Hi all & Happy New Year.
I recently plumbed my shop with 6″ PVC to the JET 2 hp 1200 cfm dust collector. Although I maintain my equipment and clean the shop reasonably well, I’ve noticed a recent significant reduction in the performance of the dust collector. I have been looking for leaks or some good reason for the decreased performance.
Today I took the collection bag of to empty it. I have a little routine that I do to knock the dust loose from the filter. This unit has a handle that you spin and some paddles inside the filter that sort of scrape off the dust inside the filter. Well, once I had the bag off I noticed that the filter was still loaded with dust. I took it off and got over 2 gallons of dust from the filter. I’ve recently done some work with mahogany and that makes some of the finest dust of all woods. Anyhow, I was shocked by the amount of dust that I got out of the filter.
The good news is that once I blew out the filter and reassembled the unit I was almost surprised at how well it works again. What a great feeling to know that all it needed was a good cleaning. Once that fine dust clogs up the filter the poor blower just can’t do its job like its supposed to do.
Since its the New Year this may be a good time for you all to check out the filter or bags in your system too. Its almost rewarding to have that baby doing such a great job again.
regards, Hugh
Replies
I've wondered if that canister didn't sometimes get plugged up, thanks for the post. What did you use to get the dust out of the pleats? Would it be possible to use compressed air, with the canister in place. to blow it out, or was it just too thick to do that?
BTW, just noticed at Woodcraft the other day, they are making a small canister unit now, about $100 less that the original big one, but doesn't have the cleaning flappers on it.
forestgirl Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
FG,
Hi, yes I use my air compressor on the outside of the canister regularly, generally while I spin the paddles around. I'm sure it helps but I had a good inch of that fine mahogany dust packed in there and it needed some persuasion to get it clean. Its not that big a deal. I just set it on top of a trash can and most of the dust ended up in the can. I kept a fan blowing so the rest of the dust went over to the neighbors side. (Not really, can't really see the neighbors through the trees).
Anyhow, its working so good I can't believe it.
Happy New Years and congrats on your marriage.
se ya, Hugh
The small canister filter from Jet does have paddles, maybe the handle on top was missing or never installed. The small one is for the 650 cfm collectot.
Thanks for clarifying the paddle situation on the smaller collector. Makes me verrrrrry interested.forestgirl Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
I too had the same experiance after about eight bags of dust. I do alot of sanding with a performax 16/32 wich creates powder type dust. One tip is to blow it out with compressed air Outside. Make sure its dark out and a good wind would also be advised. In my case I couldn't see more than eight feet after blowing out the filter.
Dave
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