Sawdust

[egel]

We are useing a drag chain for sawdust removal on our circle saw. we are going to put in a blower system. Does any one have opinion? What type,size and what size motor do we need Any and all advice is appreciated
                                              egel

[sawdust]

Egel, go and check this out, it has some incredible info. I am using the info (my own version) to build a blower.

http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/BudBlower.cfm

Takes a bit to find what you are after, there are actual drawings. I scaled down his 16 inch blower plans to 12.5 inches. I eliminated the cyclone separator and will just discharge the sawdust.

[Frickman]

We had run a drag chain years ago. Switched over to a blower in the 80's and have never looked back. We like it alot better because it will blow sawdust a long way.

[Ron Wenrich]

You just needed a longer chain.   :D

I had a dust drag that I made out of old corn picker chain.  I went to the local equipment graveyard and scavenged the chain off of 3 old pickers.  That thing would pull out sticks and anything else that wasn't fastened down.  It ran off of an old Model T rear end and had a flat belt to the mandrel. 

We went over to blowers when we started to sell by the trailerload. 

[jdunmyer]

I kinda like my sawdust drag chain. Uses a 1/3Hp electric motor instead of the 3Hp or so required for a blower and doesn't clog up with pieces of bark, etc. It does have the limitation of direction of discharge, it's not easy to put the sawdust pile "just anywhere".

And, of course a drag chain is more traditional.  :D

[egel]

Jim, are you the one I taked to Mon. night about my hydrulic control? The trouble I have is getting the sawdust on the drag chain. Do you use pattles or a sq. link chain?   The gathering chain that Ron talked about soundes like a good idea.
                                                             Thanks egel

[Ron Wenrich]

There's 2 ways to use a drag chain.  One is to build a trough and let the chain drag through it.  This is OK and not as messy.  But, sticks and bark can be a problem.

The other way is to let the chain drag from the bottom.  The sawdust will build up its own ramp and spread out, the higher the pile.

I always sent mine out to a pole with a sprocket on top. The setup with the Model T rear had 3 sprockets.  One was on the rear, one was on the pole, and one was directly overhead of the saw.  It formed a triangle and worked really well.  I used a board overhead so in case it broke it wouldn't fall onto the saw.  And, I boxed in the area where it came from over head to underneath.  That way you wouldn't get anything caught in a moving chain.

I've always used the square chain.  You can get paddle links and either put some heavy duty plastic or you can put on a piece of wood.  If you can get the metal corn picker paddles, they work great.  You just have to watch it around a saw. 

[rpg52]

Ron,
I'mtrying to plan out a drag chain for my little Belsaw mill, unfortunately I'm not near any farm scrapyards for scavenged chain from farm equipment.  I'm hoping to move the sawdust into a funnel into the back of a truck with an arborists dumping chipbox on the back.  Is the sawpit lined with sheet metal to catch the dust?  Is the trough lined with sheet metal or built of wood?  As you can tell, I've only seen photos of the chains and am trying to design something that will work.
Ray

[Dave Shepard]

I just finished installing a vacuum system on our mill. Look for my thread in this section about hooking up a vac to an LT40, this will show some pics of how I set it up. We had to have a vac for our planer, so I decided to hook up the mill and edger as well. The system works well, but I would prefer a drag chain type of system for the edger, as there are always little chips and bark pieces falling in to the chute. I would also like the drag chain so that I could sweep the debarkings on the floor into it. I debark on the mill sometimes with a LOGWIZARD. A friend of mine has a circular mill with a Clay barn cleaner running from the blade all the way under the track and out to a pile. There is also an eight inch blower that was set up under the main saw, but it would get clogged with bark and the long stringy sawdust that sometimes comes off the mill.


Dave

[Ron Wenrich]

All the sawdust pits I've ever seen were just a hole in the ground.  No boards, no metal.  Mine used to fill up with water on occasion and I just run the dust drag until it all came out.   :D

If you're going to use a trough, don't bother going to the expense of lining it with metal.  Through wear and tear, the wood will become just as smooth as metal, and its a whole lot cheaper.

As for chain, you're looking for detachable steel chain.  New, its about $4-5/ft.  You can also buy links that you can put a paddle onto.

We use a barn cleaner under our debarker, and I've seen it run under entire mills.  For our current mill, we have a vibrating conveyor under the saw that we also dump slabs into.  It then takes slabs and sawdust towards the chipper.  Before the chipper, there is a steel grate that allows the sawdust to drop down and get blown into a dust trailer.  The slabs keep on going into the chipper.

[Don P]

I'm running a roughly 13" wheel blower on a Belsaw. The next will be taller and maybe narrower. It does a pretty good job though. I bent my first paddle yesterday, was poking dust to the chute under the sawblade and poked in a pretty good knot, about 5 seconds later, K-Whap. The paddles are 1/8" steel welded to a 1/2" circular plate