Planer extraction using shop vac

You are dead on when you differentiated between a dust vs chip extractor. Confused. Is your shop vac the industrial vacuum cleaner you speak of? Shop vac hoses are more like 2” or 2 1/4”. They do a better job of sucking saw “dust” as opposed to chips. Regardless, with the helical head you may be able to get by. My dust extraction is all shop vac and I’m happy with it. The only machines it can’t handle without some coaching are the planer and the jointer because they produce large chips. If I take light passes, depending on the wood, it can do a passable job. The helical head may make the chips small enough that they can be sucked up. You won’t know until you try, however, 1 3/8” is a small hose and it won’t suck chips, just dust.

-- Andy - Seattle USA

You won t know until you try, however, 1 3/8” is a small hose and it won t suck chips, just dust.

- Andybb

+1

Give it a try!

-- Pete

I used to have a Ridgid TP1300 13 inch lunchbox planer. I tried to use the largest shop vac Ridgid makes and a 2.25 inch hose with it. It just didn’t cut it. Based on that experience, I don’t think you will get enough air flow through your system to do an adequate job. If you install a cyclone or any other separator between the vacuum and the machine, it will make matters worse, not better. Anything you insert in series with the hose/duct will decrease air flow.

You gotta do what you gotta do. Build your collector with the maximum size hose your vacuum will handle and use the planer with very light passes to reduce the rate of dust and shavings being generated. Be prepared do dump the vac and clean the filter often.

I’ve had good luck using the leaf collection bag from my leaf blower with my dewalt 735x. amazingly, it stays put fairly well while planing.

In my case I have a Dewalt 735 planer. This is a 13” bench-top planer that is very popular. It has a very strong built-in blower. I connect it directly to a filter bag. No dust collection or shop vac needed. This setup works very well.

The Dewalt 735 is about $500, but does not have a helical cutter. However, for the price of the planer you linked, you could upgrade the Dewalt cutter and still spend less money. Also, you may find the Dewalt cutting blades work well enough for your purposes. No question if you use the planer frequently, the much more expensive helical cutter will pay for itself over time. But that may not be true with light use.

-- Clin

I don t think you will get enough air flow through your system to do an adequate job. If you install a cyclone or any other separator between the vacuum and the machine, it will make matters worse, not better. Anything you insert in series with the hose/duct will decrease air flow.

- ArtMann

+1

-- working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

The Dewalt is a different animal as it actively blows the chips out of itself so a leaf bag works with that unit but none others that I know of.

I just don’t have room for a big DC so when I use the planer or jointer I just know that the chips are busy having a convention inside there until I suck them out which you need to do as they affect the performance when they start to build up after a few passes.

It would be interesting to hear how the planer you linked to performs if you get it. It looks like a standard Delta clone that has a helical head in it but for $1100 it just mat be a good investment. It might be the least expensive way to plane figured wood without it being eaten alive.

-- Andy - Seattle USA

I use a shop vac for my DW 734, no issues.

-- Norman - I never never make a mistake, I just change the design.

Sorry for confusion. I actually have an industrial vacuum cleaner that works great for hoovering floors and dust extraction from tools and has an auto on/off function. Id get the DW735 straight away but unfortunately it does not sell in Europe. DW 733 is easily available, and it’s actually what I wanted to buy first, but I thought I’d rather invest in helical head for better finish. So buying DW733 plus importing the helical head from states would cost me a bit less than getting the above mentioned axminster planer. No hassle with changing heads and even longer warranty.

I think i have two options. Buy the axminster planer and see how the extraction works with my vacuum cleaner. If its unusable, I’d return it.
Or, buy the DW733 test it for extraction (I don’t really think it should be a problem, i have seen numerous vids on YT doing this) and upgrade to a helical head later.

Your thoughts?

I think i have two options. Buy the axminster planer and see how the extraction works with my vacuum cleaner. If its unusable, I d return it.
Or, buy the DW733 test it for extraction (I don t really think it should be a problem, i have seen numerous vids on YT doing this) and upgrade to a helical head later.

Your thoughts?

- kstano83

Or, just use a separate bag for DC on the Dewalt like in the picture above. Everyone seems to say they do a great job just using the internal fan on the Dewalt.

-- Andy - Seattle USA

That would not work that way. The DW733 doesn’t have the feature of the DW735 to blow chips out.

That would not work that way. The DW733 doesn t have the feature of the DW735 to blow chips out.

- kstano83

Oh. Sorry about that. Guess he’ll have to move to the states and get a 735! :-)

-- Andy - Seattle USA

I wish :)
Well, or maybe it does blow the chips out a little bit? https://youtu.be/3EUnyHnSoBY watch at 2:55.

I wish :)
Well, or maybe it does blow the chips out a little bit? https://youtu.be/3EUnyHnSoBY watch at 2:55.

- kstano83

You’re right. That sure looks like it’s blowing hard enough to fill a bag. Probably worth a shot.

-- Andy - Seattle USA

There is the difference, cfm and suction. That’s why you see all planers dust hood with 4” connections. Most vacuums have suction and not much cfm. You need the cfms for a planer. When I connect a 2” hose to my dust collector w/ a 2” wand, I have very little suction. It works the same with a vacuum. If you connect a 2” hose from vacuum to the 4” planer dust hood you will not have enough cfms to remove chips and dust from your planer