Sawdust collection hassle

[paul simonson]

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Hi all,
I have a cyclone sitting on top of a good sized strong container as shown above that I use to hook up to power tools for sawdust and wood removal extraction. It works well, but it's a major pain in the butt when it comes time to empty the container as I cannot have a bag in there and i have to manually scoop out all the fine dust etc and put it into a bag for disposal. I can't put a bag in as when the bag is empty the suction would presumably rip it or suck it up and block the tubing.
I'm fairly new to woodworking and suspect there must be a similar product already on the market that uses bags that can be easily detached when full?
Any ideas appreciated!

[Bill Berklich]

Couple of options 1) run a 1.5" vacuum line from your collector pipe to a hole at the bottom of the barrel. It will equalize the pressure and keep the bag in place I think Grizzly and Laguna do this 2) you can slide a retainer down inside the bag to hold it in place 3) you can toss a piece of scrap in the bottom of the bag to hold it down.

All three suffer from a critical flaw. Because of the roll-home at the top of your plastic barrel you won't be able to pull the bag up and out once it is filled.

[glenn bradley]

That barrel shape is working against you if you want to use bags. I chose a 35 gallon straight sided bin for this reason. A larger bin means a heavier bag and I'm not getting any younger. A sheet of formica or other laminate as Bill mentions was my intention. Simply using the bag has never been a problem in my cyclone so I never moved to getting the retainer. YMMV.

[John K Jordan]

Some people use a wire rack that fits inside the bag to hold it down. But I agree, it seems it would be impossible to remove a bag stuffed with chips and sawdust. I'm wondering why not just take the thing outside and dump it? I do that with the 30 gal metal bin under my cyclone (dump it in the woods near the shop!)

If you want to bag for disposal a rack could be devised to hold the bag open. When I want to bag sawdust I take it outside, stretch a bag over the end, and invert the container. (While wearing a dust mask!)

[Greg Parrish]

Add a drum liner. That's what Oneida does
https://www.oneida-air.com/inventory.asp?CatId={E73B4361-F6D4-44D5-A815-E35ECB580382}
https://www.oneida-air.com/inventoryD.asp?item_no=ABX000055&CatId={E73B4361-F6D4-44D5-A815-E35ECB580382}

[Bill Adamsen]

Wouldn't a drum with no air leaks allow a liner to remain in place? Otherwise what John suggests should work.

[Bill Dufour]

You could put a five gallon bucket in there to catch most of the chips.

[Sam Murdoch]

You could build yourself a plywood box with a door on the side near the bottom. Add wheels so that you can roll outside for the transfer into another container. I use 55 gal drum liners I can buy from HD or others. Lawn bags are good too. These can be recycled for at least 2 runs to the compost pile at the local transfer station (or to your back yard hole).

Of course the door needs a good gasket and latch. The door needs to be as wide as a small flat shovel or dust pan. Anyway you do it - short of collecting dust directly outside to a dumpster, trailer or panel truck - dust collection and transfer is a pain.

[Kevin Jenness]

If there are no leaks in the cyclone/drum area the bag won't be sucked up. If there are leaks, you will get chips and excessive dust in your filters. You can use an incense stick to track down leaks, then fix them with gub or weatherstripping as appropriate.

Using bags will minimize handling and dust exposure. The 6 mil poly bags I get from American Fabric Filter can be reused dozens of times.