# DW735X Planer Stand and Separator



## DBordello (Jan 16, 2015)

I fired up my DW735X planer for the first time yesterday. I plopped it on the workbench (heavy), and grabbed a garbage bag and zip ties for "dust collection". As you can imagine, there were no chips in the garbage bag when I was done, and plenty in the shop. So, my planer needs a stand, and a chip separator.

I was original inspired by the cart built by John Heisz. However, it appears that this did not work terribly well, and he has since moved on. Therefore, I have been following the design by someone with a similar problem. His design is inspired by the Rockler Dust Separator

I am looking for feedback on my current plans. It is comprised of two chambers, with drawers (not shown) at hte bottom. The goal of the first chamber is to separate the chips from the air. There will be a screen (not shown) between the two chambers. The second chamber is for fines, and hopefully there isn't much deposited in here. My dimensions can be found here .


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## sawdustjunkie (Sep 12, 2013)

The reason you didn't have any chips it the bag, is you can't use a plastic bag. If you were to use an old pillow case, it would work just fine. Air has to be able to pass thru the bag!
Either that or just punch some holes in the plastic bag for the air to escape. Otherwise, you are just blowing up a baloon with the blower fan.
I have my 735 hooked up to my dust collector and don't get any chips on the floor.


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## DBordello (Jan 16, 2015)

> The reason you didn t have any chips it the bag, is you can t use a plastic bag. If you were to use an old pillow case, it would work just fine. Air has to be able to pass thru the bag!
> Either that or just punch some holes in the plastic bag for the air to escape. Otherwise, you are just blowing up a baloon with the blower fan.
> I have my 735 hooked up to my dust collector and don t get any chips on the floor.
> 
> - sawdustjunkie


I was aware it was an awful plan. However, it was a quick hack to try the thing out. Now, on to something better.


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## baldguy (Aug 22, 2014)

I'm the guy he referred to via the reddit post. I suppose I should upload those pics as a project here on LJ at some point .

I also wanted a cart that would allow me to operate the planer without a dust collector. partly because my dust collector is currently disassembled, but also because even once I return the DC to service, my shop layout doesn't allow for a permanent drop for the planer.

DBordello - it looks like with your current design you might run into a problem I had - taking too much air from the primary chamber from too close to the dust bin results in a lot of scrubbing. the baffle I finally came up with has about a 3/4"x15" slot at the top to allow a lot of air in that way, and it doesn't extend all the way down to the chip bin. I'm not sure how much scrubbing I still have, but that seems to have significantly limited it.


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## ChuckC (May 13, 2010)

Maybe I'm just not getting it but that looks like it's going to be a pain to empty and clean.

When I got my 735 I didn't have a DC either. I did something similar to this and it sucked. Then I used a (breathable) bag that came with my leaf vacuum and that worked well. I have since purchased a proper DC and that works the best.


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## baldguy (Aug 22, 2014)

well on mine, I just open the front door, pull out the rubbermaid bin, and dump it. easy as pie. with DBordello's design (and the rockler one) there are drawers to do the same thing.


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## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

Here's what I ended up with.

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/43997


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## jmartel (Jul 6, 2012)

I made a Thein baffle for a garbage can. Works mostly well enough. I still need to wear a respirator and clean up after, but it catches most of the shavings.


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## sawdustjunkie (Sep 12, 2013)

Awhile back, Jay Bates had his planer hooked up to a PVC pipe that emptied into a pillow case. He said it worked great. Since you said your dust collector isn't working, use the bag from it and just use a big zip tie to connect it to the planer.


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## baldguy (Aug 22, 2014)

I think you were referring to my comment about my DC - my dust collector works fine, it's just disassembled… and I already built my cart anyway. the cart works extremely well without a dust collector and keeps the footprint much smaller than an external trashcan would. this is DBordello's post, though. he's trying to solve a similar problem.


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## ElChe (Sep 28, 2014)

JoeinGA, that cardboard box is hilariously awesome. Who woulda thunk it. You did. And it works. Well played and well done. Gotta go get me some cardboard boxes to see what I can do to top your dust collection. Unfortunately my cat owns most of my cardboard boxes at the moment and she's MEAN.


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## DBordello (Jan 16, 2015)

> DBordello - it looks like with your current design you might run into a problem I had - taking too much air from the primary chamber from too close to the dust bin results in a lot of scrubbing. the baffle I finally came up with has about a 3/4"x15" slot at the top to allow a lot of air in that way, and it doesn t extend all the way down to the chip bin. I m not sure how much scrubbing I still have, but that seems to have significantly limited it.
> 
> - baldguy


I am looking at your pictures, and I am not sure I see where you are talking about. The "plan", is that the air will come in, go down the ramp, drop the chips off (yeah, right), then back up the primary chamber, into the "chip box", and in to the secondary chamber. I realize that it is hard to figure it out from the drawings.

Thoughts to improve it?


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## DBordello (Jan 16, 2015)

> Maybe I m just not getting it but that looks like it s going to be a pain to empty and clean.
> 
> When I got my 735 I didn t have a DC either. I did something similar to this and it sucked. Then I used a (breathable) bag that came with my leaf vacuum and that worked well. I have since purchased a proper DC and that works the best.
> 
> - ChuckC


The bag isn't an awful idea. However, I am hoping I can make a nice stand with DC as well.


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## DBordello (Jan 16, 2015)

> Here s what I ended up with.
> 
> http://lumberjocks.com/topics/43997
> 
> - JoeinGa


Is the box still for sale?


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## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

Funny! Wish I had taken a video when that thing blew out on me! 
And sorry, the box was used when we moved from Tennessee to here.

Oh yeah, WELCOME to LJs


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## ChuckC (May 13, 2010)

> Maybe I m just not getting it but that looks like it s going to be a pain to empty and clean.
> 
> When I got my 735 I didn t have a DC either. I did something similar to this and it sucked. Then I used a (breathable) bag that came with my leaf vacuum and that worked well. I have since purchased a proper DC and that works the best.
> 
> ...


When I had the leaf bag setup I put the bag underneath in the stand I made for the planer. It was concealed. Now that I don't use the bag I use the space for storage.


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## baldguy (Aug 22, 2014)

> DBordello - it looks like with your current design you might run into a problem I had - taking too much air from the primary chamber from too close to the dust bin results in a lot of scrubbing. the baffle I finally came up with has about a 3/4"x15" slot at the top to allow a lot of air in that way, and it doesn t extend all the way down to the chip bin. I m not sure how much scrubbing I still have, but that seems to have significantly limited it.
> 
> - baldguy
> 
> ...


yeah the issue with that concept (and I made the same mental mistake) is that the blower on this thing is incredibly powerful. the air is going to hit the front wall at full speed. I had to try and wrangle it into submission from there. that ramp really just serves to "discourage" chips from collecting in that spot, and to bridge the gap (in my design) from the back of the box to the bin. of course, once the air hits that front wall, it bends down to make a 180 degree turn and head to the back, at which point the ramp does have a neat effect, spreading it out a bit more and slamming chips up against the top. the dust patterns in my various baffle tests were really quite interesting. I would have taken pics of all of that, too… but I was just too concerned with getting the thing working as intended.


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## DBordello (Jan 16, 2015)

Sounds like the way to go is, build it, document it, and fix it.


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## baldguy (Aug 22, 2014)

> Sounds like the way to go is, build it, document it, and fix it.
> 
> - DBordello


that's definitely the route I took


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## DBordello (Jan 16, 2015)

I gave it a shot this weekend. The build is documented here:



http://imgur.com/kcAfT


I am waiting on some 4" tube and flanges from Amazon to finish it up. I'll probably cauk it up then, and let her rip.


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## DBordello (Jan 16, 2015)

I fired it up yesterday. At first glance, it appears to be working. There were not any chips in the exhaust. However there was a bit of spray out in the front. The blower is strong! It was blowing the drawers out. Additionally, there was some leakage around the lip. I put a stop on it, and put some cauk down, and we'll see if that improves things.


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## baldguy (Aug 22, 2014)

man, that looks great. I really like your take on the baffle and I'm jealous of your casters 

you might think about adding some weather stripping around the openings, and putting some draw latches on the drawers to keep them tightly shut. The latches I used initially were terrible, but I have replaced them with these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CWQLV1M/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and they work much better.


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## DBordello (Jan 16, 2015)

> man, that looks great. I really like your take on the baffle and I m jealous of your casters
> 
> you might think about adding some weather stripping around the openings, and putting some draw latches on the drawers to keep them tightly shut. The latches I used initially were terrible, but I have replaced them with these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CWQLV1M/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and they work much better.
> 
> - baldguy


Those latches look like a great addition. Right now I just have a piece of wood and a screw. I think I might add the weather stripping as well.

It is getting close…


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## TheGeekPub (Oct 29, 2015)

I also have the DeWalt DW735X (link to my shop tour). I bought it with the stand on a special deal from WoodCraft (buy the planer, get the stand free). I can tell you that your not missing much without it or by making your own. The stand is just sheetmetal with an MDF top. One side has crappy plastic wheels, and the other side has a lift mechanism (with feet) that is constantly in the way. I can't tell you how many times I've stubbed my toes on that thing!


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