Grizzly 15" Planer Clogging up -- Go to Sprial Cutter Head?

[Left Coast Chris]

I have a 15" Grizzly planer with a 2 hp motor, 4" dust port.  Its the older version of the G0453.  I hook it up to a 4" dust collection system with a 2 hp blower.

It is rated for up to a 1/8" planing depth but whenever the board is over about 6" wide it clogs up the dust system either at the blast gate or the planer hood.  Ive learned that I can only shave off about 1/16" on wider boards.   I like the planer and the horse power is enough but the clogging is a pain.  Soft Maple seems to be the worst but walnut also clogs.  The chips are not chip like but about 3" long curled up shaving about 1/8" in diameter with the maple.   The walnut is not quite so bad but similar.  It has a two speed feed rate and I run it on the slower speed rate.

Anyone switch to a sprial cutter head and did it fix the problem?   Another thought would be to go to a 20" planer for the chip handling capacity?      -- thanks for your help--     

--Chris--

[Brad_S.]

The problem isn't the planer, it's your dust collector. It's not removing chips like it should. While 2 hp. should handle the job, it would depend on whether it is a true 2 hp. or a "peak" 2 hp. that really only performs like a 1 hp. Also depends on the length of your pipe run and what else you have on the line.
If you like the planer, upgrading your collection system would be a whole lot cheaper than upgrading your planer or planer head,

[Left Coast Chris]

Thanks Brad.   The dust collector is a harbor freight 2 HP.   It looks identical to a shop fox or any of the others out of china or tiwan.  There is about 20' of 4" pipe leading to the planer with two other y's coming off with their blast gates closed.   I would have to test to see what the actual suction is I am getting. 

Do you have a 15" planer and what dust collection system do you have?  Can you plane full width at max cutting depth? 

[ARKANSAWYER]

  If it is clogging in the pipe past the end of the plainer port it is your collection system.  If it is packing chips in behind the last roller and keeping the boards from feeding then it is the plastic plate on top that is not adjusted close enough to the cutter blades.  I have a Griz 15" with 2 hp and it is hooked to the 5hp blower for the LOGOSOL PH 261 and I can run both machines at the same time and never clog up.  So look and see where it is stopping up.

[metalspinner]

Are your boards green, airdry, or KD?   That will make a difference in the chip shape.  The greener the board, the longer the chip.

[Den Socling]

Other possibilities include the chip breaker and the chip deflector. I have a 15" Grizzly that has these adjustments. The breaker is supposed to be close enough to break chips as they come off the lumber. I never messed with the deflector but the manual makes it sound like mis-adjustment could cause dust collection problems.

[BBTom]

Farmer77,

To answer your question, Yes, a spiral insert head makes small, easily handled chips.  I have the same blower as you hooked to a 20" Shelix head, and after removing the cross pieces at the intake of the blower, have not had a single clog, no matter how deep I cut.

I am not saying you don't have other considerations, but the long strips of chip are nonexistant with an insert type head. 

Good luck

[treenail]

Have had that same problem with my 20" Grizzly planer and the harbor freight dust collector. Knocked out the sheetmetal pieces in the inlet to the collector and haven't had any problems with it since.  Worked so good after that , that I bought another one just like it for another moulder/planer.

[Den Socling]

I had the same problem with my Grizzly dust collection and found the same solution. Knock out that strainer that decreases air flow.

[bberry]

Have a 20 inch Grizz and a 1.5 Delta collector and have 0 problems.

[Left Coast Chris]

Thanks all for the ideas.     I will knock out the strainer and after looking at the plastic chip breaker it is pretty worn.   I will replace it also.     Sounds like I have a good probability of running strong after that.   

The other thing I think could use some improvement on is my in line mini cyclone that is made up of a 40 gallon metal trash can and the plastic cyclone lid.   It fills up too fast.  If I have to take one wide board say 6' long down from 5/4 to 3/4 its filled up.

[Fla._Deadheader]

      5/4 to 3/4 

  That's a LOT of waste   Boards THAT badly bowed-warped-twisted???

[TexasTimbers]

Removing 1/2" if you have alot to plane I would throw them back on the sawmill and whack off about 3/8' - 7/16 before I would spend the rest of my life behind a 15" griz that really won't take a full 1/8" anyway.

[Left Coast Chris]

Yes, Im working with quite a bit of warpage right now.   These are silver maple odds and ends from the top of the stack being prepared for trim on a corner computer desk.   Since I have so much to work with for thickness and they are crotch pieces, I can plane to the optimum grain for the piece.   

Also,  this was the first silver maple I had sawn and was not sure how much warpage I would get so I went ahead with 5/4 thickness since I air dry and it was hobby wood anyway.      I had major heart ache when I had sawn a large batch of english walnut with wild grain at 1" and after air drying lost about 30 to 40 percent to warpage.  This is after putting a lot of weight on the stacks inside of an enclosed barn (ouch)  In my location in CA at the northern end of the Sacramento Valley we have very hot summers with humidity at and below 10 percent often.  Sawing too close to summer time and attempting to air dry can be a disaster (probably like Texas ..Kevjay?).  I learned to tarp the piles and risk mold rather than watch all the spliting and warpage happen.  The English Walnut has been the trickiest wood Ive handled.  Beautiful when dry and great cross grain tension.  The Silver Maple dried fast and the straighter grained boards did not warp too much.  Much easier to work with.  Next time I would probably go to 1" thickness for the straighter grained portion of the log.  So............no Im not really crazzy..........   ........... but am on a bit of a learning curve.   

[MattWatson]

I had the same problem with my Grizzly dust collection and found the same solution. Knock out that strainer that decreases air flow.

If you do this, there is something that you need to be aware of. Those limiters are put in place so that if the collector is run with no limitations in the airflow, they do not burn out the motor.

You may not be getting good enough collection because of the setup you are running as well. Corrogated hose dosn't promote good airflow, and neither do trash can collectors either. Those collectors are designed to be used on one machine at one point in time, wheeled right next to the machine and using a very limited length of pipe.

Some good basic information and even information to build your own setup can be found HERE

As for the huge amount of chips... well the only way I have found to combat that is to get an automatic compactor!

[Handy Andy]

  I have a woodmaster 18" and cut the 4" pipe outlet off and went to 6".  Have not ever plugged it up.  The 6" gets the dust as well.  Manual says wear a dust mask as well as run a dust collector, and my shop stays clean when running it.  Have a 2 hp cyclone, and have to clean it out very regularly, it will fill the cyclone plum full if you don't pay attention.

[Max sawdust]

Just to chime in...
Been having a heck of a time with my 15" powermatic with dull knifes and green Eastern White Cedar.  I think I could win a world record for single longest planer shaving
4" wide by 6' long
I saw this thing going up the DC pipe, it looked like a snake or something

Max

[fstedy]

Max
From what I have been told Eastern White Cedar contains a lot of intercelluar silica which wreaks havoc with tooling. If you cut a lot of it the Shelix head with the carbide inserts would be the way to go.

[Max sawdust]

Max
From what I have been told Eastern White Cedar contains a lot of intercelluar silica which wreaks havoc with tooling. If you cut a lot of it the Shelix head with the carbide inserts would be the way to go.

Interesting, It sure contains something For such a soft wood I need to change bands on the mill almost as frequently as with Oak, and planer and jointer knifes do dull up quick especially on green stock.
Just spent the wee hours of this morning sharpening planer knifes.

As soon as I get time and money, I am going to sell the Powermatic 15" and get a Grizzly 20" with carbide inserts.

Thanks for the tip..
Max

[treecyclers]

I see dust collection issues like this every week or so.
In most cases, there are 2 steps to take before kicking up to a larger dust collector.
First, most newer units have little bars in front of the squirrel cage, which restrict chip nad air flow. Cut them out.
Second, shorten up the pipe between the collector and the machine. Longer hoses have more drag, and thus the suck factor at the end is reduced enough to make a big difference in helping hte machine clear itself.
If both of those fail to solve the problem, and taking lighter cuts doesn't work, you'll be best served getting a more powerful collector.
I run the 3HP Shop Fox 4 bagger, and that has some reas serious suck power.
I run a 20" planer and 8" jointer simultaneously, and it begs for more. At least, until the bags fill up.
Superdave

[solidwoods]

You can also blow the chips into a trailer with a box, the elimination of the bags really help the performance of a dust collector.
Also purchase plastic strip brush material, and fasten it to the planer, these help close the gap that allows air to run by.
Plastic flex tube running to far can also be a vac killer.
jim