Shopsmith Forums

Just noticed that when my DC300 dust collector is running, it sends a plume of dust out the rear louvers! The bag is nowhere near full.

Must be something simple, but need to know what it might be before I disassemble the beast - a messy job under any circumstances.

TIA for your collective wisdom!

sawdust271 wrote:Just noticed that when my DC300 dust collector is running, it sends a plume of dust out the rear louvers! The bag is nowhere near full.

Must be something simple, but need to know what it might be before I disassemble the beast - a messy job under any circumstances.

TIA for your collective wisdom!

You'll need to disassemble it, which isn't too hard. I think there are a couple of screws on the bottom back and a few inside.

You probably need to replace the seals, which are available from Shopsmith. There is a front seal around the cone that goes into the manifold and a real seal that is sold in two pieces around the back that keeps sawdust out of those louvers.

Otherwise, a visit to the hardware store to buy 1/4" to 1/2" weatherstripping works fine. Give some that you can compress tight to fit the gaps. It will cost less than $5 and you'll have some extra weather stripping left. The SS gasket will probably crumble under the lightest touch.

Give the collector a good cleaning while you are at it. Also run the motor while blowing air through the vent holes. It might be a urban legend, but everyone always says to may sure the motor is running while you blow it out.

Here is a link to another thread (the only one I've started) about the DC3300 and fixing the gasket.

https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=10448

Mine did the same thing and the old gasket fell all apart. I went to Ace and picked up some foam gasket and it now works good as new. I agree on the good cleaning while it is apart. You won't have it apart again for a long time.

You might want to work on it outside as well as there is a lot of dust hiding inside the upper part of the collector.

Oh, and do your work outside in fresh air. When you take the thing apart you'll have sawdust all over. It cakes on the hood and gets everywhere in the machine.

letterk wrote:It cakes on the hood and gets everywhere in the machine.

Turn the DC3300 on and tap the hood to dislodge the cake buildup. Mine gets a buildup of INCHES of dust on the front left hand side.

Thanks to all - I'm going to haul the thing out to the backyard this weekend and take it apart...