Hi Folks,
Let’s have some fun – bagging the debris in the dust collector bag. Doesn’t everyone look forward to emptying the collection bag? Whatta ya mean it makes a mess!?
This discussion is aimed at helping those of us who use bags as opposed to cannisters. Definitely should upgrade to a cannister and make for better dust collection, cleaner air and less POOFS.
The Problem:
Nuff said?
The Goal:
Here is the pesky critter from the collection bag. This is the shape I strive for when removing the collection bag and I want the same for the filter bag – the tricky part.
The Solution:
This is a rather BIG screwdriver, I’ve seen them in auto parts stores and at flea markets/yard sales. This one is nearly 3′ long and the business end is well rounded and definitely NOT SHARP, a product of neglect, rust and misuse mebbe?
Here’s my Process:
First remove the filter bag. I grap a good fistfull of the bag just above the retaining ring and push it towards the center enough to be able to grasp the ring with my other hand, when it begins to separate from the channel.
Next is the trickiest part and where (in my experience) the infamous POOF is likely to occur. Keep the ring as flat as you can so it cannot escape the channel it sits in. As you’re pushing the holding ring it will begin to loop into the shape I posted above (The Goal) kind of like a scrunched up oval (!).
If you steady one end of the scrunched up oval you can bring it around so you can grab the other end and hold them together, from the underside of the ring, with one hand. Steady the whole thing with both hands and Sllloooowwwwllllyyy remove the filter bag.
I couldn’t get a pic of this as,uh well my hands were full!
Next comes the collector bag and employment of the Solution. Using the same process for starting as above, once you get the retaining ring pulled slightly away from the holding channel, carefully insert the screwdriver.
At least using this process if one of the rings does get away from me most of the dust gets thrown away from me, not at me! Oh and yes I do wear a dust mask and have the overhead air filter running, just in case.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Replies
Bob,
I try not to allow "infamous poofs" into the shed as who knows what they will want to blow on? They are best sent off to Blackpool for a day out, where they may attend the "Funny Girls" pub or go looking for a friend down in the infamous dunes of that sinful town.
********
My tekneek for dealing with that dusty old bag is basically to take a deep breath then get the thing off, ootside to the green waste bin and deposited therein before lack of oxygen causes me to faint and fall into the rhubarb patch. It only takes an hour or two to sweep up the escaped dust from the shed floor and to wash my dusty, rhubarb-stained clothes.
Meanwhile I have reported your use of the large screwdriver to the Committee for Listing Non-screwdriving Uses for Screwdrivers, as they are getting up a petition to have the name of such items changed to "podger", the nomenclature already employed for such implements on most British building sites.
"How man! Kly that podger ower here soes Ah can get the netty unblocked".
And so forth.
What we need is a woodust-eating microbe with a very fast metabolism and an enormous appetite. They could be installed in all WW machines by the makers, although it may be a worry that they might evolve into full-scale furniture-eaters...... If so, I will round a few up and toss them through the doors of museums containing collections of that musty ole scuttle-leg stuff, as a public service.
But I digress.
Lataxe, podger-user.
PS No, I don't know how we'd get rid of the WD microbe dung either, although it might prove to be the best knot-filler ever invented.
Hope you like it. I'll have it shipped as soon as it dries.
View Image
Cheers!Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Bob,
Aieee! Such a seductive top above those octopus-like scuttle-legs. The piece is obviously designed to lure-near an unsuspecting victim, who will be engulfed whilst fondling the shiny top or trying out a drawer.
Such monsters remind me of those items in H. Bosch paintings, which are designed to deal with sinnahs such as you and I. They are best put in the far corner of the attic, for use only with annoying grandchildren or the tax inspector. Make sure to attach a strong chain.
****
Meanwhile I believe we have been given the answer to dust devils by Carya, who offers the sensible strategy of a cyclone atween the machine being sucked and the vakoom. I have looked at them Oneida jobs, although they are a touch expensive (in Blighty) for such a simple kontrapshun. Still, clothes free of dust-spill and rhubarb juice stains is quite an appealing prospect.
Mind, you are set in your olde-fashund ways now so perhaps we need only find you The Ideal Podger ($1.99 at Walmart or 10 cents at the Dead Mechanics Society jumble sale).
Lataxe
Lataxe,
That Carva lad does indeed have a clever solution; have seen that shop made cyclone somewhere before in my I-net travels. I believe there was some concerns regarding airflow or some such matter with the original design, could be wrong. From my foggy memory it appears he has the newer design.
There is one of those LV trash can cyclone maker thangs in the Kidderville woodshop that I'm incorporating into the system.
Pentzively contemplating its incorporation/adaption,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Sir Podger,
Keeeerimus don't go messing up the rhubarb patch!
Would surely be a shame to damage the bearer of such fine fruit. By the by, rhubarb plants thrive on a good mulching with sawdust after an ample shovel or three of, uh bull, I mean cow, uh well you know, sheeeit.
Perhaps you've stumbled (translated from fallen by the British construction site manager) onto another source of revenue to support your tool afliction? You could sell your WD microbe dung! 'Round heeuh the farmers might call it somethin else though.
Ooooofeeshal Kidderville rhubarb pie maker, Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Why do you old guys insist on doing things the hard way? ;)
I have the same DC and its not that hard. Still don't like doing it so I only do it once per year. I collect 95% in my separator first. I made garbage can units for both the DC and the vacuum. I'd show a pic of the DC bag, but there is no dust to see in it.
Andy
Listen here we bin doin it that way for 27,437 yeeuhs. Ain't changin now for cryin out loud.
<G>,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
"Listen here we bin doin it that way for 27,437 yeeuhs. Ain't changin now for cryin out loud."Stop using oldspeak. I don't have enough grey to parse it. Its bad enough trying to read the CC text at the bottom of the screen while watching Corrie St. (Do they really talk that way?) I think you need to google Phil Thien and check his garbage can jig. I borrowed the ideas for using BB ply on my garbage cans (much larger than the commercial solution favoured). They work much better than the plastic cover separators from LV because of the lower plywood baffle that keeps the cyclonic effect from sucking up the mess already collected. Only about $50 in materials for each.I do not fear running the DC and vacuum (you over there in Britain: note the spelling) for long periods of time anymore. I have run the shop vac for weeks now without having to clean out the filter or the vacuum itself. I have emptied the big plastic can a few times and there is only a litre (about a quart for those of you in backwards land) of dust in the bottom of the DC bag.Now I can build the closet I always wanted for my DC to kill the sound and add an electrostatic furnace filter for air back to the shop without having to worry about getting in there to empty it often (or at all). If there's any time left over, I may just build some furniture...Andy
Why do you old guys insist on doing things the hard way? ;)
We remember when a new Corvett cost 6 grand and love the old times! Very hard to ask my lady to marry me and I had no job!
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