# Improving Dust Extraction



## William H (Jun 22, 2020)

I have a HF style bag filter dust collector. Will upgrading to a canister dust filter (like Wynn) make a noticeable improvement in dust suction at my tools to justify the cost (around $200 to $250). If so, how frequently will cleaning the filter be necessary (after weeks of use? months of use?)? What is the best way of cleaning? I see that some filters come with a rotating arm for cleaning. Do they work well? Thanks to all in advance for your advise?


----------



## B Coll (Nov 2, 2019)

William H said:


> I have a HF style bag filter dust collector. Will upgrading to a canister dust filter (like Wynn) make a noticeable improvement in dust suction at my tools to justify the cost (around $200 to $250). If so, how frequently will cleaning the filter be necessary (after weeks of use? months of use?)? What is the best way of cleaning? I see that some filters come with a rotating arm for cleaning. Do they work well? Thanks to all in advance for your advise?


I have a cheap ass 1-1/2 hp bag style dust collector. Before my collector I have one of those cheap ass cyclone separators on top of a metal garbage can. I never run more than one machine at a time in my personal shop, just me. I was struggling for a while with my collector keeping up on certain machines that create a lot of chips, such as the 15" planer. What I found was I was loosing a little bit of suction around each of the blast gates. I have one blast gate at each stationary machine, for a total of 6. My system is hard piped with small lengths of flex pipe between the blast gate and machine. I upgraded by blast gate to better quality ones where and made sure I could hear no air when they were closed. You would not think so, but I have not had an issue with the dust collector keep up since I made that correction.


----------



## HoytC (Dec 30, 2019)

William H said:


> I have a HF style bag filter dust collector. Will upgrading to a canister dust filter (like Wynn) make a noticeable improvement in dust suction at my tools to justify the cost (around $200 to $250).


Well, when you first replace a filthy bag with a pristine pleated filter you can see a big difference, which is what many people report. Long term, it's just like the bag in that it all depends on your maintenance habits.

The usual justification for a pleated filter is a better MERV rating to hopefully capture finer dust.



> If so, how frequently will cleaning the filter be necessary (after weeks of use? months of use?)?


Like sharpening, the more often you do it the less total time it takes. A lot depends on the type of dust you're picking up. Planer and jointer swarf , not so often. Hardwood crosscutting, a lot more. Also depends on how full the bottom bag gets before emptying it. It's best not to let it get more than half full. Roughly, every two or three bags is usually good.



> What is the best way of cleaning? I see that some filters come with a rotating arm for cleaning. Do they work well? Thanks to all in advance for your advise?


I take the filter outdoors and use a leaf blower. I don't have a flapper arm on mine but wish I did.


----------



## Rebelwork (Jan 15, 2012)

I think I have cleaned the top bag of my DC 5 times in 15 years. When it looks like it's slouching, I give a good cleaning...in the cabinet shop we just go over and give a good beating. Have bad issues at home,take it out on the old bag at work..lol


----------



## Bernie_72 (Aug 9, 2020)

William H said:


> I have a HF style bag filter dust collector. Will upgrading to a canister dust filter (like Wynn) make a noticeable improvement in dust suction at my tools to justify the cost (around $200 to $250). If so, how frequently will cleaning the filter be necessary (after weeks of use? months of use?)? What is the best way of cleaning? I see that some filters come with a rotating arm for cleaning. Do they work well? Thanks to all in advance for your advise?


I think you'd get more bang for your buck by adding a cyclone separator first and eventually adding a canister filter later. I've had good luck with the oneida super dust deputy:

https://www.amazon.com/Oneida-Air-Systems-Cyclone-Separator/dp/B0877B6LQP

Oneida's cyclone separators do cost more than other brands (This one's $179) but they work well and prevent almost everything from ending up in the filter/bag. Adding that to my small 1HP wall mounted dust collector made a big difference. If your filter stays clean longer suction will improve.

I eventually added a grizzly canister filter to the setup. I can't say that it actually helped increase suction power. The main reason I added it was to get better filtering. The bag that came with my dust collector only filtered at 30 microns compared to this unit which filters at 1 micron:

Canister Filter for G0710 and G0710P at Grizzly.com


----------



## jdonhowe (Jul 25, 2014)

Blowing compressed air from the outside is easy and effective.


----------



## William H (Jun 22, 2020)

Thank you Bernie_72 for the cyclone separator advise, it makes a lot of sense.

I have been looking at the Oneida cyclones (also recommended by Bernie_72), specifically the 4" Super Dust Deputy It almost looks toy-like for around ~$200. Have others had a good experience with the Super Dust Deputy?

The 4" Super Dust Deputy comes with a 15 gal (too small???) fiber drum. I have read that plastic drums may not withstand the air pressure difference and collapse. The bigger drums on Amazon are well over $100 and need to be modified on top to accept the Dust Deputy. Any thoughts on drums?

Also, I found on YouTube a cannister filter from Donaldson for about half the price of Wynn. Any experience?

Thanks to all in advance. Without YouTube and this forum, all my questions would go unanswered. Thank you.


----------



## BigCountry79 (Jun 2, 2021)

I'm in the same boat. The filtration from my HF collector leaves a bit to be desired in terms of efficient removal of fine particles.


----------



## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

Just so you understand, a dust collector works by "pushing" the dusty air through the separator on top the the collection bag or drum, and then through the filter that sits on top. The suction that is created, is from the air that is being displaced. So, the greater the area of the filter, the easier it is for the air to get pushed through, that is until it starts to get clogged up and then the efficiency drops, but it does filter out smaller particles..... a "catch 22" sorta thing.
So why is a cannister better than a bag?
Because it has much more area!


area of a cylinder formula - Google Search


Maybe 3 or 4 times greater?
However, you still need to knock the fine dust off the vanes in the cannister and have them drop down into the collection bag or drum which is what I use now.
I used to have those plastic collection bags on my two Jet 1100's but they were heavy and hard to manage when full so I converted to cardboard drums. I keep a spare empty drum handy when I'm working on a large project and generation a lot of dust and chips. Saw and sanding dust is different than the chips from a joiner or planer which are larger and may have curls to them. A cyclone with a small collection drum may fill up quickly during a long planer and jointer run.
I don't mind cleaning the cannister filters since I take them outdoors, roll them and bump them on the hard driveway to loosen most the dust, then blow the dust out with my air hose. I do wear a dust mask when doing this.
I've known about cyclones for a long time, but haven't added one to my shop. I just don't think that having to clean the filter more often and having a smaller collection drum makes sense for my shop needs.


----------



## Bernie_72 (Aug 9, 2020)

William H said:


> The 4" Super Dust Deputy comes with a 15 gal (too small???) fiber drum. I have read that plastic drums may not withstand the air pressure difference and collapse. The bigger drums on Amazon are well over $100 and need to be modified on top to accept the Dust Deputy. Any thoughts on drums?


I read dozens of threads on the super dust deputy before purchasing and there were several conversations on the size of drum to use. There were threads on 2HP dust collectors collapsing rubber garbage cans but I don't recall anyone with a 1HP dust collector complaining about collapsing anything. There were also several people that stated larger drums could cause suction problems. The general consensus of the threads I went through was that anything from 15 to 35 gallons should be fine. I think that is backed up by the fact that Oneida does sell a 35 gallon metal drum for the 4" super dust deputy:

35 Gal. Steel Drum Kit for Super Dust Deputy (4

I think if you stay with a 35 gallon or smaller steel or strong plastic/rubber drum you should be fine.


----------

