DIY Dust Collector Filter Upgrade PLUS MORE!

[@dougprentice1363]

Very well done. It's nice that you have fasteners and other material. Saves you from multiple trips to the hardware store.

[@beergangmusic]

Wow, what a great idea. I've got a smaller dust collector, and this looks like a great option (of course with a smaller filter). I really appreciate the attention to detail, like rounding the corners on the inside... Most people wouldn't bother. Great work, thank you

[@brashair7652]

Thanks for watching Brian. The air filter I got is a heavy equipment air cleaner made by Donaldson. It has a 99.9% efficiency and as good or better than the Wynn filter at half the price. The filter part number is P181038. Here is the website of the company I bought from: www.dieselequipmentinc.com/products/p181038?_pos=1&_sid=d255153e1&_ss=r

[@davidfox5371]

Wow, that’s great! Looks like it took a lot of work to build but the finished product sure looks good and appears to work very well. Even a manometer to monitor filter condition!

[@brashair7652]

Thanks for watching Dave. Yes, it could have been done faster and simpler, but where’s the fun in that? 😄

[@manit77]

genius level

[@chuckmiller1434]

Great job

[@HoosierGeorge]

Calvin would it be possible to list the filter mfg. and part number? I’m wanting to replace the filter bag on my Harbor Freight dust collector as well……you did a damn good job building this. Great work.

[@brashair7652]

Hello George. Thanks for watching my video. The cartridge filter I used is a Donaldson P181038. It should work fine for your Harbor Freight dust collector. I ordered it from Diesel Equipment Inc. for $134.81 USD plus $10 shipping. It is much cheaper than the Wynn filter and offers as good or better quality. Here is link to their site: www.dieselequipmentinc.com

[@krsatcom]

Thanks for the video, nice work. If I may, what is a vortex diffuser and how does it apply to the dust collection? thanks

[@brashair7652]

That's a really great question Ken. I don't think anyone fully understands the fluid dynamics of how the vortex works in a dust collector, but JET has been installing them in their dust collectors for quite a few years with good results, proving the filter can operate much longer without having to clean or replace it. I'll try to explain how I think it works. Basically you have several physical forces at work here. You have air pressure, velocity, centrifugal force and gravity. Ideally you want maximum airflow at high volume to remove chips and dust from your saw, planer or whatever, but a plugged filter reduces that flow. (It's also important to remember that moving high volumes of air at lower velocity is more effective than moving lower volume of air at high velocity.) Anyway, the impeller on the blower is compressing the air mixed with sawdust and directing it into the dust collector where it will lose velocity as the air exits the hose or duct from the impeller and enters the dust collector ring (between the bag and cartridge). The dust particals will either fall into the bag or rise up to the filter cartridge and eventually exit through the pleats in the cartridge. As the dust from the blower dumps into the dust collector bag assembly it essentially acts like a divergent duct and velocity decreases as pressure increases. Now here's where things get interesting. You want the chips and maximum amount of dust particles to settle to the bottom of the bag and "cleaner" air to rise up to the filter. That's why bag type dust collectors have a baffle to help keep larger particles towards the bottom, but there is still an opening in the middle the size of a large dinner plate where larger particles can still flow upwards to the filter. What I believe the vortex cone does is two things. One, it keeps the cross-section of the space between the baffle and the cone reduced to maintain the high velocity airflow longer which in turn keeps the dust particles spinning around the sides of the bag by centrifugal force and directed downwards with the help of gravity trapping bigger particles at the bottom; and two, it creates a smaller passageway for the dust particles to escape up to the cartridge side of the dust collector. The longer you can keep the sawdust spinning around the bottom (bag side), the more chance for the dust particles to settle out and fewer particles getting up to the filter.

[@jonhenny]

How is the bowl working as the vortex cone?

[@brashair7652]

So far so good Jon. I don’t really have any other vortex cone to compare it with, but continue to have good performance with very little dust making it up into the cartridge filter. I found this bowl at a thrift store, but a large inverted wok should work just as well.

[@woodensurfer]

What is the purpose of this? Why isn't a 20 micron bag better?

[@brashair7652]

Hello woodensurfer and thanks for watching my video. Dust collector bags are a cheap alternative for dust collection but do not provide adequate filtration to remove the smaller dust particles that can enter your lungs and are hazardous to your health. You can buy more expensive bags that can filter down to less than 1 micron, and you can even allow the filter to clog with fine dust so the dust actually becomes part of the filter. In fact, a clean dust collector bag actually filters less than a dirty one, but the side effect is less airflow from your dust collector. By changing your bag filter to a pleated cartridge filter you will get much better performance from your dust collector as there is much greater filter surface area and therefore airflow through your dust collector. Also, don't get too tied up with air filter measurements in microns as a micron rating is an efficiency measurement used for liquid filters and not used for describing air filter efficiency. Air filter elements are evaluated using an industry wide standard (ISO5011) and their performance is expressed as an efficiency level. The air filter I installed in my dust collector has an efficiency rating of 99.9%

[@woodensurfer]

@@brashair7652 How many microns does your filter filter down to? I may have misspoken when I said 20 microns. Why would your filter not clog? When my bag clogs I just tap on and wriggle it. The pleats in your filter no doubt expand the apparent area of filtration, but I would think that since the bag is much bigger outside in both height and diameter, the areas might be rather similar. have you calculated the actual area of filtration in your filter? Measure the dimensions of the pleats and count the number.

[@brashair7652]

@@woodensurfer my new cartridge filter eventually clogs with sawdust, but much later than with the older bag system I used before. Also, by adding the vortex cone, I’ve noticed I can run it till the entire bag is filled with sawdust and see very little drop in performance or airflow, whereas the previous system had to be cleaned when the bag was only 1/4 full. Biggest advantage is much less dust and much easier to clean as I just remove and throw away the (lower) plastic bag where before I had to clean the lower bag which was cloth and part of the filtration system. I have not actually measured the pleats, but estimating that each pleat is roughly 150 square inches when unfolded and there are at more than 200 pleats, that would give the cartridge filter a surface area of over 2500 square feet compared to less than 25 feet that the cloth bags provide. So you are looking at 100X improvement in surface area and much improved airflow!

[@ScreamingEagleFTW]

just make the upgrade dont have to watch you make a circle cutter.