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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    324

    Default When's the best time to empty your dust collector bags?

    Apparently about 2 weeks ago...

    I should preface this by a bit of an explanation. At the moment my life is fairly hectic. We're due our second child any day now and I've just quit my day job to work on our house. So far we've taken a very respectable 1950's, 2 bedroom, brick and tile house and created this.



    I know, light and airy huh?

    I've got a Felder AF22 DC that lives outside in its own shed like this.



    I've been madly trying to get a few jobs done before this baby arrives and it was today that I thought "Should go and have a look at the dust collector, that must be due for a bag change by now."

    To be honest, I knew I was in trouble when I was trying to unlatch the door and I could feel the pressure on the bolt. What I wasn't ready for was the stream of dust and chips that flooded out when the door was opened. Both bags for the dust extractor had filled up and one bag had split near the top so when the system was turned on all the new chips and dust were pouring onto the floor of the enclosure, up to about a foot deep.

    Anyway, that's a couple of hours worth of my life I won't get back.


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  3. #2
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Auckland, New Zealand
    Posts
    997

    Default

    thats one of the reason I still have my dust collection inside the workshop... it fills up faster than you think...

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    belgrave
    Age
    61
    Posts
    7,934

    Default

    lol. Maybe you need a depth viewer on the wall like those water depth windows on kettles.
    anne-maria.
    T
    ea Lady

    (White with none)
    Follow my little workshop/gallery on facebook. things of clay and wood.

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    27,756

    Default

    If he had his dust collector inside his workshop it would have been full of fine dust way before the thing spilt open.

    If you want to maximise air flow through any system that uses filters they will usually need cleaning a lot more often that the bags will need emptying. At that point it makes sense to empty the sawdust from the bags. If I'm doing a lot of sanding there might only be 150 mm of dust in the bottom of the bag. If it's something involving coarser chips like thicknessing then the bags might be only half full. Another reason I empty often is because my system has 2 bags and 2 full bags will not fit into my wheelie bin.

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    324

    Default

    After you've experienced the peace and quiet of an outside dust extractor and 3 phase machinery you'll never go back Albert

    This is definitely in the "Never again" categories of stupid stuff I've done. Not like "I'm never drinking again", it was way less fun than that.

  7. #6
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Auckland, New Zealand
    Posts
    997

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by dalejw View Post
    After you've experienced the peace and quiet of an outside dust extractor and 3 phase machinery you'll never go back Albert

    This is definitely in the "Never again" categories of stupid stuff I've done. Not like "I'm never drinking again", it was way less fun than that.
    Well I am still contemplating on putting my 4kw bag house extractor outdoor, it occupies a very large foot print(1.8m x 1.2m?), but placing it outside means I will have to check the bags very often and have the sheetmetal guy to cover the baghouse unit so its away from the rain... also I have weather tightness issue as my house is a plaster and I dont want to touch the exterior wall unless its absolutely necessary...

    You are right about 3 phase machinery though, at the moment I have 8 machines, only the Robland combination and the Minimax bandsaw are single phase, I can see myself selling the Robland in a year or two and downgrade to a smaller panel saw and upgrade the thicknessor to 600mm+ (410mm is not enough after awhile...)

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    27,756

    Default

    There is a way to work out when the dust bags need cleaning using pressure and this is when the pressure on the positive pressure side of the impeller reaches a value that has to be experimentally determined. Pressure can easily be monitored with a home made U-tube manometer connected to the dust bag housing. Long tubes can be used so the manometer can be located inside a shed.

    The max pressure that the impeller can generate can be measured by blocking the intake and using a manometer to measure the max amount of suck. The max amount of suck should be the same as the max amount of blow. When the bags are fully blocked the manometer should read the max pressure of the impeller.

    The tricky part is working out at what fraction of the maximum pressure you should clean the bags. Ideally this should be done using an air flow meter at the intake end of the impeller but very few users have this. I was going to do this for my system to work out an approximate pressure but it's still on my todo list.

    The pressure method is not foolproof. If very coarse wood shavings are being generated it may still possible to have not reached the threshold pressure for cleaning the filters and completely fill the bags.

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    324

    Default

    Nice idea Bob.

  10. #9
    acmegridley Guest

    Default

    When your neighbours are away!!

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