blower for mill

[slider]

Looking for advice. I have a shop fox 3 hp dust collector that i would like to use for extracting saw dust from my mill. It has a 8 in inlet and a 5 in outlet which i plan to convert to 6 in.
it will be mounted at the end of the mill about 12 ft up. I will not be using the bags,just blowing the dust strait out from the blower about 30 ft.
The pipe will be steel from the ball swivel to the blower . my plan is to use 6 in pvc for the outlet .customsawyer was concerned about static electricity with the pvc. I already have the pvc and would like to use it. Looking forward to your advice thanks.

[pineywoods]

Skip the pvc.  Use 6 inch metal stove pipe..cheaper, easier to install, works good. Some type of swivel will be required. I made my own  rather than the expensive ball joints.
added.  The weak point in doing this is the required flex hose. Stuff is expensive and  tears and splits. Patching with duct tape is not very effective.

[Southside]

Jake gave you very good advice. PVC will develop a static charge and it will find a path to ground resulting in a spark at some point.

[GAB]

Looking for advice. I have a shop fox 3 hp dust collector that i would like to use for extracting saw dust from my mill. It has a 8 in inlet and a 5 in outlet which i plan to convert to 6 in.
it will be mounted at the end of the mill about 12 ft up. I will not be using the bags,just blowing the dust strait out from the blower about 30 ft.
The pipe will be steel from the ball swivel to the blower . my plan is to use 6 in pvc for the outlet .customsawyer was concerned about static electricity with the pvc. I already have the pvc and would like to use it. Looking forward to your advice thanks.

If my math is correct going from 5" to 6" diameter pipe will reduce the exit velocity by approximately 30%.
Question: Will you have enough velocity in a 6" pipe to avoid plugging up?
GAB

[YellowHammer]

I replaced my PVC system after numerous times when I saw and heard numerous arcs jumping to my building.  It really does happen, the arcs look and sound like the ones from an electric fence charger.  I went with Lowes snap together metal HVAC (not stovepipe) ductwork.  It was cheap and works fine.  Snap it together, duct tape the joints and done forever.

I use a plastic swivel from Amazon, and when you get everything installed, you will never regret it.  I've been filling up my dumpster with sawdust about once a day, and I couldn't imagine dealing with shoveling that mess without the blower.  

About once every couple weeks I have to clean up the big debris under the mill such as bark and hunks that just fall off the log during sawing.  95% of the sawdust goes out of the blower.     

[slider]

Thanks for the replies and advice.

Yellowhammer i well check at lows on the snap together pipe. I was looking at air handlers products and they seem to be well made but expensive but i may go with their flex hose. amazon may be the way to go on the swivel .

GAB the blower that i already have has a 8 in inlet and a 5 in outlet . It is designed to use 2 bags which i will remove. I think i will start with it on the slab and do a test run before i mount it above the mill.

I had my mill on a 8x20 slab and was just removing the saw dust with the skid steer but now i have pored the whole shelter and could use that extra space.

[barbender]

I prefer the aluminum foil tape on duct work. As my HVAC Father in law says, "duct tape is good for everything- but ducts"😊

[DDW_OR]

following

what type of mill do you have?

YellowHammer   - any photos?

[slider]

Lt 70 No photos yet i am out of town .I will try to get photos of the blower and mill soon .

[YellowHammer]

Lots of pictures.  I'm going from the LT70 (LT40 was there prior to the LT70) to a six inch flex to a piece of straight "tension" pipe to help the flex retract and follow the same path every cycle, to a swivel, up to the metal pipe to a blast gate so I can shut the leg off if Imwant, to a "T" whose  other leg services the inside of the shop.  

Then to a 5 hp Woodmaster/Timberking blower mounted high, under the eave, then into an Oneida cyclone which spins out the dust which falls out the bottom pipe while the clean air goes out the top.  The sawdust falls into a self dumping hopper, which I empty with my forklift or front end loader.  Very little overspray. Very easy.  




 

 

 



I used to have the sawdust go into a dump truck, but "Old Smokey" died some years ago.  

[slider]

Thanks for posting the photos Robert.

[Bruno of NH]

Thanks Guys
I need to hook some thing like this up

[DDW_OR]

THANK YOU!

any photos of how it is connected to the mill?

[DWyatt]

straight "tension" pipe

Do you have the details for the tension pipe?

[YellowHammer]

I try to reduce the length of the spiral corrugated flex pipe because it really contributes to flow losses, so I use as short a piece of that as possible.  Right now I'm only using about 10 feet of flex for the whole travel  of the mill, which I think its nearly 20 feet.  Also, I have very little space between the outlet of the mill and the side of my barn, so its real important to keep my hose from kinking and getting caught under the tire.  So I learned that if I put a three or so feet piece of rigid pipe under the swivel, almost to the ground, it will eliminate several feet of flex hose and also cause the whole pipe to fall vertically and return to the exact same position on every cycle, so no kinking. So as the hose gets extended during the sawing cycle, the rigid pipe keeps tension on the flex hose and causes it to pull backwards and fall neatly back into place.  Since its usually in a near vertical position, it also seems to make the swivel twist better.  Its just a tweak that seems to work in my situation.  Also, since flex hose is sold on Amazon in 10 foot sections, when it gets old and brittle, I just order another piece and slide it on.  

Attachment of the corrugated hose couldn't be easier, simply slip the end of the corrugated hose over the discharge chute of the mill and attach it with duct tape.  There is no need of a radiator clamp, because the best thing is to put a few inches of strain relief by wrapping the tape down the corrugated pipe a few inches to reduce its flex so it don't make a sharp angle off the chute.  So even if a radiator clamp is uses, duct tape still helps provide the strain relief.

There is a large space for the debris to fall out the bottom of the discharge of the mill, at the blade catcher fingers.  The opening extends behind the fingers so does no good, so I tape that up also, not the whole opening, but enough for the large debris to fall out but enough to better seal the big opening.  

Also, it's a very good idea to lay a small length of 4x4 at an angle under the tire, as a bumper or shield to reduce the chances of the flex getting caught under the tire.

I also like to use clear flex so I can see the sawdust shooting up it, as well as see it if it ever clogs.

All these little tweaks help a to reduce the stress on the flex pipe and cause it to last much longer and its a good idea to get some rated for cold temperatures.  

For blowers, simpler is better, If you can get a strong dust collector of CL or whatever, remove everything but the blower and it will work.  I've used as small as a 3 hp Grizzly, but the 5 Hp is much better.

Putting a blower on the mill is the best thing thing I ever did and considering I empty the bin most every day, I couldn't imagine shoveling that much sawdust.

[pineywoods]

For blowers, simpler is better, If you can get a strong dust collector of CL or whatever, remove everything but the blower and it will work.  I've used as small as a 3 hp Grizzly, but the 5 Hp is much better.

Putting a blower on the mill is the best thing thing I ever did and considering I empty the bin most every day, I couldn't imagine shoveling that much sawdust.

X2 on Yellowhammers advice...Also, don't leave off the swivels, without at least 1, the flex hose will kink and rip. I use a 2hp blower off a harbor freight dust collector, works fine.

[Ews]

Thanks very much for sharing.  We have a similar system that is kind of a hodgepodge that developed over the years.  We have 4" flex hose from the saw's discharge chute to a 5 HP 2,500 CFM Murphy-Rodgers blower positioned 8' up the wall, then transition to 6"(?) metal duct, blow the dust ~10 feet further up, 30 feet over, and then down into grain wagons. I rigged it so the out-feed end of the duct could be lowered or raised depending on the height of the wagon being used, but unless there is a large gap between the end of the hose and the lip of the wagon the velocity of air coming out of the duct blows fine dust out of the wagon.  Of course, if you leave a large gap, that same fine dust gets blown about by the breeze.  If anyone has suggestions on how to lessen the velocity at the end of the hose, it would be appreciated.  I was thinking of putting a cyclone above the wagon with hose dropping from it to the lip of the wagon?  Not looking forward to securing a cyclone to a 20'+ ceiling, though, so if anyone has other suggestions...

Any input on the best flex duct to use for this purpose? My second to last hose was 30 mil clear urethane and it completely failed after 10 months - the urethane was de-laminating from itself at points all along the entire length.  So I got some 45 mil and 8-9 months later the 90% of the hose in the center is holding for now, but we've had to trim ends a couple times as they failed (again swivels should help) and it's going to get too short in the near future. Clearly I need to install swivels, but after that is 60 mil going to be that much more durable than 45, or because it is less flexible is it actually going to fail faster at the inflection points?

And does anyone also use a floor sweep around their mill/edger or does this just get clogged/introduce too much large debris to the blower?

[Corley5]

Run a piece of wire in PVC and ground it.