# Chip Collector



## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

Recently I replaced my old Bridgewood Lunchbox planer with a Dewalt 735 planer. After removing the old planer from the mobile cart, I got the Dewalt fastened in its' place and set about to make a test run.

The instruction manual clearly stated that the chip EJECTOR should be connected to a collection unit (those of you who have seen my shop know that my collection unit is a broom, dust pan and trash barrel with the optional window fan unit) or the optional deflector must be connected. Well the old planer had a deflector hood so I connected the deflector that came with the Dewalt.

Next I found a nice long piece of scrap pine, checked for nails, staples etc, powered up the Dewalt, adjusted the thickness for a 1/32 cut, fed in the board- *SWEET MOTHER OF GOD*- the manual didn't say the the chip ejection velocity was equal to a hot load 45 caliber bullet. Chips were flying in every imaginable direction, ricocheting of the walls, ceiling and the bandsaw- which happened to be directly in the line of fire. By the time I got to the power switch, the basement looked like Times Square on New Year's Eve. I realized right there why the guy at Woodcraft had suggested a funny looking black bag accessory for the planer. But at the time the $60 price tag seemed unwarranted. Ahh, hindsight is 20-20.

Well my ripoff solution was to use 4" flexible duct (on sale at Rockler- it came with clamps), a 4" round sheet metal heating duct collar from Lowes, a piece of muslin cloth and a string. Dug out my wife's sewing machine to make the "hem" to capture the string. Cut a hole for the collar. Clamped the hose to the Dewalt adapter and the collar. Tied the cloth piece around the top of a trash can. Viole! A chip collector and it works!










Feel free to steal this idea- I did.

Lew


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## jbertelson (Sep 26, 2009)

*Lew*
Unreal….........great description.

..........earlier

Sherie, absent for about a week on a hobbyist venture, comes waltzing through the shop seeing a little dust…..a little dust…..really little. Commenting, implying it would be tracked into the house….....

So I shows her the back of the Delta Contractor's saw….......see, I am building things to control dust from machines like this, you just have to be patient…........she fell for it.

I have a broom, a DC floor outlet, 4 separate sets of dust pans and brushes….don't you think that is pretty good….

She seemed mollified….......I may be able to sleep at least one more night or two…......it is a constantly evolving project…........dust control….............(-:


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

Great inventiveness. You could have just put it outside and pointed it at your wives flower garden. You can sure get lots of wood chips from a planer.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

Nicely done! That's some pro-level rigging.


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## matt1970 (Mar 28, 2007)

in hindsight i am glad you have some sight left!! very creative…how does the planer work??? I jjust looked at this planer on friday…


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## mmh (Mar 17, 2008)

Nice job!

Chips? Dust? What dust? They're all just small pieces of tree . . .
Our wood workshop looks like the Tupperware lady hit on us. We use various shop vacs and I've recently purchased an Oneda Dust Deputy, but haven't hooked it up yet. There's always a pile of dust/chips that don't get sucked in but I guess that just shows how much work you're getting done.

My husband likes to call me "Dusty". I'm calling him "Chip" now that he's doing some lathe work.


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## Woodwrecker (Aug 11, 2008)

I have the same planer (and the same hose) and the ejection draft is so powerful, it'll inflate my dust collector bag with the dust collector shut off.

It is a sweet planer though, isn't it?

Great idea you came up with.


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

Thanks for all of the kind words, I really appreciate them.

Actually this is really nicer than the old way of having mountians of chips to be cleaned up, after milling stock.

Matt- This is a really nice planer, although expensive. The only complaint I have is that I must keep the "bottom plate" waxed so that the stock doesn't stick when running it thru. My old planer had two bottom rollers which eliminated this process.

Gary- I searched for those "slider" type lock holders at the fabric store but was starting to get a little uncomfortable roaming around through the aisles. Seems these stores are reserved for the ladies and a man gets some unwelcome looks.

Lew


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## Brad_Nailor (Jul 26, 2007)

If you look at the manual for that planer you will notice it says "fan assisted chip ejection" hence the high velocity wood spatter coming from the unit. I have read quite a few blogs about how you don't need to hook up a DC to this beauty….just rig up a deal exactly like Lew did..or spend the dough to buy the De Walt version of what Lew made. I have been eyeballing this planer for a long time, and I might even buy one if the guy who is lending me his Rigid planer ever wants it back!


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

I could not believe the amount of force these things have. My old planer just dumped shavings on the floor around the base of the stand.


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## AaronK (Nov 30, 2008)

I like the muslin cloth idea - very clever. My ryobi planer doesnt eject them as fast, but I find that they have sufficient velocity to land in my trash can when a 4" duct is attached to the planer on one side and left to hang freely in a trash can placed next to the planer. I originally had a shop vac attached inline, but it didn't help much. it's messy work, but their chips, not fine dust, so cleanup is easier.


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