Bag gripper/method for holding bag in chip drum?

O

ondablade

New member
Hi guys. I've seen solutions that propose using mechanical (a drop in metal hoop) and vacuum means to stop the plastic bag in the chip drum getting sucked up into the fan - but no concrete reports of either methods successfully in use.

I'm thinking that a vacuum tapping taken from the fan inlet and connected to the drum might do the job, and be reliable. (to get a bag drawn up through the fan wouldn't be the best) Oneida have a system they call their 'Bag Gripper', but it seem to possibly use a separate vacuum pump.

Can anybody report successfully using this or a similar method? Pros/cons?

Thanks
 
I’ve been using a ‘Lawson Easy Bagger’ from Ace Hardware in my mini cyclone for about a year and it works great. This is a vinyl sheet that unrolls inside the bag. I cut it down to size to fit the bin, placed it inside the bag, then placed that inside the bin and let it unroll. The bag is held in place by folding it over the top edge of the easy bagger and secured with some binder clips. I recently installed one in my big cyclone using the same method with 8 of the 1 ¼ inch binder clips. The bin is a 30gal trash can that I cut off about 5in. at the bottom to make it shorter. I ran the cyclone for a while with nothing in the bag and didn’t have any problems with it trying to be pulled into the cyclone. The inlet to the bin is a 6 in. plexiglas tube so I could see some of the bag at the bottom of the bin. The air does swirl around in the bin but it shouldn’t get sucked out unless you have a leak. I haven’t tried to lift the bag out yet but it is almost full. The inlet to the bin extends below the lid about 2 1/2 inches to make it easier for clean up when it is full.
 
I've seen a circular wooden disk almost the size of the bin with most of the center cut out. From the thin band that is left there are maybe a dozen long dowels pointing straight down with rounded tips. (Like a tall 12 leg stool!) The whole thing slips into the plastic bag.

The dowels hold the bag down and out during use, and when full, the whole assembly lifts easily out of the bag.

Haven't made one yet, but it looked like a clever solution.
 
David...........that sounds like a very good idea. But, unless the builder is very-very good, only 3 of the legs would ever touch the bottom. I think I would go with 3ea. 3/4" or larger dowels rounded on the bottoms.
Gary
 
It is not at all critical how long they are. Whether 3 or all 12 touch the bottom of the bin, it will keep the bag down and away from the cyclone. More legs keeps it away from the center. Six may well be optimal.
 
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