# WEN DC3474 7.4-Amp Rolling Dust Collector



## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

Cant find the old thread I started so I will start a new one now.
I bought a WEN DC3474 7.4-Amp Rolling Dust Collector about a month or so ago. I would like to say it sucks but it didn't. - dust that is, so I returned it. Then got another one. Did a quick test and it seemed ok. Built a small rolling table for it with the DC on the bottom and my Dewalt planer on top. Tried it out this morning under combat conditions - i was actually planeing stuff. After a few minutes, it stopped collecting and sawdust and chips were backing up into my planer ant towards me. To make a long story short, the chips were building up on the grill on the intake of the collector and my shop floor was a mess.
Anyway, I read on a thread here where someone else had same problem and cut the little bars off the intake and all worked fine so I did also. Now it really does suck - in a good way. So far.


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## dbhost (Jan 28, 2008)

Not if the post you read was regarding one of those small Wen units, but I did the same mod, for the same reason on my Harbor Freight 2HP dust collector easily a decade or more ago... First time I ran serious quantities through the planer it just flat out clogged right up with that reticle looking thing in the inlet... I need airflow, not a bomb sight...


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

dbhost said:


> Not if the post you read was regarding one of those small Wen units, but I did the same mod, for the same reason on my Harbor Freight 2HP dust collector easily a decade or more ago... First time I ran serious quantities through the planer it just flat out clogged right up with that reticle looking thing in the inlet... I need airflow, not a bomb sight...


Those cross hairs are to keep the shop rats and cats out of the impeller. If they get in, the blood and guts will be hard to clean out. 
It keeps small children's hands out also.


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## DrRobert (Apr 27, 2015)

I have a 1HP Powertek blower dedicated to my miter saw and router table.

You’ve made me think I should check and see if there is any safety grid like that on mine.


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## Woodworking Wolf (Sep 17, 2021)

woodnthings said:


> Those cross hairs are to keep the shop rats and cats out of the impeller. If they get in, the blood and guts will be hard to clean out.
> It keeps small children's hands out also.


I must not understand this thing. How can a kid get their hand in there when a hose or pipe is hooked up? I assumed what the OP was talking about was there to stop a big chunk that might get sucked in from damaging the impeller or jamming it. Anyone have a picture so that I can understand it? I'm learning about DC systems for my new shop in a few months. Right now I just use a couple of shop vacs.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

@Woodworking Wolf
If you are hooked up to anything, no one can get their hand or cat in there. That could only happen if the dust intake is not hooked up to anything. I am not at the shop now so no pics. However you assumption is correct. There are 3 bars that come to a center point at the intake. The lighter shavings get hung on the bars.

@DrRobert
Not sure if you would need do anything with a chop saw. The chop saw usually only leaves chips. Planer shavings are really light weight shavings. The longer shavings seem to get hung/wrapped around the bars that I cut off.


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## Bob Bengal (Jan 2, 2021)

Woodworking Wolf said:


> Anyone have a picture so that I can understand it?


The photo is cropped from:








WEN DC3474 7.4-Amp Rolling Dust Collector with Induction Motor, 15-Gallon Bag and Optional Wall Mount


Powerful 7.4-amp induction motor combined with the 9-inch impeller moves up to 600 cubic feet of air per minute 4-inch dust port allows for connection to your favorite woodworking tools Mount the unit to the wall of your shop for accessible dust collection whenever you need it Features an...




wenproducts.com












In the photo the input is at bottom center, output at upper right.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

What I did was make another rolling cart. The dust collector is mounted on the bottom shelf and the planer is on the upper shelf. The height of the metal outfeed table on the planer to the floor is 1/2" higher than my rolling outfeed table so it can catch my cut-offs.


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## Woodworking Wolf (Sep 17, 2021)

@Tony B and @Bob Bengal - thanks. That makes it clear. Bob, I actually looked at that web page before posting, but didn't realize what I was looking at! I guess when they call it a dust collector, they mean it! 

I had a shop vac where the hose went into the top vertically. Inside was an upside down "T." I don't think I ever figure out what the point of it was, other than it stopped whatever you sucked up from shooting straight down into the drum. Actually, thinking about it now, I suppose it allowed the vac to more fully fill the drum by spreading what you picked up across the diameter of the drum. The problem with it was if you picked up something longer than 3" or so (like if you shaved a hair off a board), it couldn't make the turn in the T and caused the intake to plug. I removed it.

Question: if you use a cyclone attachment, anything big should fall out in that, so you wouldn't need the bars to hold out chunks and protect the impeller, correct?


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

I think you might be right on that but not sure about the size of the very light shavings not actually falling into the cyclone. I dunno. Great question


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## BP-MI (Jan 2, 2016)

Thank you for posting this. Very timely for me as I recently added at Dewalt planer and Shop Fox jointer to my shop. My DustRight separator with shop vac does the trick for most applications in my shop but it can't keep up with the planer or the jointer. 

I have a WEN DC3401 portable dust collector (Christmas gift from my Mom, I would never buy anything WEN ). Tried hooking that up to the planer and the chips got clogged at the intake screen.

I figured I night try just cutting out the filter screen and see what happens. After reading your post I am definitely going to do that. 





Tony B said:


> Cant find the old thread I started so I will start a new one now.
> I bought a WEN DC3474 7.4-Amp Rolling Dust Collector about a month or so ago. I would like to say it sucks but it didn't. - dust that is, so I returned it. Then got another one. Did a quick test and it seemed ok. Built a small rolling table for it with the DC on the bottom and my Dewalt planer on top. Tried it out this morning under combat conditions - i was actually planeing stuff. After a few minutes, it stopped collecting and sawdust and chips were backing up into my planer ant towards me. To make a long story short, the chips were building up on the grill on the intake of the collector and my shop floor was a mess.
> Anyway, I read on a thread here where someone else had same problem and cut the little bars off the intake and all worked fine so I did also. Now it really does suck - in a good way. So far.


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## _Ogre (Feb 1, 2013)

Timely post as I'm thinking about buying the small harbor fright dust collection unit. I had plans to add a thien baffle forward of the blower. The thien baffle will separate the big stuff


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

Shavings from a planer are sometimes an inch or so long. That's all it would take to block the collector if that little whatever that metal grill is called is still there.


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## LilMtnDave (12 mo ago)

@Tony B. It has been a few weeks now with your utilizing this WEN DC unit and as I am contemplating similar ...I wondered what your current appraisal is.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

@LilMtnDave 
I cut and removed that 3 legged piece of metal that blocks extremely large pieces of trash from getting into the motor. That completely fixed the problem. The shavings can now pass on through. The DC works very well. I built a separate rolling table for system. The table top height was determined by my planer's built-in outfeed table to be 1/8" higher than my table saw top which acts as an additional outfeed table. The low shelf to hold the DC and bag was measured to be as low as I could practically get it. So now the DC sucks the shavings downward from the planer into the DC and the bag. If I need to collect anything other than from the planer, I just pull the hose off the planer end and onto the device to be used. That explains the 4 wheels. I didnt use retractable wheels on this cart. I used 3 or 4" wheels with brakes from HF. I will measure the wheels in a few days for you.
Bottom line: So far, I am happy with DC now that I removed the "Grill", and the DC is also mobile with the planer hitchhiking a ride on top. The cart was made only as long as needed for the DC and Bag. Anything longer than that would be a waste of floor space.


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## LilMtnDave (12 mo ago)

Tony B said:


> @LilMtnDave
> I cut and removed that 3 legged piece of metal that blocks extremely large pieces of trash from getting into the motor. That completely fixed the problem. The shavings can now pass on through. The DC works very well. I built a separate rolling table for system. The table top height was determined by my planer's built-in outfeed table to be 1/8" higher than my table saw top which acts as an additional outfeed table. The low shelf to hold the DC and bag was measured to be as low as I could practically get it. So now the DC sucks the shavings downward from the planer into the DC and the bag. If I need to collect anything other than from the planer, I just pull the hose off the planer end and onto the device to be used. That explains the 4 wheels. I didnt use retractable wheels on this cart. I used 3 or 4" wheels with brakes from HF. I will measure the wheels in a few days for you.
> Bottom line: So far, I am happy with DC now that I removed the "Grill", and the DC is also mobile with the planer hitchhiking a ride on top. The cart was made only as long as needed for the DC and Bag. Anything longer than that would be a waste of floor space.


Thanks. Probably my next addition.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

Anyway, It's a cheap brand and the warranty ended when I cut the 4 legged guard at the intake end. I hope it lasts for a long while


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