Thread: Improving benchtop thicknesser dust port

I guess I should clarify "frustrated" in the sense that we can't find anything rather than "frustrated" in the angry sense.

The solution is relatively simple - a clear heading with the topic in the heading "Improving bench top thicknesser dust port" is great as the search engine should find it easily, and a couple of tags that are relevant as well. Although having said that - I suspect that many other discussions on Benchtop thicknesser dust collection lie buried in various shed or machinery threads, never to be found again!

Cheers,

P

I no longer use the forum search engine.

Put the following into any search engine (not the forums search) and you will get plenty of hits

Improving "bench top thicknesser" "dust port" site:"www.woodworkforums.com/f200" (without the quotes for the site:tag) If I don't put them in the cant see the full URL

Note that,
Grouping of terms using inverted commas for "bench top thicknesser" and "dust port" and using site:"www.woodworkforums.com/f200" (again no quotes on the site term.
Means the search is restricted to the WWF dust subforum

Each sub-forum is numbered and can be identified by going to that forum and checking out the URL
eg Dust extraction is F200, TIMBER is F14, and Box Making is f87 etc

Originally Posted by BobL

I no longer use the forum search engine.

Put the following into any search engine (not the forums search) and you will get plenty of hits

Improving "bench top thicknesser" "dust port" site:DUST EXTRACTION

Note that,
Grouping of terms using inverted commas and using site:DUST EXTRACTION
Means the search is restricted to the WWF dust subforum

Brilliant !!!!!!



You are a cunning bugger, Bob.

Originally Posted by aldav

LickinChips, the OP, hasn't been seen since January. Perhaps he found that the dust extraction on his machine worked fine in its original guise, perhaps he's modified it and he's happy, who knows. So is all the chat about improving the dust extraction, choke points etc., etc. possibly totally pointless?

I actually think he found it didn't matter or is still pondering.

The reality is that the theoretical restrictions though about by the OP and further talked about by BobL are literally theory only.

The helical cutting head expels the chips out the back like little rockets and the invisible dust would be in that airstream, it's good enough to deposit the chips well behind the machine
video evidence -> Sherwood Helical cutter in action on Vimeo

With an open back there was next to no chips left in or on the machine.

The real issue is the 2" port itself, it just does not provide the required airflow, a remodel like bitingmidge posted with at least a 4" port would be really good.

Summary: the oem dust shroud does work but strangles airflow to the DC and could be improved, so not saying its perfect in any way

Chips and fine dust don't necessarily follow the same directions.
Chips follow a trajectory initially imposed on them by the cutting tool, collisions with local surroundings and then by gravity
Fine dust follows air streams, rapidly degrading with distance to diffusion (think farts V solid number twos) followed much later by gravity.
That why fine dust ends up all over the floor around a machine and fine dust ends up all over the shed.

BTW vid link is not working

Originally Posted by BobL

Chips and fine dust don't necessarily follow the same directions.
Chips follow a trajectory initially imposed on them by the cutting tool, collisions with local surroundings and then by gravity
Fine dust follows air streams, rapidly degrading with distance to diffusion (think farts V solid number twos) followed much later by gravity.
That why fine dust ends up all over the floor around a machine and fine dust ends up all over the shed.

BTW vid link is not working

Thanks Bob, think I fixed the link Sherwood Helical cutter in action on Vimeo

agree with the above but that is also a positive in this case as the chip and fine dust stream is traveling in the same direction off the cutter head and directly into the less than optimal shroud, it then as you have said before takes less airflow to move the fine dust now as it is captive largely in the shroud

Hey everyone, thanks for the replies. I am still around, and have made some (albeit small) progress regarding this.

Thanks bitingmidge, your design looks pretty good, nice smooth curves and a gentle transition. Also ideal if your ducting is going up to the roof. If it's not hard to print, I'd give it a go. If it was me, I'd try to add more airflow

Graeme - thanks for putting some numbers to the dimensions, especially with the friction included. It really shows how much extra bang for your buck you get when you increase the size of your outlet. If I had enough air inflow to the machine, then I would go for 150mm and keep it simple, even if it looked ridiculous. However the advantage of the 3x100mm is you know the extra airflow will be there on the 'open' two pipes, and the one coupled to the machine would be more closely matched in its limits to the machines choke points.

BobL - I'll inspect the machine and see if opening the inlet near A is feasible. I believe it is pretty much just above the rollers, so unless you can flip it outward the same amount it bends inwards, it may protrude past the rollers. I'll have to see. With regard to the lengths, A is 140 whereas B tapers from 340 to 330, and then opens back up to 340 just before C.

Aldav - still active But I still haven't turned on the bloody thing. Soon...

bitingmidge - I had the same troubles which is why I paid extra attention to the title!

Aussiephil and BobL - The concern for me was really the fine dust (even though i've probably made 1000x more dust than I would have in making the dust extraction system). Unfortunately I will only be able to see and/or record the differences between chip collection.

So I decided to go with the 100mm port as the 150mm seemed pointless due to the machine chokes, and I could potentially add additional 'open' ports near the infeed/outfeed.

I made a connector based on that excel sheet from Bill Pentz website as well as a 150-100mm reduction cone (the cone in this picture is just stuffed into the 45 elbows to help shape it). I eventually riveted some tabs I left into 100/150mm pipe
IMG_20210131_172232.jpgIMG_20210201_195604.jpg

Once I finished them I realised I had to make some blast gates, so I made some simple sliding ones.

Here is where I'm currently at:
IMG_20210325_182339.jpgIMG_20210325_182345.jpg
I just need to fix the flexi onto the connector and then fix up where the connector actually attaches to the machine. I will also run a wire or something similar from the dust extractor enclosure to the 150mm 45 elbow to help support the whole thing.

IMG_20210325_182615.jpg
For this I just need a plate with an opening cut out and some holes where the existing attachment screws go. I plan to put the thicknesser on a cart, and then pull out the components from the reducing cone onwards when not in use.

The other 150mm outlet will go to the jointer, which I haven't looked a lot into but at least I know I can open the cabinet up a lot easier than the thicknesser.

For anyone who couldn't view