Rockler dust separaters

[poolhound]

I just bought one (5 gal size) of these from rockler.



I was dubious about its effectiveness but when I tried it (initailly by dumping the contents of my shop vac onto the floor and sucking it back up again) I was amazed that most of the chips and dust stayed in the bucket. I dont really have room for a 30gal can but would like more capacity that a 5 gal bucket.

Has anybody tried fitting a 5gal bucket to the top of something else to increase capacity? Does it stil work?

I guess I could try this but can you use one of these with a trash liner in the bucket or will it just try and suck it up? If you can then it makes life easier.

Jon

[jhart]

I have the 2 hp HF collector and added a seperator made from a 32 gal. plastic trash can, a 3/4" plywood circle and a couple pieces of 4" pvc. The top was along the lines of what Pappy did for his (thanks for the ideas Don). It seems to work pretty well for me. Do a search and it will show some pictures of Pappy's and others.

[Carlos]

I used a metal trash can, works very well and has high capacity. Didn't lose a huge amount of space.

[poolhound]

Looks great Carlos, one day I hope I will have a shop big enough to a have a full size DC but right now I have to share my space with 2 cars in the garage. No room for a 32 gal trash can let alone a DC. For now I will need to stick to my 5gal solution.

I was still wondering if you can put a trash liner in these so you can just throw the contents away when it fills up rather than having to tip it into a loose bag.

Jon

[LCHIEN]

...
I was still wondering if you can put a trash liner in these so you can just throw the contents away when it fills up rather than having to tip it into a loose bag.

Jon

why don't you just try it? how much is a bag? $0.25?

[poolhound]

why don't you just try it? how much is a bag? $0.25?

LOL - I think I can manage a quarter but I am on the road right now and there is no BT3 or dust collector in my hotel room.

This week Portland OR, Next week Hannover Germany. I do have a couple of days in between so I will make it my highest priority.

I may even try different bags anddrop a whole $1

Jon

[os1kne]

If you put the trashbag in the can, I think that you will need to put something inside the bag to keep it from collapsing or rising up. I use a bucket separator that I got from HF a few years ago and it works surprisingly well (after some minor modifications the get it to fit the shop vac hoses). I haven't tried to put a bag in the bucket, but I suspect it would collapse/lift up and clog the outflow hole.

Good luck.

[cgallery]

You can roll up a piece of laminate or some other sheet good that rolls and insert it in the can (after installing the bag). Let go of the roll and it will expand and hold the bag firmly against the walls of the can.

Before removing the bag, slide the rolled material out and save for the next empty bag.

Of course, the rolled material has to be cut so it is no taller than the can.

[poolhound]

I was also concerned about the bag being sucked up. I like the laminate idea.

I will give it a try when I get home, wont be until Fri/Saturday.

Jon

[os1kne]

I like the laminate idea also. It seems like a piece of posterboard or something similar would also work if you don't have a piece of laminate available.

[poolhound]

I tried experiment number 1 yesterday - placing a trashbag in the container. I guess it was no real suprize that the vacum just sucked it up after a few seconds once it had got going.

I didnt have anythink suitable or the right size to try lining the trashbag but I think that may work. I guess I could put a brick in there but then fishing out the brick would be very messy

Am heading out of town again so more experiments next weekend.

Jon