Which dust extractor to use with a planer?

[robustoroom]

I will be using a 13" planer (Cutech) for the first time this week and I'm just wondering what the ideal dust extraction system would be? Should I use my CT 26? I have a LOT of boards to flatten and a LOT of material to remove so I'm just worried from a cost perspective that I'm going to burn through a lot of bags. Am I better off getting Festool's lifetime bag so I can keep reusing it?

Any thoughts are appreciated...

 

[semenza]

I will be using a 13" planer (Cutech) for the first time this week and I'm just wondering what the ideal dust extraction system would be? Should I use my CT 26? I have a LOT of boards to flatten and a LOT of material to remove so I'm just worried from a cost perspective that I'm going to burn through a lot of bags. Am I better off getting Festool's lifetime bag so I can keep reusing it?

Any thoughts are appreciated...

You will go through bags so fast with a bench top planer doing a lot of boards that you won't be able to keep up with bag changes.  Go with the long life or an easy to empty 12 - 16 gal. shop vac. That, barring a full DC type system with 4" pipe.

Seth

 

[RKA]

This is a good use case for an oneida dust deputy or Festool's upcoming cyclone separator. 

 

[lwoirhaye]

I've had adequate results using one of those trash can separator lids with a 4" hose going to the planer a 2.25" hose going to one of those loud shop vacs that will pick up nails.

Planer chips are quite fluffy and will fill up even a large shop vac pretty quick.  With the trash can or barrel in between most of the chips go in there. 

A dust collector with bags is really preferable but if you already have a shop vac with a large hose and a trash can a lid can be bought or made.   

 

[Corey P.]

I have an MiniMax FS41 Elite J/P combo.  It's hooked to a Rockler wall mounted dust collector.  If I do light passes, it handles the shavings fairly well.  A new dust collector is my next purchase, as the Dust Right just doesn't have the CFM to properly evacuate the dust, let alone the chips that thing creates.  In the interim, I've built a cyclone between the DC and my piping.  It helps quite a bit, but I can still clog it an instant if I'm not paying close enough attention to my depth of cut. 

 

[Gregor]

Planer dosn't really make that much fine dust (which is a health and cleanliness problem) but mainly chips (or shavings, depending on blade being a shelix type or a single continuous one).

The cyclone (vintage clear vue mini) I have has 50mm connections both for hoses and the botton material eject port and a makita 2012 NB planer at times (when planing wide boards) creates chips that manage to clog the material outlet of the cyclone. I guess the dust deputy could run into similar problems.

I suspect that replacing (or prefixing) the cyclone with a cheap pre-separation stage (trashcan separator design, these dosn't have a material outlet as it's injected directly into the bin) would rid me of that problem - but should, even in the replacement scenario as of no relevant amounts of dust being created, grab enough of what's coming out of the planer to have the long life bag in the CTL SYS (that I use for planer extraction) having enough capacity to only have to empty it (worst case) as often as I empty the 50L bin I use to collect the planer shavings.

 

[sancho57]

I used a adapter so I could hook up my CT to my makita planer. The CT couldnt keep up. Maybe if you use a 50mm hose it might. But then as said you'd be emptying bags pretty quick.

I set mine up let the chips fall into a garbage can. It collects a lot but still have a lot of clean up to d.

 

[Gregor]

I used a #493047 hose connector sleeve: a slight single tap with a hammer lodged it firmly into the dust port of my makita, making connecting festool hoses easy (I use a 50mm one between planer and cyclone). Extraction of dust and most of the chips is somewhat OK, but it's still spewing some chips out of the infeed as the design of the extraction path on the 2012 NB is quite poor.

Got the Makita one only because the Dewalt 735 (that ended as #1 on my wishlist - as of the shelix head option and the built in extraction fan) isn't available here (for unknown reasons they won't sell it in Europe).

 

[jeh]

The CT48 and a long life bag are your only hope. The planer can fill a bag in no time at all. I'd consider doing it outside or connecting it to a real Dust Collection system.

 

[TXFIVEO]

I have the Dewalt 734 planer and use my Jet Vortex dust extractor....sucks up about 99% of the sawdust...no cleanup needed. 

 

[robustoroom]

I picked up a Dust Deputy and will just try that with my Ridgid 10 gallon shop vac. I'll leave my CT 26 out of the equation entirely and pray this works somewhat ok. I have no problem cleaning up afterward, especially since they're more shavings and not dust. Just as long as the operation of the planer isn't interrupted or halted by shavings getting in the way.

We shall see this weekend.

 

[Dick Mahany]

I picked up a Dust Deputy and will just try that with my Ridgid 10 gallon shop vac. I'll leave my CT 26 out of the equation entirely and pray this works somewhat ok. I have no problem cleaning up afterward, especially since they're more shavings and not dust. Just as long as the operation of the planer isn't interrupted or halted by shavings getting in the way.

We shall see this weekend.

The dust deputy will be a big help.  It won't be as effective as a 4" connection and larger dust collector, but will do quite sufficiently. You will still need to do some clean up, but you are correct in that they will be chips/shavings rather than fine dust.  Don't use an orange box store bucket whatever you do as this will happen.  This connected to a DeWalt 734, but now I have an 18 gallon fiber bin under mine and am happy. 

As far a clogging the hose, I haven't been able to clog my hoses with the DD although I do run the 2.5" black hoses from the orange box store for max flow.

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My CT36 never gets connected to this set up and I reserve it for the track saw, domino, and sanding.

 

[rst]

I have two Oneida steel Dust Deputys connected to Fein vacs.  I use large grease/paint drums, they are probably 32-34" high, maybe 15-20 gallon.  I got mine from garages and heavy truck repair business'.  When I turn on the vacs there is an audible thump as the vacuum pulls down.

 

[3PedalMINI]

Go to harbor freight, find a 25% off coupon and purchase their dust extractor. Then get a trash can separator lid!

It works unbelievably well and you will still come out ahead over buying the long life bag. Sell it after the fact if you don’t have the space to keep it. But there are mods galore out there for the HF dust extractor.

Since the planer doesn’t produce small fine dust I wouldn’t worry about the “filter bag” but if you were to keep it I would look into getting a better filter bag for the HFde!

 

[grbmds]

I would not use a CT for collection with a planer. Based on my experience, the volume of chips is too great for collection with a vac, regardless of brand or size. I currently use an Oneida V-series cyclone which is very efficient and effective for collection from a planer, along with other higher volume dust/chip producers like bandsaws, table saws, router tables, jointers, and even lathes (via a dust hood). I just don't believe that vacs are made for collection from such high volume producers as planers. Air movement and collection hose size isn't sufficient. ......Just my opinion based on experience I have had.

 

[Stone Message]

I will be using a 13" planer (Cutech) for the first time this week and I'm just wondering what the ideal dust extraction system would be? Should I use my CT 26? I have a LOT of boards to flatten and a LOT of material to remove so I'm just worried from a cost perspective that I'm going to burn through a lot of bags. Am I better off getting Festool's lifetime bag so I can keep reusing it?

Any thoughts are appreciated...

The CT extractors are not suitable for use with planing machines. The better choice would be a chip collector which has a much higher volume flow but lower pressure. These usually have a 4" or 5" hose connection. Using a cyclone interceptor makes a lot of sense.

Peter

 

[Jim_in_PA]

I agree with Peter. A planer (and a jointer), by their nature, produce a large volume of chips and that's not going to be collected very well by a "shop vac", regardless of the name on the front of it. Best collection is with a real dust collector which moves a lot of air at lower pressure...and that moves the volume of chips efficiently. "Shop vacs" move little air at high pressure and are more optimal for small tools (hand-held electrics primarily) with small ports.

 

[JFelchlin]

Much as I’d like to have a full size 4”-6” cyclonic dust collector, my shop size footprint just won’t permit it.
So...
When I use my Powermatic 60HH 8" Jointer or my Makita 2012NB Bench Top Planer -
I hook ‘em up to my all steel Dust Deputy (17 gallon steel drum attached) -
Which I plug into my Festool CT 26 Dust Extractor. Both hoses are 2-1/2” hoses.
(The steel DD/steel drum combo - Sitting on my concrete shop floor - Solves the grounding issue.)
As noted by others, Jointers and Planers put out A LOT of waste. Mine do, as well.
But my setup works great. Doesn’t “get it all” - But the little it misses is easy to clean up.
And when the steel drum fills up - I just empty it out. The CT 26 stays virtually empty. [smile]

 

[Birdhunter]

I think I’d haul the planer outside and just let the debris fly and sweep it up afterwards.

 

[Dick Mahany]

Much as I’d like to have a full size 4” cyclonic dust collector, my shop size footprint just won’t permit it.

As noted by others, Jointers and Planers put out A LOT of waste. Mine do, as well.
But my setup works great. Doesn’t “get it all” - But the little it misses is easy to clean up.
And when the steel drum fills up - I just empty it out. The CT 26 stays virtually empty. [smile]

Same goes in my situation.  I have downsized from an Oneida V3000 piped with 6" ducts in a large shop to a shop one half the size.  No room for a large port high CFM collector, so the dust deputy has to suffice.  It does a surprisingly nice job on an 18 gal bin with my DeWalt 734 planer and is far better than nothing.  Of course there is some clean up however it is quite manageable.

Having experience with both large dust collectors and shop vacs, I will say that in comparison the cyclone/shop vac set up is definitely inferior for planers, but if that is the only option available, it will get the basic job done.