In article ,
"tdup2" wrote:

I have a Jet 1100 dust collector with a trash can hooked up. The problem is
the trash can never fills unless I'm planing materials and even then most of
the chips get sucked into the collector. I'm just using a inexpensive
plastic top on the can. It really creates a cyclone force that brings the
chips from the bottom to the DC collector hose.

Well, I have the observation that I know too much about how it's
supposed to work to buy the plastic top for a regular trash can, as it's
an abysmal screw-up that ignores how it should be built. As it happens I
bought the Oneida cyclone/collector, but I'm happy to share what I know
of how it should work, which might help you to either build one, or buy
one that's built better. I know that some folks are happy with the
things, so I guess the first question might be if you have it hooked up
the right direction - chips should feed in the edge, and the collector
should suck out the center.

As for doing it right: chips should feed in the edge as close to
perfectly tangential as possible, with a straight run of pipe for the
last several feet. The idea is to fling the chips along the edge of the
can, so they slow down and drop out. The typical flex pipe leading to an
elbow that's not really at the edge of the can is multiple forms of poor
design.

The suction into the dust collector should pull straight up from the
middle of the can, and should ideally be a large diameter vertical pipe
for several feet (larger than the dust collector input) - this will
reduce the air velocity and help chips to drop out (or keep them from
being sucked up from the bottom). That pipe should extend some distance
inside the can to help direct the airflow around and down before it's
sucked up and out. The run to the collector can go back to
collector-input sized pipe. Again, the typical setup on the
trash-can-lid is not a good design, engineering-wise.

In the "properly built" commercial collectors, the separation function
is separated from the collection area by having the separator funnel
down before dropping stuff into the collector below. A more easily
built, but still effective home-made method is to make the collection
can as a rather tall box. The separator section should still be round,
but the collection can be rectangular. Take a 30 gallon trash can, flip
it over, build a weatherstripped box for it to sit on. Bring a 4-6 inch
dust collector line in at the top (former bottom) so that the shape from
above resembles these letters: "q" or "p". In the middle of the former
bottom of the can, cut a hole to put in an 8 or 10 inch stovepipe or
duct. Stick that into the can for 12-18 inches, and up as far as your
ceiling or finances allow, before reducing back to 4-6 inches and
heading off to your dust collector. When the chips in the bin reach up
as far as the trash can opening, empty the bin. Everything needs to be
well sealed, as leaks will stir up chips, as well as reduce suction at
the working end.

Hope that's of some help.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by