Vacuum Systems for Planers

General Discussion
1

Chipfish is going to mess my shed up soon when he does his new mal. I have a Vax indoor/outdoor vacuum cleaner with a capacity of around 2 gallons.

Has anyone got a system where the foam ends up in a larger capacity bin so we don’t have to continually empty the cleaner?

thanks

Hicksy

2

Harbor Freight has vacuum baggers available, haven’t ever used one though…

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=31810

P

3

Thanks mate, good idea but I’ve got a vacuum cleaner that sucks (hehehe) so I’m sort of looking at this order of assembly

Planer - Hose - Bin - Vacuum Cleaner just not too sure about the bin setup.

cheers

Hicksy

4

Don’t know what your vacuum looks like, but if it is similar to the design of shop vac’s here in the US you can adapt it to a bigger bin. Get a 30-33 gal trash can and a piece of plywood to fit on top where the lid goes. Cut the bottom off the can on the vacuum with a cutting wheel. Cut a hole in the plywood to fit the O.D. of the can and fit the can into the hole. Seal around the hole with caulk and rig the plywood to the trash can handles with bungee cords. Also put some foam weatherstrip around the lip of the trash can to seal against the plywood. You still must use a paper filter (or a bag?) and brush it off when it loads. This is the same setup that Clark uses on their vacuum system.

5

Haven’t tried these, but looks good!

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?SID=&ccurrency=2&page=30282&category=1,42401

6

Herb Spitzer found some fiberboard containers that fit his shop vac head. He can probably provide more details… see lower left below:

7
Quote:
Don't know what your vacuum looks like, but if it is similar to the design of shop vac's here in the US you can adapt it to a bigger bin. Get a 30-33 gal trash can and a piece of plywood to fit on top where the lid goes. Cut the bottom off the can on the vacuum with a cutting wheel. Cut a hole in the plywood to fit the O.D. of the can and fit the can into the hole. Seal around the hole with caulk and rig the plywood to the trash can handles with bungee cords. Also put some foam weatherstrip around the lip of the trash can to seal against the plywood. You still must use a paper filter (or a bag?) and brush it off when it loads. This is the same setup that Clark uses on their vacuum system.

This is what I see our local shapers using - guys doing hundreds of boards a year. One shop vac, trash can, and planer for thousands of boards (emptying the trash, of course).

8

Clark Foam planer vac system…see page 93-94:

http://www.fiberglasssupply.com/pdf/blanks/FSBlankCatalog.pdf

9

Great ideas people, now I’ve got a better idea of what to do.

I’ll post piccies of my setup when it’s ready.

Thanks to everyone for your input.

cheers

Hicksy

10

Here is the one I finally fininished about an hour ago. I just had to pull down a blank and run the planer across it. Yahoo! no dust. I will still wear a mask though but no more motocross googles just safety glasses. The pvc drops off on the other side of the wall and I sanded down a street el so the shop vac would attach to it.Got about $50.00 into it including the flex hose from foam e z.http://image18.webshots.com/18/3/65/76/218236576PjcPIu_ph.jpg