# Oh Those Darn Dirt Dobbers And My Dewalt 735 Planer....



## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

I spent several hours in the shop for the first time in several months this afternoon. I started cleaning up the tools that have set idle all summer. The biggest issue in the clean up of the tools is that of dirt dobbers nests. 

I'm not sure that those of you that live in the northern part of the country know about these critters or not. I had never encountered them until I moved down here to Texas.

Just in case the reader does not know what I'm talking about, dirt dobbers are flying insects that build there nests with dirt and I suppose their own saliva. A typical nest would be gob of very hard dirt that is about one to two inches in diameter and affixed to anything that the insect decides to build it on. These nests are, as I said above, extremely hard and get into the darnedest places such as the fan in my Dewalt 735 planer.

After cleaning up the BS I started on the planer and when I finally got to the point of running some scrap through the tool, some of the chips were being exhausted back onto the in feed table.

So, after digging, breaking and otherwise cleaning the dirt dobbers nests out of the exhause port the problem still existed and so far I have not figured out why. 

The problem has to be a dirt dobber's nest someplace in the tool as the planer has never offered to do this before. 

The air coming out of the blower seems to be as strong as it ever was and the DC is working normal.

I'll probably phone Dewalt tomorrow to see if they have any suggestions. Of course I'm wondering if anybody else has ever run into this problem with their planer. I will be very surprised if anybody has experienced the same problem, but it never hurts to ask and gives me a good excuse to participate on the forum.

The good news of course is that I was able to work in the shop, it is now cool enough to be very comfortable out there and I felt well enough to do so for several hours and really enjoyed myself. Of course I'd prefer to have been working on a project, but the clean up just has to be completed before I work on any thing.

Jerry


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## greenacres2 (Dec 23, 2011)

Jerry--if the dust chute was totally or partially clogged when you started running lumber, it could be that it's choked with chips (and maybe some residual dobber nest). The tear-down manual for putting in a Byrd head might be enough to get you started, though if you've gotten to the chip ejector fan i'd say you're most of the way there. I'm guessing you'll find a clog in the shroud before the fan if you're getting exhaust.

We have mud dobbers up here--they start with mud, finish with the same result. Got a nasty sting too!!

earl


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## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

That's the very reason that I carry Dirt Dobber Insurance!


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

No problems here with them . Apparently they don't like uninsulated garages


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

greenacres2 said:


> Jerry--if the dust chute was totally or partially clogged when you started running lumber, it could be that it's choked with chips (and maybe some residual dobber nest). The tear-down manual for putting in a Byrd head might be enough to get you started, though if you've gotten to the chip ejector fan i'd say you're most of the way there. I'm guessing you'll find a clog in the shroud before the fan if you're getting exhaust.
> 
> We have mud dobbers up here--they start with mud, finish with the same result. Got a nasty sting too!!
> 
> earl


Earls on the right track, if it is throwing out chips below the fan onto the bed,then it is clogged before the fan. I had that happen on my 735 when I forgot to open the gate to the DC system and was planing away with the DC running and the chips started to pour out onto the outfeed side. It was plugged above the fan and below the fan, I had to take the top cover off and clean out that small thin slot right above the cutter that was partially plugged.

Herb


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

Marco said:


> That's the very reason that I carry Dirt Dobber Insurance!


Where can I buy some of that insurance, better yet, how can I get enough to sell to others, the market for it down here is unlimited?

I'm sure that you are right, I'll tear into the tool after talking with tech support for Dewalt about it. The area at the output was almost completely clogged. I just haven't gotten to the back side of the fan and I'm certain that when I get to the enterers of the planer I'll find where the little buggers have made their nests.

Jerry


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## Ghidrah (Oct 21, 2008)

I think we have more of the paper wasps in our area, they chew old softer exposed wood to a pasty consistency and make their nests from it. These nests can get pretty big, We had a hive take up residence in the corner of the houses eave at least a foot long and 6" wide. Once I found it I bought a can of spray lacquer, took my time to cardboard the area of the house then sprayed the crap out of it. I cut it off the eave and brought it to one of my high school science teachers for a class project, he was still teaching after 20 yrs.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

those are some ambitious little guys...
had try to fill a dryer vent...


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

We have the mud wasps and the mission bees both make mud nests. The wasp nests are only 2"-3" long and the mission bees nests are smaller. The problem I have with the mission bees is they crawl up the pee hole in the outboard motor and plug it up one year they even went back up to the waterjacket and built mud nests in the motor. Had a big repair bill on that one. I try to plug all the little holes in the motor as they will find a small hole and move right in. 

The paper wasps, I thought they were hornets build humungus nests and it seems like overnight too. One day nothing , a few days later a huge nest and they just keep adding to it. I have been stung many times by the buggers disturbing them when I didn't know they were there.

Never heard of wasp insurance.
Herb


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Herb Stoops said:


> We have the mud wasps and the mission bees both make mud nests. The wasp nests are only 2"-3" long and the mission bees nests are smaller. The problem I have with the mission bees is they crawl up the pee hole in the outboard motor and plug it up one year they even went back up to the waterjacket and built mud nests in the motor. Had a big repair bill on that one. I try to plug all the little holes in the motor as they will find a small hole and move right in.
> 
> The paper wasps, I thought they were hornets build humungus nests and it seems like overnight too. One day nothing , a few days later a huge nest and they just keep adding to it. I have been stung many times by the buggers disturbing them when I didn't know they were there.
> 
> ...


emove the wasp welcome mat from your home by making it an undesirable nesting location. Mud daubers eat spiders and build nests near populations of spiders. 
There are no known, successful repellents for this wasp. 
Remove their food source from the area, and they’ll build elsewhere. Wash away spider webs


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

Herb Stoops said:


> We have the mud wasps and the mission bees both make mud nests. The wasp nests are only 2"-3" long and the mission bees nests are smaller. The problem I have with the mission bees is they crawl up the pee hole in the outboard motor and plug it up one year they even went back up to the waterjacket and built mud nests in the motor. Had a big repair bill on that one. I try to plug all the little holes in the motor as they will find a small hole and move right in.
> 
> The paper wasps, I thought they were hornets build humungus nests and it seems like overnight too. One day nothing , a few days later a huge nest and they just keep adding to it. I have been stung many times by the buggers disturbing them when I didn't know they were there.
> 
> ...



Herb, I'm not sure that we are talking about the same critters, I grew up in Oregon and never ever encountered what I'm calling mud dobbers. I know about them plugging up the water jackets for an outboard engine.

Jerry


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Pictures didn't print.


Jerry Bowen said:


> Herb, I'm not sure that we are talking about the same critters, I grew up in Oregon and never ever encountered what I'm calling mud dobbers. I know about them plugging up the water jackets for an outboard engine.
> 
> Jerry


These are the ones we have.
Herb


Process of a mud dauber wasp making a mud ball.

Paper Wasps, Yellow Jackets, Mud Daubers & Hornets – Danger!


Process of a mud dauber wasp making a mud ball.

Paper Wasps, Yellow Jackets, Mud Daubers & Hornets – Danger!


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

We've got these gangly slow moving wasps that build a lot of upside-down, mushroom shaped nests under the eves in particular. They seem to be really non-aggresive...and believe me, I pay attention to that!
We also get Mason bees building individual pupae nests in any smallish (1/4" hole they can find in a protective spot.
Never found them in any of my garden tools (outdoors) and nothing inside, except in the attic where the normal wasps seem to like to build really big nests...access through missing knotholes is a big problem.


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

Stick486 said:


> emove the wasp welcome mat from your home by making it an undesirable nesting location. Mud daubers eat spiders and build nests near populations of spiders.
> There are no known, successful repellents for this wasp.
> Remove their food source from the area, and they’ll build elsewhere. Wash away spider webs


Stick,
If you could see my shop you would quickly know how hard it would be to rid it of spiders. An old 40 x 80 tin building in the country here in Texas is just plain infested with spiders, that goes, as I see it for the entire southwest part of the country. Thanks for the suggestion, I have to wonder if it wasn't meant in gest, Ha Ha if it was, wish I could do it.

I have have to hit the start button on all of my tools and quickly hit stop to be sure that the motors are free to run. I learned this early on after burning up a couple of small motors in my first air compressors. They have at time also restricted the grinder from turning after building a nest on one of the wheels so that the nest jams in the shroud.

I should not complain, the trade off is that I have plenty of space.

Jerry


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