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Last Sunday I was puttering around in the shop, tying up a few loose ends related to a recent shuffling of a few of my tools. One of these loose ends was to modify my dust collection piping network. Specifically, I was shortening the drop that formerly served the router table (one of the tools that moved) so it can connect to the drill press (which didn't move, but until now has had no DC provisions at all).
All was proceeding routinely until I pulled the PVC fittings and blast gate off the lower end of the vertical drop, and an alarming amount of dust showered down onto the floor.
"Uh-oh," I thought. "Never seen that happen before ... must be a blockage somewhere?"
I happened to remember just then that when I'd moved the router table a few days earlier, I'd found more than the usual amount of stray dust in the corners of its collection box. And, glancing around, it dawned on me that over the last couple of weeks, the shop had slowly but surely gotten a bit more dusty than normal. Dust collection at the miter saw, always substandard at best, had lately been non-existent. Same thing at the belt/spindle sander.
Hmm.
I grabbed the length of 4" hose from the router table, plugged its quick-disconnect fitting into the end of the drop I was working on, switched on the DC unit, and stooped down to vacuum up the dust that had fallen out. Usually, any dust or shavings within eight or 10 inches of the end of an open hose disappears like the Millennium Falcon jumping to light speed. Now, the system was drawing so little air that I had to position the hose end directly atop the debris to move it at all.
"Uh-oh," I thought again. "This is not good."
And that's when I noticed how quiet the DC seemed. Lately I've been trying to be more responsible about wearing hearing protection in the shop, really I have, and now that I was listening to the DC without my muffs on I realized that here was another important clue I'd missed. I also noticed how lethargically the contents of the clear bottom bag were swirling around.
And then it hit me: I've been cutting an awful lot of MDF lately.
Walking over to the DC unit, I put my hand up against the cannister filter, feeling for airflow. Nothing. I gave it a whack with my palm. A faint breath of air. Another, harder whack. The breath became a minor breeze. Still more whacking, and in less than a minute the DC was howling like its old self and the miniature tornado in the bottom bag was going like gangbusters.
Let's stay on top of that cannister maintenance, boys. Mine was almost completely plugged; a decrease in performance like I experienced can sneak up on you quicker than you'd think. A regular beating or blow-out with compressed air will help keep your DC system performing at its best.
All was proceeding routinely until I pulled the PVC fittings and blast gate off the lower end of the vertical drop, and an alarming amount of dust showered down onto the floor.
"Uh-oh," I thought. "Never seen that happen before ... must be a blockage somewhere?"
I happened to remember just then that when I'd moved the router table a few days earlier, I'd found more than the usual amount of stray dust in the corners of its collection box. And, glancing around, it dawned on me that over the last couple of weeks, the shop had slowly but surely gotten a bit more dusty than normal. Dust collection at the miter saw, always substandard at best, had lately been non-existent. Same thing at the belt/spindle sander.
Hmm.
I grabbed the length of 4" hose from the router table, plugged its quick-disconnect fitting into the end of the drop I was working on, switched on the DC unit, and stooped down to vacuum up the dust that had fallen out. Usually, any dust or shavings within eight or 10 inches of the end of an open hose disappears like the Millennium Falcon jumping to light speed. Now, the system was drawing so little air that I had to position the hose end directly atop the debris to move it at all.
"Uh-oh," I thought again. "This is not good."
And that's when I noticed how quiet the DC seemed. Lately I've been trying to be more responsible about wearing hearing protection in the shop, really I have, and now that I was listening to the DC without my muffs on I realized that here was another important clue I'd missed. I also noticed how lethargically the contents of the clear bottom bag were swirling around.
And then it hit me: I've been cutting an awful lot of MDF lately.
Walking over to the DC unit, I put my hand up against the cannister filter, feeling for airflow. Nothing. I gave it a whack with my palm. A faint breath of air. Another, harder whack. The breath became a minor breeze. Still more whacking, and in less than a minute the DC was howling like its old self and the miniature tornado in the bottom bag was going like gangbusters.
Let's stay on top of that cannister maintenance, boys. Mine was almost completely plugged; a decrease in performance like I experienced can sneak up on you quicker than you'd think. A regular beating or blow-out with compressed air will help keep your DC system performing at its best.
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