Replies

1. 
   JohnWW | Mar 07, 2005 12:23am | #1

   For all but the smallest planing jobs, a shop vac is too small to handle the output from a thickness planer.  Even if the vac can pull out the chips fast enough to prevent clogging, the can would fill up in a minute or two.

   John W.

1. 
   jaypoe | Mar 07, 2005 12:52am | #2

   I second that. I would  plane outside with the hood off befor hooking a shop vac to it.

2. 
   Lightman | Mar 07, 2005 12:57am | #3

   Toolfreak,

    Your new planer should have come with a reducer for 2-2 1/2 hose. If your vac is a small 5 gal size, yes it would fill up pretty fast and not have enough power to do a good job. I have a 13 in Ridgid planer and have been using a 16 gal Craftsman vac for 4 years. It works fine and does a very good job. It will pull all the chips out just fine and I can plane close to 250 bf of lumber before it needs dumping. Which I might add, it a lot easier to do than a dust collector bag.

    Now don't think for a minute that I would only use a vac, but until I can afford a full blown dust collector, the vac does fine. Grizzly, Sears, Lowe's, Woodcraft etc have the reducer you will need and they are cheap.

   Good luck and enjoy that new planer.

   Jimmy

   as always I wish you enough

   
   

   ---

   Edited 3/6/2005 5:04 pm ET by Jimmy

1. 
   jaypoe | Mar 07, 2005 05:14pm | #7

   I have never used a small planer and shop vac but I am amazed that the 2" hose and a shop vac can pull enough chips to keep to keep things clean. I guess it depends on the amount and width of the lumber and depth of cut. I like planing outside and watching the chips fly.

   JP

   I would trade it all.........for just a little more.

1. 
   Lightman | Mar 08, 2005 06:40am | #16

   Hi JP,

    I'm only a hobby shop so haven't got around to a big planer and dc system, yet...

   I can tell you what I have does work fine. My vac is one of those 6.5 hp (peak...) 16 gal. I can tell you it has quite a bit of power. My 13 in planer only takes a max cut of 1/8 in so it does not put out as much as a 15-20 in would hog off at one time.

   Sunday I milled all the lumber for 4 "Jim" chairs (been on the Net for years) kind of a big version of an Adirondack. About 35 bf per chair. 1 1/2 to 8 1/2 wide stuff. Milled it down from 5/4 to 3/4. Emptied it 1/2 way through and again when I finished. No big deal. When I finish I might vac up 1 cup of chips in and around the machine!

   Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do...lol

   Good luck

   Jimmy

   as always I wish you enough

3. 
   BG | Mar 07, 2005 01:05am | #4

   Toolfreak,

   There are reducers which will connect the 4" to your 2" hose....but you'll still need a piece of 4" hose and a couple of ssteel clamps to connect the adaptor to the hood of the planer.

   I picked up one of the plastic lids that you put on a garbarge can and run 4" hose from planer to plastic lid and 2" from plastic lid to 5 hp vac (that is a make believe 5 hp).  It kinda works...but using a broom and plastic snow shovel works faster for just a couple of pieces...good luck  

    

4. 
   mvac | Mar 07, 2005 01:45am | #5

   Toolfreak,

   I know everyone else will laugh at this, but I have a 8-gal. 3hp Craftsman shop vac bought in '97. I have a borrowed Jet planer, and I just stick the hose end into the dust collection hood, and seal it with several wrap-arounds of duct tape. Never clogs, and even when planing a lot of boards, I might have to empty the vac once. It's a single-use solution, in that whenever I have to pack the planer away (small shop), or use the shop vac for something else, the tape comes off.

   It's a poor man's solution until I can get a DC system, which will happen after I get my own planer, band saw and mortiser. In other words, not for a little while yet.

   Hope that helps,

   Mitch

   "I'm always humbled by how much I DON'T know..."

5. 
   sailalex | Mar 07, 2005 03:57pm | #6

   It's probably too late to mention since you bought the Delta but one of the nice features of the Dewalt 735 is it blows the chips out and you can just add a garbage can to collect it.

6. 
   bladeburner | Mar 07, 2005 05:22pm | #8

   I run a 4" dryer hose from my tools into one side of a trash can lid and a 2.5" shopvac hose from the other side. Only the fine dust makes it to the shopvac tank and a leaf bag in the trash can makes disposal easy.

   
1. 
   Toolfreak | Mar 07, 2005 07:17pm | #12

   Looks like a good idea!! How well does it work? How did you connect the vac hose to the trash can lid?

1. 
   bladeburner | Mar 07, 2005 07:49pm | #13

   I picked up the dryer hose and connector from HD. I replace dryer hose in the house every year, so I had some laying around. The connector is the one with a bunch of bend back tabs on one end. They're in the same area as the dryer hose. $2-3.00. Use any kind of 2.5" coupling that the suction hose will fit into; I had one that that came with my vac, I didn't know it's real purpose and had been laying around. I used a plastic trash can 'cause my metal one is bent and the plastic one has wheels. Good seal is important. RotoZip two holes to fit, insert hardware, caulk, clamp the dryer hose and go. My 4hp vac is OK but the 6.5hp will suck the lid down on startup. I replaced the clamp screws with thumb screws for quick connect. Took about an hour and I let the caulk set overnight. Oh, I left the suction hose in one night and as gravity made the hose lean it broke the caulk seal. Now I plug it in as needed! Like I said all I am seeing in the vac tank is fine dust.

7. 
   forestgirl | Mar 07, 2005 06:30pm | #9

   Here's the perfect home-made dust collector for a true "Toolfreak!"

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
   Another proud member of the  "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) 

1. 
   RonInOttawa | Mar 07, 2005 06:44pm | #10

   Now THAT'S ingenious! Regards,Ron

1. 
   forestgirl | Mar 07, 2005 07:09pm | #11

   I really want to try it some day!  Can't remember which forum I found it on, but one or two other members had built it and had good things to say.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the  "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) 

8. 
   javera | Mar 07, 2005 08:34pm | #14

   Guess I am low tech too. I bought an adaptor at Woodcraft and stick the end of the hose of my Ridgid Shop vac in the outlet on the hood. I don't have any problem and just have to empty the vacuum once in a while.

   Works fine for me but I'm not trying to run any real production through my planer.

    

   BTW, I really like the Delta planer.

   Joe

9. 
   bleubassplyr | Mar 07, 2005 09:04pm | #15

   I use a Dewalt 735 planer and a jointer connected to a shop vac. I hate the loud whine of the shop vac but it gets the job done. It's a Craftsman shop vac with a higher quality filter than came with it. It does a great job.

   There are more old drunkards than old doctors.  Ben Franklin