Shopsmith Forums

I think I may have missed something in the maintenance of the hoods for my dust collecter. I have both the tall one and the short one. Should they be washed and if so, how?

Thanks for the tips. Youall are great.

I was told in another post NOT to wash the hood. The dust inside is what causes the hood to work the way it should.

I have converted (upgraded) to the 42" hood. I find that after doing a lot of planing, and having had to empty the plastic bag 10 or 12 times, there is quite a lot of dust caught above the fan housing in the lower part of the hood.

After taking the DC3300 outside, removing the hood, and shaking out all the accumulated dust, the dust collector works more effectively.

You can shake the hood often while in use, and this helps, but eventually it needs to be removed so it, and the dust packed around and on top of the fan housing, can be cleaned off with a whisk broom.

8iowa wrote:You can shake the hood often while in use, and this helps, but eventually it needs to be removed so it, and the dust packed around and on top of the fan housing, can be cleaned off with a whisk broom.

Is that build up near the on/off switch side? That's where mine builds up inside.

georgek1 wrote:I think I may have missed something in the maintenance of the hoods for my dust collecter. I have both the tall one and the short one. Should they be washed and if so, how?

Thanks for the tips. Youall are great.

Hi George,

The hoods are washable, however, dust is knot the same as dirt, and the need to wash them will be rare. As for other aspects of hood maintenance, some of the comments that you may hear (or read) may be confusing as they may be contradictory. Let me try to explain how I understand the hoods to work. First off, by knocking out the majority of the dust particles that are built up in the hood, you will increase the flow of air, and if that is what you are after, by all means, clean the inside of the hoods out once in a while. The other side of that coin is that in order for the hoods to collect the micro-sized particles, they need to have that cake build up. Every time you clean out the dust, you will allow larger particles to circulate in your shop, and you will be breathing them into your lungs. As the cake build up gains thickness, i.e., weight, it will fall into your bag on its own so my recommendation is to empty (or replace) the bag when it fills, but leave the hood alone and it will take care of itself.

a1gutterman wrote:Hi George,

The hoods are washable, however, dust is knot the same as dirt, and the need to wash them will be rare. As for other aspects of hood maintenance, some of the comments that you may hear (or read) may be confusing as they may be contradictory. Let me try to explain how I understand the hoods to work. First off, by knocking out the majority of the dust particles that are built up in the hood, you will increase the flow of air, and if that is what you are after, by all means, clean the inside of the hoods out once in a while. The other side of that coin is that in order for the hoods to collect the micro-sized particles, they need to have that cake build up. Every time you clean out the dust, you will allow larger particles to circulate in your shop, and you will be breathing them into your lungs. As the cake build up gains thickness, i.e., weight, it will fall into your bag on its own so my recommendation is to empty (or replace) the bag when it fills, but leave the hood alone and it will take care of itself.

We are in total agreement on this. I guess what has to be determined is whether the DC3300 is being used as a "dust collector" or a "vacuum cleaner".

A dust collector needs the build up to be effective against micro-sized particles.

dusty wrote:We are in total agreement on this...

Damn! I was so looking forward to another, er, discussion with you again! Seriously Dusty, I respect your ideas, look forward to ALL of your input on this and other forums, and am glad that there is finally something that we see eye-to-eye on!

a1gutterman wrote:Damn! I was so looking forward to another, er, discussion with you again! Seriously Dusty, I respect your ideas, look forward to ALL of your input on this and other forums, and am glad that there is finally something that we see eye-to-eye on!

I must be slipping. I'll work hard to make sure it doesn't happen again. Maybe I should go back and reread this?:rolleyes:

Thanks "all Yall" (that is plural in the south). As usual the tips are tops.

George

georgek1 wrote:Thanks "all Yall" (that is plural in the south). As usual the tips are tops.

George

The word is [Y'all]. One syllable! It IS southern for 'youse guys'.