The Forestry Forum

I would like to hear if anyone is using a small bandmill(Woodmizer LT15) with an electric motor inside a building. The dust collector I had in mind would be a Grizzly 2hp to 3hp Cyclone. The building I have is a 30' x 40' barn with concrete floor. I plan on bringing the saw logs inside the barn with my skid steer. The door is 14' wide. There is another wide door to bring the slabs and lumber out. The celling is 10'

Is this style of dust collector powerful enough? Can I fit a 5" flex hose to the bandmill? Would the water lube on the bandmill effect the dust collector? log debris pile up too fast?

I currently run a Timberking B20 gas motors outside, Nice weather is great but the cold rainy/snowly weather really gets to me.

Any input would be great. Thanks Brad

Brad, Several members are using a dust collector on LT40s and bigger.  I have a 4" hose running to mine.  I would say keep the suction line as short as you can.  You can blow dust lots easier than you can suck it.  Where's the dust going?  We are inside year around, with the doors either open or closed.  You just have to arrange things to suit you.  The water lube won't bother you at all.

B C  That size dust collector should be enough cfm and velocity to to catch most of the dust well. A lot will depend on the pipe diameter, distance, and number of turns in the system. I do think you will need a big hopper under the cyclone if you are going to saw much though. Good luck

We ran our LT40 manual mill with 18hp gas engine for years while using a 1hp dust collector (minus bag).  We continued using it when we got the LT40 Super with 25 hp 3ph motor but it wouldn't keep up and the sheet metal housing was starting to wear through.  I think we got our $100 investment back!

In 2003 we replaced 1ph unit with a 5hp blower from TimberKing.  We have a 4" hose going to the mill and another 4" hose going to the edger. 

Here are links to where I've told about these setups.

TimberKing 5hp blower setup (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=6679.0)

1ph Grizzly blower setup (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=258.0)

B C I use just the blower from a harbor freight 2 hp dust collector, pretty much the same as the grizzly. It handles the dust from a 25hp lt40. go with 5 inch hose and 6 inch discharge pipe. One thing don't overlook.  You'll need some kind of slip joint on at least one end of the hose, better on both ends. Without it, the hose will twist and kink, then come apart in short order. I wouldn't bother with a cyclone, just blow it outside in a pile.