suggestions on dust collector

[xlogger]

Finally got power to my slab shed and want to get rid of my two bag collector. I've looked at wall collectors to put outside in a side shed that I'll build so I can use tractor to scoop out. The collector will be about 7-8 ft high 5 ft from planer. What hp motor and place to get one do you suggest?

[WDH]

I run this one and it works great.  Blows the shavings outside.  The pic is the blower mounted on a little table high on the side wall.  It blows the shavings into a big pile and the FFA students that show pigs come and take it away to use in their pig pens. 

2HP - Single Phase Motor Blower: 1350CFM at Penn State Industries



 

[Brad_bb]

That is a great looking set up, WDH!  I've been using a 1.5HP blower motor on a 16" planer and If I were buying a new one I'd get the 2hp WDH linked to.  This assumed that this is a dedicated blower for just the planer and it is in close proximity (duct length) like WDH shows.

[Larry]

A made in the USA Murphy Rogers with a 3 HP Baldor motor.  I see from the date on the picture I installed it 8 years ago.  I bought it well used at a factory auction for $100 and built the stand.  Its plumbed all over the shop with 8 inlets.  It gets an extreme work out with long green wood shavings off the wood lathe.  Been trouble free and never clogs.

My planer has a Shellix spiral head which makes small chips.  Easy for a dust collector to handle, 2 HP should work well.

Looks like WDH ran 6" pipe which is a good idea.

[WDH]

Yes. 6" pipe to inlet of blower, 5" pipe outlet from the blower.  The planer has a 4" outlet so you have to use a 4" to 6" adapter to then run the 6" pipe to the inlet of the blower.  BTW, Penn State Industries has all the pipe and such that you need to build the system and they also have an Engineer available to give advice/answer questions.  At least they did when I built my system.

I now have a different planer, an Oliver 25", and this set up still works well with it.  I also installed a blast gate so that I could plumb in a 12" jointer, so I only run one machine at a time since I do it all alone. 



 

[Walnut Beast]

That sure looks nice 👍 

[xlogger]

Danny what amps does it need?

[WDH]

Running amps are 10@220V.

[YellowHammer]

I use a 5 hp Woodmaster blower, into a Oneida Cyclone, which spins out the sawdust and drop it into a bin, and the air goes out the top.  



 

[kantuckid]

My setup looks pretty much identical to the WDH version except mine uses a 1/2hp motor that came attached to the cast aluminum impeller and housing which was part of a surplus universities small wind tunnel. Knowing what mines does were I looking for a similar setup I'd be into industrial suppliers and searching out blowers. Mine easily keeps up with my 18" planer and blows into a plywood box outside the shop. I mostly leave the box bottom off and it piles up until I stop putting off removal in a wheelbarrow using a snow shovel.
My sawmill dust is done using my FEL bucket. 

[alan gage]

Yes. 6" pipe to inlet of blower, 5" pipe outlet from the blower.  The planer has a 4" outlet so you have to use a 4" to 6" adapter to then run the 6" pipe to the inlet of the blower.  BTW, Penn State Industries has all the pipe and such that you need to build the system and they also have an Engineer available to give advice/answer questions.  At least they did when I built my system.

I now have a different planer, an Oliver 25", and this set up still works well with it.  I also installed a blast gate so that I could plumb in a 12" jointer, so I only run one machine at a time since I do it all alone.  

This picture is much better than the first one. I was concerned with the lack of clutter in the original.
Alan

[WDH]

The first pic was taken when everything, including the planer room, was grand spanking new.  Some of the shine has been rubbed off after over 100,000 bf planed in there .  

[Walnut Beast]

I use a 5 hp Woodmaster blower, into a Oneida Cyclone, which spins out the sawdust and drop it into a bin, and the air goes out the top.  

I think that's what you mean? Do you have the cyclone on the end to drop it gently in the bin. Other applications I've seen call for the cyclone to be before the blower

[xlogger]

Running amps are 10@220V.

What hp motor? How do you like it so far? Spiral head? I used my 20" yesterday in new shed, 25 would be nice.

[WDH]

10 HP 220V single phase 43 amps.  Requires a 60 amp breaker.  Gives me the power and the width I was lacking on the wide thick slabs.  My LT40HDD35 can saw 24" wide but the original planer could only plane 19 7/8" wide, so I had a mismatch in capability.  Too many time I had to trim down a really nice wide slab because it was a couple of inches too wide.  Also, I had to make more passes to plane the big slabs.  The Oliver cuts the passes and planing time about one third to one half.  I am getting too old to man-handle these thick wide slabs, so this planer will extend my working life capability, take less of a toll on my body, make the work more enjoyable ((I hated to plane thick wide heavy slabs) and that is far more important than the cost of the machine.

[xlogger]

I know what you are talking about Danny, getting older and slower here. I keep saying I'm not buying anything else but looking at this planer hard. I've plan a few time to time in my garage but now I've moved it out to my shed building I'm doing more. Did you get the Byrd head also?

[xlogger]

I was just looking at the Oliver site and was wondering if someone got the 3 phase 15 hp and got a 3 phase converter how would that work? You would have 5 more hp and I would think it would be lots more powerful.

[YellowHammer]

The Oliver and Powermatic planers are virtually identical.  When my Powermatic planer had a bearing issues, the company sent me an Oliver repair sheet, then they sent me a Powermatic one.  Even the illustration and photos of the machine were the same, all they did was change out the names.  So from my personal experience the Powermatic/Oliver planer that Danny has is absolutely first class and will last until he gets too tired to feed wood through it.  For normal 4/4 boards, 6 to 10 inches wide, it will be a non event.  

Although Powermatic doesn't offer a 10 hp single phase in this style model, Oliver does, which is significant.  

A 15 hp 3 phase would have more power than a 10hp, especially if using it off facility 3 phase line power, but my experience with phase converters is that although they supply the power, they have a lower conversion efficiency, so a 15 hp 3 phase run off a phase converter would feel like a 12 or 13 hp single phase, or maybe less.  I know that my 15 hp, 3 phase SLR runs off a phase converter, and sometimes struggles with thick wood, while my buddy has the exact same model running off 3 phase line power and his machine is much "snappier."  I feel like my is down several virtual hp simply due to the physics of the phase converter.  

Of course, a 10 hp single phase eats power, and will take substantial wiring to feed it.

No doubt, Danny has an exceptional planer. It's also a pretty blue color. 

  

[WDH]

Oliver made a stock spiral head and also offered the Byrd head.  As luck would have it, Oliver discontinued their generic stock spiral head recently and now only offer the Byrd head, but when I ordered the planer back in July, there was one of the stock heads left, and I got it.  I got the stock head over the Byrd because of cost.  Both had the 4-sided replaceable inserts, but the Byrd was more expensive.  Now you can only get that planer with knives (No! Don't do it!) or the Byrd head. 

I went with single phase because I am over 1/4 mile from the main powerline, and I did not want to go through all the hoops to add in the equipment to be able to convert single phase to 3 phase power.  I talked with Yellowhammer about how to check my voltages to be sure that I had enough voltage to power the 10 HP single phase, and his help was invaluable. 

[muggs]

I have run 3 phase motors off of a phase converter. I have a dyno, I tested the motors on the dyno. I got between 80 and 90 percent of name plate horsepower out of the motors. So there is a loss of power. 

[xlogger]

Oliver made a stock spiral head and also offered the Byrd head.  As luck would have it, Oliver discontinued their generic stock spiral head recently and now only offer the Byrd head, but when I ordered the planer back in July, there was one of the stock heads left, and I got it.  I got the stock head over the Byrd because of cost.  Both had the 4-sided replaceable inserts, but the Byrd was more expensive.  Now you can only get that planer with knives (No! Don't do it!) or the Byrd head.  

I went with single phase because I am over 1/4 mile from the main powerline, and I did not want to go through all the hoops to add in the equipment to be able to convert single phase to 3 phase power.  I talked with Yellowhammer about how to check my voltages to be sure that I had enough voltage to power the 10 HP single phase, and his help was invaluable.

I ran 100 amps out to the new shed, on the voltage I can't remember what he said I had but he check it and was happy. So how much voltage do you need. I'm still back and forth on getting one.

[doc henderson]

I think you want it to be what it is supposed to be for your area.  110 to 120 per leg.  ie 220 to 240 V for equipment to run your stuff.  the key is for a given amount of work like a motor, if the voltage drops the current draw (or amps) goes up, and this can flip the breaker or be hard on the motor.  watts =  amps x volts.  good luck.  @YellowHammer 

[WDH]

At the 100 amp panel box at my planer shed, incoming voltage on both legs, A& B combined, was 238 volts.  Voltage on leg A was 122 volts.  On leg B 119 volts.  

When the test was done, I still had my old planer so I turned it on and began planing some boards with the planer under full load and checked each leg at the planer breaker.  Combined leg A & B voltage at planer breaker was 231 volts.  Leg A was 118 volts and leg B was 117 volts.  Yellowhammer said, "You are good."   

[YellowHammer]

There are several steps to figuring if you have enough power to run a hungry machine, and the key is to remember that power is a function of both voltage and current.  The idea is to maximize both.

Don't do any of this unless you can do it safely because you will be working with live feeds to really figure out what is happening.  This is a bare bones procedure, but it will have you a good idea of the process.  Or get an electrician.  The thing to remember is that the only way to really figure out your line losses is to load up the line and measure it.  

Optimally, it's important to use a clamp on voltmeter that can also measure current.

First is to get a voltmeter and check the incoming voltage to your main breaker from the utility power meter at your breaker, where you have started your service feed, unloaded.  You should optimally be at 120V, (or 240) but power companies only have to provide plus or minus 10%.  If you are down in the 110V (220V) range, then you can sometimes ask them to flip a switch on the nearest substation to get you to the 120V (or slightly higher) level because you are already slightly under the rating for most 240V machines as they usually require 230V or whatever the tool spec calls put.  It's important to get your primary feed as high as possible because you will have many downstream losses that will eat into your power budget.  They will not allow you to overpower because it will start blowing other customers appliances.  

Then do the same check at the end of your feed at the end of your secondary feed, at the plug or disconnect where your machine will be located, unloaded.  The numbers will probably drop a little but not much, assuming the connections are solid.

Now turn on a load, trying to get the circuit to at least 50% load, preferably more, or at least as much as your machine may pull.  Plug in whatever you have to load the service line at your shed.  Then measure the voltage again, and also the current.  This will tell you the final actual voltage your machine will have based on the current draw.  This will be based on the wire size you ran, the number of connections in between, etc.  At the same time, measure the voltage and current at the main utility breaker panel.  The difference between the two is your power loss.  It may be as high as 10%, depending and put your actual loaded feed voltage out of machine spec.  If it's good, it should still provide the rated voltage for your machine, within a few percent, while the line is loaded.

I don't like running any machine much under it's rated voltage, it's not optimized for that, under load, and it will not run to spec.  Most tools allow +- 10%, but it's not optimal and I like +-5%.  Check the plate on the motor, check the reading on your power line under load, and if they match or exceed the rating within a few percent, you are good.

Danny's machine is rated for 240V, he's feeding it 238 unloaded, which is excellent, and 231V heavily loaded which is also excellent and well within the 5% I like, although the manufacturer will say 10% is ok.

[xlogger]

Thanks, I had good voltage when he check it but not under a load.