same 100 mm hose to my jointer and it also works well but not as clean as the thicknesser - needs a quick vacuum after use.

Hi Lappa. I have the same thicknesser and i use a home made bag (two cloth nappies sewn together) connected to a length of 90mm. Works really well but needs emptying quite regularly. Still saving up for a "proper" DC.