Hooking sawdust vac up to WM LT40

Dave Shepard · February 18, 2007, 07:08:57 PM

I could use some suggestions on how to hook up a vac hose to our LT40, with no bed extensions. We are putting in a vac for our planer which we just ran for the first time today, and I also want to hook in the mill and the edger.The edger is no problem, but I don't know how to go about running hose to the mill. What should I use for hose, and how do I suspend it from the ceiling? Any advice would be appreciated.

Dave

wwsjr · February 18, 2007, 07:54:04 PM

I am on the road with my mill and really cannot post picture until later next week if you need it. I mounted my blower to the left of mill near the center of the head travel when sawing. I built small platform supported by the trusses of my shed. The blower is about 7' from floor. I am using about 12 ' of 4" clear plastic wire reinforced hose from blower intake to mill. I removed the rubber chute, and fastened the 4" directly to the metal chute on mill. I have not had any problem with the hose folllowing mill and pulling the dust. You may have to tweak the hose placement on mill to avoid kinks at either end of mill travel. From the blower, I used 4" PVC drain pipe. I am blowing the dust about 40' into bin with 220V, 2HP blower which I think has 16" fan. I was advised by a guy who used a similar system for several years not to place outpit pipe level, I have a slight rise for about 20' then slight drop back to end.

Bibbyman · February 18, 2007, 10:19:22 PM

The problem with connecting a flex tube solid to the chute on the LT40 (or any bandmill I guess) is that the back/forth head travel will unravel the tube.

Here is a link to a thread where a couple of us have solved that problem.

Blowing sawdust - TK blower

LT40HDD51 · February 20, 2007, 11:06:46 PM

We did an install of 2 indoor electric LT40HDs in Newfoundland last winter (brrrr

). They wanted the sawdust plumbed into an existing system on the cieling. We took the rubber hose off the sawdust chutes, a little cut and weld, and the metal part bolted back on upside-down (if you unbolt it, flip it over, and hold it in place it becomes obvious ;)). Then they ran a heavy plastic flex hose to it and supported the hose to the ceiling with a few long heavy bungee-type cords. Seemed to work good, dont know how it held up over time...

Dave Shepard · February 21, 2007, 09:41:31 AM

Thanks for the replies. Our chute is different than the pic Bibbyman posted. It is only about 6" long, and is formed with the bandwheel housing. I cut the top off with a bandsaw and I have a piece of 4" steel ductwork and I am going to weld it to a plate and bolt it over the hole. The bottom of the chute has two holes that conveniently hold a small piece of pine board, which I can unscrew if the vac isn't working. I made a clamp bracket that is welded to the fuel tank tray and it goes straight up from there to 4" vac hose. We have the planer and edger set up for 8" ducting. I don't know where we are going to blow all of this stuff, but once it's out of the mill it isn't my worry. ;)

Dave

Dave Shepard · February 21, 2007, 06:50:29 PM

Well, I got the blower hooked up to the tractor and fired it for a test run and the gear box self-destructed. :( I guess I'll have to re-engineer that tomorrow. Strangley the blower worked just fine when I tested it on my tractor last fall. Oh well.

Does anybody have the verdict on static electricity and vacuum? The vac system we have set up is entirely steel ducting. I have heard that it can be an issue, but don't know any more than that.

Dave

beenthere · February 21, 2007, 06:58:06 PM

I'd expect the steel to be ok if grounded, and not isolated from ground. I think the rubber-type hose and plastic hose had the static spark problems. Could be wrong here, as static electricity is a bit strange sometimes, but seems steel would be the best.

Sorry to hear about the self-destruct. Pics? :

We like ta see it all. ;D

Dave Shepard · February 22, 2007, 12:19:22 AM

Not much to show, pic-wise, just a shaft and bearing. I only paid $50 for the blower, and it was a factory three point hitch, so it didn't take any fab work to set it up. (Had to run it off of PTO, as it would probably take at least 20 hp electric and we have no 3 phase) So putting $200 into it won't be the worst thing. I guess I'll just play the static thing by ear.

Dave

LT40HDD51 · February 22, 2007, 10:59:55 AM

Bibbyman,

Do you think if you flipped it over like I was sayin (the part in your pic with the safety decal on it) it would eliminate the need for the swivel? Seems to work in our application... just wonderin...

Bibbyman · February 22, 2007, 09:43:41 PM

Quote from: LT40HDD51 on February 22, 2007, 10:59:55 AM
Bibbyman,

Do you think if you flipped it over like I was sayin (the part in your pic with the safety decal on it) it would eliminate the need for the swivel? Seems to work in our application... just wonderin...

I'm not sure how you'd fip it over but I don't think it'd take the twist out of the fex tube.

LT40HDD51 · February 23, 2007, 10:25:27 PM

The part where the chute bolts on fits the same upside down as right side up, so it worked great once we relocated the hinge to the bottom. Screwed the bolts back in and the part where the hose hooks to pointed up instead of down. In my little melon ;D, it makes sense as the hose doesnt have to come down then around a bend and back up, so it doesnt have to twist to go 10' each way.

Geez, stuff like this can be tough to explain sometimes :D. Hard to get the entire idea across if you dont have a pic handy and have to explain it one post at a time... :D Hey Jeff, ever think of adding a draw template like MSN messanger has? Its down near the bottom, theres a capital "A" tab and a tab with a paintbrush on it. You can draw something with the mouse and a pointer, like windows "paint", hit enter and it pops up in the messenger window with your text. Just crossed my mind that it would be really helpful in explaining something like this...

Bibbyman · February 24, 2007, 01:42:47 AM

Quote from: LT40HDD51 on February 23, 2007, 10:25:27 PM
The part where the chute bolts on fits the same upside down as right side up, so it worked great once we relocated the hinge to the bottom. Screwed the bolts back in and the part where the hose hooks to pointed up instead of down. In my little melon ;D, it makes sense as the hose doesnt have to come down then around a bend and back up, so it doesnt have to twist to go 10' each way.

I'm still not getting the picture. I guess because I can see no way to flip the chute over and bolt it on upside down and have it work. Our mill is just not made that way. I can't remember seeing a Wood-Mizer LT40 made that way. But I've only seen a couple hundred.

LT40HDD51 · February 25, 2007, 09:12:39 AM

Quote from: Bibbyman on February 18, 2007, 10:19:22 PM

The part in your pic where the Y goes onto. If you take those 2 bolts out on top and flip it 180 degrees, you can see that the hinge can be cut off the chute and welded on the opposite side so it bolts back on upside down to the original holes. Then the chute points up at a 45° instead of down. This was just last winter, so the LT40 super electrics we did this to are the exact same as yours, just without the remote option ;).

Bibbyman · February 25, 2007, 05:29:49 PM

Quote from: LT40HDD51 on February 25, 2007, 09:12:39 AM
Quote from: Bibbyman on February 18, 2007, 10:19:22 PM

The part in your pic where the Y goes onto. If you take those 2 bolts out on top and flip it 180 degrees, you can see that the hinge can be cut off the chute and welded on the opposite side so it bolts back on upside down to the original holes. Then the chute points up at a 45° instead of down. This was just last winter, so the LT40 super electrics we did this to are the exact same as yours, just without the remote option ;).

Ahaaaaa!!!! I got the picture now. I didn't get that you were cutting and welding. Thanks for 'splainin' that.

wwsjr · February 25, 2007, 07:14:25 PM

I finally got the mill home, went to WM 25th, came home and made pics of my sawdust blower connection.

Blower and mill with flex hose connected.

I used a connection that swivels on the blower. I found it at Lowe's in the AC ductwork section. I think it was made to turn angle on ducts. I keep a little dry lube on connection and it works great.

Dave Shepard · February 25, 2007, 09:19:42 PM

I finally got the mill hooked up. I have a 4" steel pipe welded on to a tin cover that is bolted to the top of the chute on the mill. I welded a 4" muffler clamp to the gas tank tray and that holds the top of the pipe. The mill is a 93 so it is different than the ones in the pics. The bottom of the chute is blocked off by a board that can be removed with two screws if the vac isn't working. I made a swivel out of a 45° gasketed pipe fitting, without the gasket. I drilled the 45 and the pipe and put a bolt in each and connected them with a spring. It works great. The new shaft and bearings will be in tomorrow, so the blower should be hooked up by tomorrow night, and then it's back to sawing. Finally!

Dave

LT40HDD51 · February 26, 2007, 09:41:51 PM

Quote from: Bibbyman on February 25, 2007, 05:29:49 PM
...Ahaaaaa!!!! I got the picture now. I didn't get that you were cutting and welding. Thanks for 'splainin' that.

;D Right on ;)

Dave Shepard · March 01, 2007, 10:45:31 PM

Here are some pictures of our completed sawdust system.

This is a view of the piping. Fortunately you can't see what a Rube Goldberg affair it is!

Here is a photo of the pipe that attaches to the chute on the mill. I sawed a hole into the top of the chute for the pipe, which is welded onto a removable plate.

This is the homemade pipe swivel. (Close detail of Rube Goldberg affair ;D)

This is the giant planer that started the whole vacuum journey.

All in all the system works very well. However, we don't have anywhere to blow it to yet! You solve one problem, you create five more.

Dave

sawguyver · March 01, 2007, 11:29:29 PM

Hey Dave,
could that planer be a Preston. I have something that looks alot like it. Sadly I haven't got it running.

You have some great pictures posted.

pineywoods · March 02, 2007, 09:12:31 AM

Can you post some more details on the pipe swevil?? I'm in the process of doing the same thing and haven't figured out a decent way to keep the hose from twisting, short of paying penn state $100 for one of them fancy ball joints.

Dave Shepard · March 02, 2007, 10:06:16 AM

sawguyver, the planer is a Baxter D. Whitney 8"x30" single side. It was originally a two-knife square head, but we took a 36" four knife round head and turned it down to fit the 30" planer. We just got it running last week and just in time as we have 5,000 feet of wide pine flooring to plane, some of it is 22". We only have single phase so it has a 10 HP motor, but the it should have a 25 HP if you really want to turn up the feed. We are running it at 20fpm.

pineywoods, the swivel is very easy to make. All I used was a short section of 4" SDR 35, the green piece, which is common sewer pipe, and a 4" 45° gasketed elbow, the white piece. The elbow is female on the bottom and male on the top, so that the fernco (rubber clamp) will fit on. I took a screwdriver and pryed the gasket out and drilled a hole in the raised ridge and put a 1/4" bolt in it with the threads sticking out. The recess where the gasket was leaves plenty of room for the bolt head, and some light grease. I then drilled a hole in the green pipe and put another bolt in it and attached the two with a spring. I don't think the spring is absolutely needed becuase the weight of the hose keeps it on the pipe. I'll upload another pic of the swivel.

Dave

Dave Shepard · March 02, 2007, 10:13:25 AM

Here is a closer detail of the swivel. If anyone has anymore questions, just let me know and I can answer them as best I can. I can also go to the mill and get more better pics. This swivel should cost about $8 or so and take about 10 minutes to make.

Dave

Sawguyver, thanks about the pics. I finally got around to trying to post them last night, and it is really easy. I am also happy about the level of detail. I am new to photography too. If you look at the timestamp on this post and the last one, it only took a few minutes to start the xat program, crop and resize the image, upload it and put it in the post. Jeffs tutorial makes it easy. 8)

Dave Shepard · March 11, 2007, 12:25:26 AM

Here is the final installment of our vacuum system. This is the little tractor that could, barely.

We are blowing the shaving into a 48' trailer. That is 1/2" hardware cloth and burlap on the wooden frame.

This is the blower setup, with the kiln and wood boiler in the background.

It works very well, but I am not offering to clean out the trailer.

Dave

Dave Shepard · March 09, 2008, 01:02:21 AM

We converted our blower to electric power. It is a 7.5 HP single phase. Now I don't have to search for diesel fuel for the tractor anymore. I didn't engineer the piping on this side, too many 90° turns.

This is how we mounted the motor, notice the big sheave from the old PTO gearbox. We could have it back as PTO in about an hour.

I have all my controls right next to the sawhead. There is a button for the edger head, and feed. I have plugs for the planer head and feed so I can use the same buttons and starters. ;)

Lots of wires. Main control box. You can see the plugs to swap the edger for the planer outside the box.

I suggested putting a little leanto roof over the little tractor, instead, I got this. Radiant heat, lights, and pine panelling.

That blower better not give us any trouble, for all we have done for its comfort. :D

I could always hear some leaks in our piping, which didn't surprise me, as most of the joints were stove pipe. I was bothered by it one day, so I made a temporarily permanent repair, packing film! :

Hey, it worked great!

Putting the electric motor on the blower has been one of the greatest improvements so far at the mill. Instead of having to chase fuel, warm up a tractor etc., I just push the button. And even better, you can hardly hear the blower, even when nothing is running in the sawmill. We don't have any close neighbors, but a blower is the kind of sound that can travel. When I'm done sawing it's three buttons and the keyswitch on the mill and I'm done. Just need to get an electric on the mill.

Dave