Woodworking can be frustrating! For years, tops in my list of frustrating activities is emptying my dust collector, Actually, emptying the bag is simple - getting the empty bag installed back onto the collector isn't. My collector has some little metal tabs that supposedly hold the bag on the collector while you try to wrap the metal band clamp strap around it. The tabs on my collector went into retirement mode after two months on the job. I've used strong tape (gorilla tape) to secure the bag and that worked but was a royal pain. I tried Stumpy Nubs' method of cutting the bottom of the bag and placing it into a 5 gallon bucket that has a 30 gallon, disposable trash bag placed inside. The system looks great on his web site, but in practice, it was a disaster - at least for me. Once the 5 gallon bag is filled with sawdust, the upper bag begins to fill up. However, before that happens, the sawdust cascades over the sides of the 5 gallon bucket - making the removal of the upper bag next to impossible without getting sawdust all over the floor. I've tried it many times and my success rate was 0%. Maybe you'll have more success if you try it. Another shortcoming that I've found with this method is only being able to fill the original bag halfway. If you use a planer and/or jointer heavily as I do at times, it means emptying the bags three or four times a week. No thanks.
Finally, I found a simple, effective, and very inexpensive way to take the frustration out of this chore. I found these magnets on Amazon that come with a hook built into them.
My thought was to attach the magnets to the walls of the dust collector and punch holes in the dust collector bag and hang it onto the magnet's hooks to hold the bag in position while I installed the band clamp. In practice, I found I didn't need the hooks at all. The magnets were more than strong enough to hold the bag in position all by themselves. However, the hooks were a convenient place to hold the band clamp strap roughly in position until the clamp could be secured. For me, it works a lot better, quicker, and cheaper (about $8) than any other method I've tried. Maybe it will work for you. Here's a link to the magnets. And, if you haven't seen Stumpy's video on his method, here's a link to that.
Ernie
Finally, I found a simple, effective, and very inexpensive way to take the frustration out of this chore. I found these magnets on Amazon that come with a hook built into them.
My thought was to attach the magnets to the walls of the dust collector and punch holes in the dust collector bag and hang it onto the magnet's hooks to hold the bag in position while I installed the band clamp. In practice, I found I didn't need the hooks at all. The magnets were more than strong enough to hold the bag in position all by themselves. However, the hooks were a convenient place to hold the band clamp strap roughly in position until the clamp could be secured. For me, it works a lot better, quicker, and cheaper (about $8) than any other method I've tried. Maybe it will work for you. Here's a link to the magnets. And, if you haven't seen Stumpy's video on his method, here's a link to that.
Ernie
