Clog at the bottom of the cyclone

T

Tmoon Wood

New member
I was planing some material and the cyclone clogged and the material did not drop into the barrel. This caused the material to be pushed to the filter. This, of course, clogged the filter and the cyclone lost all suction. I cleared the filters and then ran the unit and it happened again. I think the clog of material is caused by the 6 inch flex pipe. I am wondering if I use a 10 inch pipe around the cone of the cyclone and into the barrel so there is no restriction. Does anyone know about this problem?
 
Apologies, but starting with the simplest question first - is your flex pipe installed inside, or outside, of the cone?
 
just a thought and it might not help but it can't hurt--next time you are running the same set-up I would open another blast gate (at least a little) and see if the extra intake might help prevent the clogging:confused:
 
The only cases where I've seen or heard of clogging like this are when the bin has filled and has blocked sawdust and chips from dropping down into the bin. It would seem that if you allowed your system to operate long enough to fill your filters and to reduce the suction, that you need to check your bin fill more frequently or to add a bin level sensor such as the one available from ClearVue Cyclones to avoid this very situation. It also sounds as if your cyclone and bin are not in easy view of your shop activity -- a planer will produce lots of chips and will fill a small capacity bin pretty quickly. If your cyclone is outside the shop, all the more reason to add a bin sensor. It would detect this situation immediately.
 
Thank you for your suggestions. My cyclone is not in the same room. I have a 55 gallon drum and the first thing I checked was the level in the drum and it was about a quarter full. I think the problem may be the fluffy shavings from the planer building up too fast and hanging up in the relatively tight space of the 6 inch drop pipe.
 
My guess is that you have a significant leak somewhere between the bottom of the cyclone and the bottom of the bin. I think the updraft must be enough to collect a lot of shavings so they eventually bunch up. I have one of Ed's Rigid replacement top cyclones which is a scaled down version of the CV1800. The opening is about 2 inches at the bottom. I've had that clog with long (10 to 12 inch) bowl shavings but never with shavings like you get from a planer.
bababrown
 
It seems like I have read of some similar issues mentioned elsewhere on the forum. I have about 16" of flex at the bottom of my cyclone and virtually nothing ever makes it to the filters.

This, though, is not the complete picture and isn't an option for those with lower ceilings. Any vacuum leaks in the dust bin or cyclone itself can cause real problems. All of the plastic to wood junctions of the impeller and cyclone exhaust transition need to be fully caulked. Also, make sure that all of the seams in your dust bin are well caulked.

It seems that any leaks from the impeller down can cause improper collection in the dust bin.

I hope this helps.
 
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