Dust Blower for Grizzly Drum Sanders

I added this blower to improve the dust collection of the Grizzly 1066 drum sander. Its purpose is to blow the dust off of the wood as it comes off the drums, getting it airborne so the dust collector can vacuum it up. This prevents the familiar dust cakes from being formed by the pressure rollers and keeps the second sanding drum from having to eat the dust from the first. A small shop-vac with a blower output provides the air.

The shaded area in the drawing above shows the PVC blower I added. I used 3/4" pipe and fittings, plus one 1" coupler for the shop-vac input. I punched four 1-1/8" holes in the sander lid; the PVC elbows, caps and couplers hold the whole thing in place. I drilled 1/8" holes at 3/4" intervals along the blower pipes and pointed the rows of holes at about 45 degrees to shoot the air between the drum and pinch roller. Note that you must remove the "dust scoop" over the last pressure roller to make room for the rear blower pipe.

Don't use a really powerful shop-vac for this - you don't want the incoming air to overcome the vacuum of the dust collector.

Parts List (all 3/4" unless noted):

• Five 90-degree elbows
• Two 45-degree elbows
• Two caps
• One tee
• Two couplers
• One 1" coupler for shop-vac
• About 5' of pipe
• Glue and primer