sawdust vacuum cleaner?

[getoverit]

Reading one of the posts here reminds me of something I have been wondering about.

I have a customer who wants me to mill about 20 large pine trees on site. These will be cut into 8-10-12-16 foot lengths, but I an guessing from the size and height of the trees that we will get about 4 good sawlogs for each tree. I have also estimated about 3,000BF of lumber from these trees or better.

Milling the trees with either the Peterson or the home made bandmill will produce quite a bit of sawdust, and the only negative I have heard from the customer so far is what to do with the sawdust. He has spent quite a bit of money to landscape the 20 acre lot and really doesnt want to deal with the sawdust mess.

I can invision a huge vacuum cleaner type of rig that would then dump anything it sucks up into a trailer for easy removal, but I dont know of one that is available for purchase. Has any of you made such a thing to clean up after your milling jobs?

I could actually use one around the saw yard to pick up sawdust too, then the sawdust to either be sold or taken to the landfill...

[Brian_Rhoad]

What about a lawn vac that you pull behind a mower. I have one I got at Tractor Supply that is on a small dump cart that I can pull with my riding mower. It has a 6" hose and is powered by a 6HP gas engine.

[Tom]

I have never cleaned up a job site.  I arrive with the saw, saw the wood and leave with the saw and the money.  I have had a very few customers put down a tarp with the idea of shoveling and wheelbarrowing the sawdust away later.  Not many folks are that concerned.

Your bandmill can be made to direct the sawdust to a very limited area.  That and a tarp are probably your best bet.   I guess a vacuum cleaner affair would be a good idea. I just never thought to do it, and to be honest, never wanted my sawing business to be confused with a yard service.

[Furby]

The leaf vacuums Brian is talking about should work just fine.
Powered by a gas engine and some are mounted on trailers of ALL sizes.
They have bigger ones that don't attach to a tractor, just hose to suck up piles.

[Brad_S.]

If you have power available, a standard wood shop dust collector can be hooked to the sawmill dust chute and capture most of the dust. It can also be used as a vacuum when your done. You can probably Rube Goldberg some sort of collection wagon to hold the dust, other wise emptying bags all day would grow old fast.
I too have had clients tarp the grounds. Takes big/many tarps, but saves clean-up time. Couple a tarp under the mill with something to suck the dust from the chute and cleanup would be a breeze.
On the rare occasions I clean up a site, I use a power broom, but they're expensive if you don't have a regular use for one.

[getoverit]

I didnt know they made such an animal, but I checked out the tractor supply site and the yard vac is exactly what I was thinking of. That one may be on the small side though. It gives me a good idea on how to build one that would simply blow the sawdust into a road worthy trailer.

now to find a blower unit that I can hook up to one of these lawnmower engines  ;D

Thanks for the ideas !

[dail_h]

   Iuse one of those yard vacs with the bicycle type wheels,actualy I think it is more of a parkng lot thing,anyway with an adaptor for the suction,and about 50 ft of thinwall pvc drain pipe,I can get sawdust wherever i want it ---usualy. Burn pile or trailer

[jrokusek]

There is a similar thing for the agricultural industry called a grain vacuum (grain vac).  It is used to suck the last of the grain out of a grain bin.  May or may not work in this type of application.  Very expensive to purchase - tell the homeowner to rent one.

[beenthere]

Once you get the sawdust moving through a blower, how do you slow it down when it gets to the trailer?  Seems a some sort of make-shift dust bag around the trailer would be necessary to decrease the velocity of the air, let the sawdust drop in the trailer, and then let the volume of air exit out through the bag material. Otherwise, seems the saw dust may just continue on into the next county.  eh?

[dail_h]

   GOI,
   A cyclone is really the way to do it,but what I do most of the time,is spread a tarp loosly across the top of the trailer,and let the pipe ens about 4 -5 ft from the end of the trailer,mighttake some fiddling to get right.Reducing the pressure and velociety of the airstream lets the dust fall out. The loose tarp just keeps the dust in the trailer


   PS ,Billygoat type vacume blower thingy is what I have

[Gilman]

When sawing on city sidewalks I just use my Snapper lawnmower with a bagger.  Doesn't take lone to fill up the bag and really cleans up your mower deck.  Cheap and works fine.

[Furby]

What about the hand held gas blower/vacuums?

[Greenskeeper]

Last summer I picked up one of the Trac- Vac tow behind lawn thingys at a yard sale for $50.00.It has a 6" flex hose inlet that I put in front of the blade and blow the dust right through the trailer and into a dump truck.Truck gets full and down the road it go"s.there is a photo in my gallery, It works good and the price was right.

[IL Bull]

I welded a pin on my mill and hang a 5 gallon bucket under the discharge shoot.  When cutting a large log you have to empty the bucket after every cut.  My mill is stationary and cuts down on sweep up time.  Only about 80% of the sawdust goes out the shoot so I still have to sweep up about 20% of the dust.