# Cleaning my Wynn Filter



## thegrgyle (Jan 11, 2011)

I decided to clean my wynn filter , since I had overloaded my Thein separator, to make sure that it wasn’t overloaded with stuff.
Here are a few pics of it when I first took it off my DC.

















As you can see, it was caked with wood flour. I then took out the trusty shopvac and vacuumed all the wood flour that I could get….


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## thegrgyle (Jan 11, 2011)

As you can see in the above pics, there still was some dust and what not inside the pleats of the filter. I then took it outside and tried to use my leaf blower, like others suggested on this forum, and it freed up some of the dust, but not as much as I would have liked. (I forgot to take a pic of it at this point… was too involved at getting it cleaned up)

I then set up the filter on my workbench with my air cleaner at the open end.











I then blasted compressed air, slowly working my way side to side, perpendicular to the cleats. After doing about (3) 6” wide swaths, my compressor would kick on, so I would let it pump up to pressure. While my compressor pumped back up, I then moved the air cleaner, and vacuumed up the dust that was blasted out. I continued to do this, rotating the filter, and blasting compressed air until I really didn’t have much dust to vacuum up. The end result is this.










After I reinstalled the filter, I could tell a difference in the suction right away. I may decide to do this on a more continual basis.

Maybe you might think about checking to see how your filter is doing…..


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## Shop Dad (May 3, 2011)

Does Wynn have any recommendations for cleaning?


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## toolguy1000 (Oct 4, 2012)

does your DC have an internal baffle of any kind?


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## thegrgyle (Jan 11, 2011)

I know that they suggested NOT to install a paddle, like some other DC companies have. Their best suggestion was to blow compressed air like I did, but I took it to another level. When I vacuumed the filter, I made sure to use a nozzle (like the one pictured below), so as not to damage the pleats.


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## thegrgyle (Jan 11, 2011)

toolguy1000 said:


> does your DC have an internal baffle of any kind?


NO, my dc has a thein topper right below the intake. You can see a pic of it here. It is the first pic of that thread.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Thanks for posting. Your Wynn filter has a lot more pleats than my Jet cannister. This is great when it is clean, but as you experienced, more pleats means they are closer together and harder to get the debris cleaned out.

I was hoping the leaf blower would work. I have used compressed air, a brush on the end of my shop vac like your picture. The compressed air is slow.

I checked mine about a week ago. I got a lot of the dust out, but it needs the leafblower or air compressor to get it as clean as possible.

By the way, I thought milling rough stock created the most sawdust - until I started hollowing out bowls or platters. Most of the sawdust goes on the floor, but it is a large pile. :icon_smile:


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

A nice sunny day, temperature in the low 60's and windy, so a good day to try the leaf blower to clean my cannister.

Took it outside rested on the grass and spun the flappers for a few minutes by hand. Very little dust on the ground. No surprise, I had used the flappers a few weeks ago in the garage.

I could see fine dust on the filter and between the pleats.

My leaf blower claims to create a 240 mph stream of air. I am not sure where this was measured, but I doubt this is the velocity at the end of the nozzle. I worked the nozzle up and down the side of the cannister, then rolled to get a new section, did this for all the outside area. Not much dust was coming out.

I then decided to try blowing the dust out from the inside. This worked better. Happy to have a long nozzle.

Overall this worked reasonably well. I think the compressed air nozzle works better but takes orders-of-magnitude more time.

I am happy that my frequency of cleaning is now much reduced and it is far less messy to handle the cannister, no big chucks of dust falling off as I carry it through the garage to outside.

I would not recommend purchasing a leaf blower for this task, but if you have one, give it a try. It may work better for you than it did for me and does not take long.


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## thegrgyle (Jan 11, 2011)

Dave Paine said:


> A nice sunny day, temperature in the low 60's and windy, so a good day to try the leaf blower to clean my cannister.
> 
> Took it outside rested on the grass and spun the flappers for a few minutes by hand. Very little dust on the ground. No surprise, I had used the flappers a few weeks ago in the garage.
> 
> ...


That is good to know that you had the same success as I did with the leaf blower. 

I hear you there about the 240mph rating on the blower. I would not be surprised if it wasn't at the nozzle, because if I understand simple physics enough, in order for air to move thru a smaller opening (coming from a bigger opening), it accelerates. I am probably wrong, but either way, the manufacturer must have measured it somewhere for them to state that.

I know that I read somewhere (probably on the internet) that it is really good the blow air from the outside towards the inside because that air is loosening the dust/debris, without trying to "force" it through the filter media. Ever since then, I try to avoid blowing air from the inside towards the outside. My fear is that 240mph air could really "blast" some stuff thru the media, therefore reducing its efficiency. Not sure if the filter media is made to that type of force. 

Thanks again for the update though. It is nice when one finally finds a method that works well for them. Makes life a whole lot easier!


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

thegrgyle said:


> I know that I read somewhere (probably on the internet) that it is really good the blow air from the outside towards the inside because that air is loosening the dust/debris, without trying to "force" it through the filter media. Ever since then, I try to avoid blowing air from the inside towards the outside. My fear is that 240mph air could really "blast" some stuff thru the media, therefore reducing its efficiency. Not sure if the filter media is made to that type of force.


I normally try to clean out by blowing air from the outside to the inside.

I agree it is preferred not to blow from the inside since it could push more debris into the media. This was a "last resort" with the leaf blower. I was blowing across the inside towards the top of the cannister.

I think the force/velocity of the air from the leaf blower is not as high as that from the air compressor nozzle.

When I use the air compressor, I only direct the compressed air from the outside to the inside. I then use a brush attachment on the shop vac to clean up the inside.

I am not sure what method I will use for the next cleaning. Time and especially the weather may decide for me. :laughing:


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## vhuffines (Jul 27, 2011)

*Filter cleaning*

I too was unlucky enough to have over filled the collection canister an forced the bottom small filter cansister so full dust and chips were up inside the filter. Took these canisters off and emptied them and reinstalled only to find little suction. Assumed filters clogged. Tried something I read a long time ago. Hooked a 4" flex hose to the filter canister blast gate, ran it about 5 feet to 1st drop opened this blastgate and closed all others and turned on collector. You could see debris going thru the clear tube. With this going on I rapped on the filters with a stick then used an air nozzle all around the filters. Checked the canisters and found quite a bit of dust in the collection canister and only a small amount in the filter canister and then had great suction again after removing the drop hose to canister connection. This turns out to be the way I clean the filters ever couple months. Sorry this was long but hope it helps others with a task no one likes to do.


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