how do i clean a dust collector?

Thats all I do.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

My DC has a couple of bars in the intake to keep wandering hands and large objects from getting into the impeller. It often gets clogged if I am sucking up long stringy shavings near the lathe.

Luckily I have a clear hose so its easy to tell if things are getting gunked up.

Do you have felt or cloth bags? If they are cloth it might be worth trying to hand wash them or a gentle cycle machine wash to see if they work better. I have felt bags and don’t think they would survive a trip through the washer.

-- David / Durham, NC

I just beat mine out. Occasionally, when I let the chip collector over flow, and I have the bag off the dust collector, I will turn it inside out and give it a good shakeing/beating. I have felt bags and the manufacturer advises not to wash them. It will alter the texture and you’ll lose some of the filtering ability.

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

Thanks! I guess I’ll just show no mercy and beat the hell out of it.

-- The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep...

I take a air hose to mine and blow it out. Just lower to pressure first. I did this yesterday and pulled almost 2 gallons of caked on dust out of the bags.

Yes they need to be cleaned but I have a friend who has an expensive top metal filter and it gets clogged up all of the time.keep it clean and it’ll be fine .Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

hey heres my 2 cents if you think youve lost cfm on it clean it out good but over time the empellers do where out. i dont know how old the unit is but i wore out the empellers after about ten years of use.

-- I buy tools so i can make more money,so ican buy more tools so I can work more, to make more money, so I can buy more tool, so I can work more