curley fries

[fredbelknap]

I'm still having problems with the curly fries from the lathe getting caught on the impeller of my dust collector. I can't easily reach it to clean them off as there is a guard over the 6" intake and the exhaust has 8 bolts to take out. I thinking of cutting the protective cage over the inlet off so I can reach my hand into the impeller and remove the curly fries. Never had this till I got a lathe. The curly fries cause a vibration.

[bmorto]

Would a cyclone in front of the blower inlet trap the shavings?
bmorto

[TDHofstetter]

I'd sure rather see you keep that cage in place... otherwise, sooner or later you'll suck something in that's bigger than the gap between the impeller & the housing & you'll morph up the DC something AWFUL before it gets stopped.

Maybe a combination of some sorta' cyclone thingie and (if that's not enough) a smaller-mesh screen to catch the fries before they get to the impeller? Na - that'd cause a backup in the DC. Just a separator box before the DC would work, though - the fries'll drop to the bottom of the box.

[fredbelknap]

I don't have room for a cyclone, I have thought about a collector before the blower, might work. The duct work is only about a foot off the floor. Right now I'm thinking removing the guard, quick and easy. Tim's right though, maybe I can make a removable guard that I can put back in.

[rhull]

I use one of these Veritas cyclone lids on a roughneck (?) garbage can. You might need a metal can with a powerful collector.

www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=30282&cat=1,42401&ap=1

Works really well to prevent to clogging at the impeller of the collector.