Cut notches in planer blades?

[DogwoodTales]

Ok, stupid idea here maybe, but has anyone ever tried cutting notches in the planer blades to improve dust collection?
The old planer I’m refinishing is a Sears and Roebuck, which I read somewhere may actually be a Belsaw model.
At any rate, while removing the old blades I had a hair brain idea.
My thought is that if the three blades each have a few notches that do not line up with the notches on the other two blades that I could get smaller chips and no raised profile (whatever would be the opposite of a groove ?).
At first thought it seems like it would work similarly to a helical blade system, but I’m pretty sure I’d probably end up with a bunch of raised profile grooves anyway.
Has this been tried before?

[jteneyck]

Ok, stupid idea here maybe, but has anyone ever tried cutting notches in the planer blades to improve dust collection?
The old planer I’m refinishing is a Sears and Roebuck, which I read somewhere may actually be a Belsaw model.
At any rate, while removing the old blades I had a hair brain idea.
My thought is that if the three blades each have a few notches that do not line up with the notches on the other two blades that I could get smaller chips and no raised profile (whatever would be the opposite of a groove ?).
At first thought it seems like it would work similarly to a helical blade system, but I’m pretty sure I’d probably end up with a bunch of raised profile grooves anyway.
Has this been tried before?

Chips are small with most woods even with straight knives.  Maple is the only exception for me that I can remember, and they are still only a couple of inches wide.  I don't see how putting a few notches improves anything.  

John

[DogwoodTales]

In my experience I do get a mix of smaller chips and long straw like chips on my 12” bench top planer.
Sometimes the straws clog the dust port even though I have a good cyclone dust collector, but that may be more an issue of the port. On a couple of occasions they even managed to clog up in the ductwork.
Recently I had the issue of the straws not spreading out more evenly in the dust bin and they piled up inside the bin in a cone shape that eventually clogged the dust bin entry point causing a backup. (I have a window on my bin but the dust never piled up against the window for me to see that it was getting full.)
Maybe this idea won’t improve dust collection but I do get a lot of long straws from these blades that cause issues sometimes.

[AHill]

I don't know how notches would improve dust collection. You're still removing the same amount of material in one pass, so from a dust collection standpoint, the same mass of chips still has to get sucked into the dust collector.

[jteneyck]

In my experience I do get a mix of smaller chips and long straw like chips on my 12” bench top planer. 
Sometimes the straws clog the dust port even though I have a good cyclone dust collector, but that may be more an issue of the port. On a couple of occasions they even managed to clog up in the ductwork.
Recently I had the issue of the straws not spreading out more evenly in the dust bin and they piled up inside the bin in a cone shape that eventually clogged the dust bin entry point causing a backup. (I have a window on my bin but the dust never piled up against the window for me to see that it was getting full.)
Maybe this idea won’t improve dust collection but I do get a lot of long straws from these blades that cause issues sometimes.

What woods are you planing?  The only wood I get "straws" with is some maple.  Oak, cherry, all the others end up as little chips.  

I used to get clogs in the dust chute from my planer with maple when my DC was inadequate for the job.  Since I improved the CFM that no longer happens, even with maple.  I would look at your DC first.  If you are using a 4" corrugated hose, that would be a primary cause of the problem.  You need at least 400 cfm for a 12" planer.  That is about the maximum you can get through a 4" corrugated hose with a 2 hp DC.  More likely, you'll get no more than 350 cfm and that's when problems occur.  

John

[EdL]

I used one of those planers for years, never had that problem. How much are you removing per pass?

Ed

[Bob Vaughan]

Things get worse if you've got a USA-made 18" planer and taking off 1/8" per pass in wide poplar (first photo)
I can't use a shavings collector because I haven't the room for something that powerful.  I just blow it against the door and shovel up with a snow scoop.

   

   

   

[DogwoodTales]

I have a Bill Pentz cyclone that I built many years ago with a Lesson 5HP motor and a 14" impeller. When I built it I used a 6" duct for the main run and reduced to 5" to the ts, chop saw, and bench-top planer. IDK what the CFM is, but it's quite a lot.
That Delta 12" bench-top planer does have only a 4" port that I've been wanting to modify to fit a 5" port someday. But that 4" port size doesn't usually cause the clogs at the port, but sometimes it does if I'm getting a lot of straws for some reason and especially if I forget to check the dust bin ?

Most recently I was getting a lot of curls or straw shapes from planing misc pallet wood for a project, but I'm usually planing typical hardwoods. That Delta 12" planer can't take off 1/8" in one pass very well if the board is wider than about 3", especially hardwoods, so I'm usually only removing 1/16" at a time. I'm sure this new (to me) planer will remove 1/8" easily.

Maybe I'll try to cut notches in a set of planer blades someday and see what happens. The worst that will happen is that it doesn't work and I ruin a set of planer blades. Like I say in the op the thought is that if the helical blades improve dust collection (or so is one claim about them that I've heard), then maybe cutting notches (effectively kinda having smaller blades do the work) might have a similar improvement. Yeah, it's still the same mass of chips, but maybe smaller ones that will flow more easily to the dust bin and then spread out better in the bin. I have a decent dc, so I want to use it and not spit all of that dust into my shop air if/when I don't have to.

Getting off op here, but I probably need to up-size my main run now that I have a larger shop. The 6" main run is working, but I used to be in a 275sf shop and now I have about 1,000sf and longer runs to the tools. I'll have to crunch some numbers to confirm, but the system could maybe handle an 8" run reduced to 5-6" at the tool. Oh, and I need to rebuild the separator cone to proper size. The one I have is shorter than the plan because of the ceiling height restriction of the previous shop.

thanks!

[tablesawtom]

I can see where long shavings could pile up, Maple is a problem on my 8 inch jointer. Pine can be a problem also. Most will be of the same consciences as to what the Right Brothers faced, (If God wanted man to fly, He would have given him wings.)

In industry, one can get end mills that it has been done to. It makes them both a rougher and a finisher. I wasn't to keen on them but they were a step in feed rate and depth of cut direction for faster stock removal, not for worrying about chip removal.

If you are really intrigued with the idea why not try it? All it will cost is another set of blades if you don't like it.  It is basically what an inserted cutter does. Anyway please PM me if you try it.

Tom

[Bob Vaughan]

Notches are good more in theory than in practice.
Notched blades will work as long as the knives are set EXACTLY at the same height.  Otherwise you'll get streaks.