[WillTheEngineer]

Hello,
How important is a Dust Collector (DC) clean out box (or bag) below a two stage DC? This is the box, bucket, or bag below a filter, that collects the fine particles, not collected in a cyclone or separator.

I notice some DC's don't have them.

I ask because I'm finishing building a cabinet two stage DC (White Super Dust Deputy, harbor freight DC, and Wynn nano filter). However to save space, the HF DC will be blowing in a chamber that the Wynn filter is mounted to upside down. This I'm debating on leaving the bottom of the filter closed and cleaning it more, or cutting an opening & mounting a box, bucket, or bag to the bottom.

My use will only be about 5-10 hours a month.

Anyone with a cyclone set-up, have any input on how much dust is collected in a clean out box?

Thank you

 

[wapakfred]

Not at all important, IMHO. The most use mine gets is when I clean the filter. the first thing I do is slap the sides of the filter to dislodge any dust in the pleats (which is where most of it goes) out, that dust falls into the catch can (in my case). Every once in a while if a heavier piece/shaving/chip gets past the cyclone, ti will wind up in that can…doesn't happen often. So, if you just had a blank at the bottom of the filter this stuff would just be laying on top of it. With my cyclone most of the finest dust gets to the filter (thanks to a very poor basic design of the cyclone body) and very little of that winds up in the can…it almost all goes to the filter. In my case it's so bad I had to put a gauge on it to judge when the filter needs cleaning.

 

[WillTheEngineer]

Fred, thanks for the helpful info! I'm trying to talk myself out of the extra work, and it's time I could be working on other projects…

I'm thinking cleaning it once a month with a shop vac & compressed air, will keep it clean.

 

[buildingmonkey]

My cyclone filter is open on the bottom, so I just use a big hose clamp to fasten a bag to the bottom of the filter. That way if I overfill the barrel, a lot of the sawdust will wind up in the bag instead of the filter.

 

[WillTheEngineer]

Jim, that's a good point I had org thought about, but had forgotten..empty the trash can more often to keep the dust to a minimum.

Thanks..