I guess I really have been making dust lately. I noticed earlier today that the plastic collection bag under my HF DC was getting chips for the first time, instead of virtually everything going in the garbage can under the Thien separator.
Knocking on the metal can produced as dull as sound as you can imagine.
Here's the full can. Amazing how much chips jointing and planing can produce.
Someone had asked me a while ago what the inside of my separator looks like. Well, here's what it looks like caked full of wood chips:
I guess you have to empty the sucker eventually. I guess noticing wood chips in the plastic bag will be my clue (or maybe I'll just bang on the side of the metal can more often).
To judge the efficiency of the separator, imagine that 30 gal garbage can full of shavings, and less than 1/2 cup of wood shavings in the bag. Pretty impressive efficiency.