Shopsmith Forums

Greetings sawdust makers,

I use a Jet dust collector with a canister filter and plastic bag for holding the dust. The bags are a major pain to empty and the canister is hard to clean too. A while back I added an Oneida Super Dust Deputy to separate the dust before it enters the collector. Now, amazingly, absolutely nothing enters the plastic bag on the Jet, it all goes into the Oneida drum, which is really easy to empty. One problem solved.

The canister on the Jet doesn't get very dirty but it still needs to be cleaned from time to time, a tedious, filthy and unpleasant job. I can't help but think a cloth bag would be easier to clean than the canister. You could shake it down, or even wash it somehow. Anybody every ditched their canister and put a good bag on instead? Thanks for your thoughts.

Tom

Your canister filter is probably catching the ultra fine dust that gets by the dust deputy. Typically the canister filters can catch that dust where most cloth bags can only dream of being that good! There are some newer bags that are an improvement over the older ones, but none that give the airflow of a canister. Think surface area....

I totally agree with Chris. Canisters are usually 1 micron. Bags are typically 30 micron although they do make them finer. As Chris says it is all about air flow and the canister is far superior to a bag in that respect. Does your canister not have the paddles inside to clean it without removing it? If not it is worth buying one that does.

The bag on my Grizzly is rated at 2.5 micron.

I thought all canister dust collectors came with a crank, which is attached to an internal paddle. My 1 HP Penn State has a 1 micron canister, with a crank. After a few uses, I turn the crank a few times and and the paddle knocks 90% of the fine dust into the bag.

S Brian wrote:I thought all canister dust collectors came with a crank, which is attached to an internal paddle. My 1 HP Penn State has a 1 micron canister, with a crank. After a few uses, I turn the crank a few times and and the paddle knocks 90% of the fine dust into the bag.

I also thought that was true for the smaller DC's. My Clearvue Cyclone doesn't have one but that is different.

That is a snazzy looking setup jsburger.

I also plan on adding the dust deputy when I set my dust collector up.

ddub wrote:That is a snazzy looking setup jsburger.

I also plan on adding the dust deputy when I set my dust collector up.

Thank you. The picture was taken a few years ago when I first installed it. It is still not plumbed in. It is designed for an 8" main line and 6" branches and then 4" lines to the machines. Almost 2000 CFM. It works so well as is the plumbing has not been a priority. It is time to get with it however.

S Brian wrote:I thought all canister dust collectors came with a crank, which is attached to an internal paddle. My 1 HP Penn State has a 1 micron canister, with a crank. After a few uses, I turn the crank a few times and and the paddle knocks 90% of the fine dust into the bag.

Yes, it has a crank which works well but eventually that 10% builds up and fills nooks and crannies, of which there are many. I try to clean it out every few months using various techniques, like the vacuum at the car wash, or blowing with my compressor from the outside then tapping the canister on the floor gently a few times, etc.

It would seem Bruce's 2.5 micron bag would be pretty easy to keep clean in comparison. The performance of the Jet with the Super Dust Deputy is pretty amazing. Probably not as amazing as John's but like I said earlier, all the dust goes into the drum now, my bag never needs to be emptied.

As long as we're on the subject of dust collection, I came across this interesting video. It might save me from hyperventilating when using the drill dress.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=69&v=W6wPp91xiL0[/youtube]