I wanted to share my mistake (cutting the little guard bars off the dust collector inlet) with the group so others wouldn’t get suckered into doing this. <!—-><!—-><!—->

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Before I bought my Delta DC, like everybody else, I did some research on price/ performance/ reliability etc.  I read a couple of posts (news group; WW rec) that said “to eliminate clogging problems, cut off the little cross bars on the inlet”.  I bought my DC and while assembling it, I cut of the little guards. <!—-><!—->

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Some weeks later, I sucked up a 1 foot square scrap of tee shirt that, when it hit the impellers, got “wrapped around the axel” so to speak.  I had to remove the motor to dislodge it.  After assembling the thing, I had to disassemble again to straighten the monster thick impeller blades, several of which were slightly bent, and were causing a terrible vibration due to imbalance.  Dang!  That won’t happen again, until it happened again while floor sweeping (same effect, same corrective action).  I did it again, and once when the hose was being dragged across the floor, it happened again.  Each time, disassemble and painstakingly straighten the bend blades (big, thick steel blades)! <!—-><!—->

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Today I retrofitted some metal cross bars back into my system so it won’t happen again.  So do not modify your DC by removing the cross bar guards on the inlet, unless you have a nice, off the floor, piping system.  It’s too easy for the vacuum to suck up those glue rags and bend the blades.  It would have been quicker to remove clogs.<!—-><!—->

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All the Best,<!—-> <!—->

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KB <!—-> <!—->