Dust Collection Setup.

[Unruh]

Recently my sister and her husband moved to Hawaii. He had a few tools in his garage that he had that he couldn't take with him. He tried to sell them but he ran out of time and he gave them to me. He said I could have them or sell them. One of the things he gave me was a Harbor Freight Dust Collector. It is still in the box. I have been wanting to set up a Dust Collector for awhile and I'm excited to use it. I've looked on-line and seen many ways to improve it. I have a 55 gallon set up ready for a Thien Baffle to turn it into a 2 stage setup. What I'm wondering about is air flow. I plan on running 4" pipe to these...

These will take it from 4" to two 2 1/2". Those are shown in blue on the diagram on the bottom. The Harbor Freight Collector is rated at 1550 CFM. From what I see, 2 1/2 hose allow 140 CFM. I guess what I'm wondering is, am I going to need the blast gates or should this be able to pull from all ports as is? I'll have 6 or 7 two and a half inch ports in total.

Pink is the 4" pipe
Blue is the above 4" to 2 1/2"
Red will be the 2 1/2 inch pipe going to different tools
Yellow is the dust collector.

 

[couch67]

Unruh,

In my experience, the 2 1/2" ports are ok for a few tools that have focused chip collection like a router table fence, but for most stationary tools you want at least 4" right to the tool.

Each port should have their own blast gate to maximize the air flow to the tool you are using.

Also, if your DC has a larger port than 4" (it may be 5" or 6"), then make that your main run size.

A bit more expensive upfront but you get much better chip collection and less stray dust.

couch

 

[Unruh]

I don’t have any tools with 4” ports coming off them.

I have a Delta 36-725 table saw with a 2 1/2” port on the back.
Dewalt 12” Miter Saw with I think a 2” port.
Band saw with a 2 1/2 port
Disk belt sander with 2 1/2
Drill press, I was going mount a 2 1/2 hose
Wood lathe that has no port, but I was going to build a catch all with a 2 1/2 port.
Open port for cleaning and hand sanders.

 

[couch67]

Since most of your tools have small ports, I think what you have makes sense. I would definitely use blast gates at the 4" points in your design, and even test if you need to have a gate at the separate 2.5" points that have y's.

Have a look at this site which is a great source of info for DC design.

http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/

 

[Regnar]

I could write down everything that could be a problem with your system but I am just going to link Bill Pentz site for your enjoyment. There is a ton of information on the site. Not trying to bust your bubble but I am speaking from experience and strongly feel that the HF unit will require more modifications to make it work ok then it would to take and build a better system from scratch. I feel the HF unit would be great for point of use setup meaning you would have to wheel it around to each tool. Search the web but you can use the filter housing as the Thien out wall. No need to make it out of Plexiglass. Also 55 gallons of dust weight a ton.

http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/

 

[Unruh]

I could write down everything that could be a problem with your system but I am just going to link Bill Pentz site for your enjoyment. There is a ton of information on the site. Not trying to bust your bubble but I am speaking from experience and strongly feel that the HF unit will require more modifications to make it work ok then it would to take and build a better system from scratch. I feel the HF unit would be great for point of use setup meaning you would have to wheel it around to each tool. Search the web but you can use the filter housing as the Thien out wall. No need to make it out of Plexiglass. Also 55 gallons of dust weight a ton.

http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/

I am pretty much building it from scratch. The only thing from the unit I’m using is the blower. I’m running that through a 55 gallon with a thein baffle and venting outside.

 

[TerryH]

Don't see that blower supporting what you have in mind. The sp in those runs is going to be too much for the HF blower to overcome. Running 4" right to the tools and then reducing to 2 1/2" or modding the tool ports to 4" would help. You could also upgrade the HF 10" impeller with the Rikon 12" impeller. The part number is P60-200-22. Quite a few guys have done that mod and it will definitely help. Bottom line is DC is about moving air. That is not something that the stock HF collector blower is very good at.

 

[Unruh]

Don't see that blower supporting what you have in mind. The sp in those runs is going to be too much for the HF blower to overcome. Running 4" right to the tools and then reducing to 2 1/2" or modding the tool ports to 4" would help. You could also upgrade the HF 10" impeller with the Rikon 12" impeller. The part number is P60-200-22. Quite a few guys have done that mod and it will definitely help. Bottom line is DC is about moving air. That is not something that the stock HF collector blower is very good at.

Like I said, I got the collector for free. I currently have nothing set up. I can get the 4” PVC cheap. I like the idea of changing out the impeller. Would the system I’ve diagramed be better or worse than running 2 1/2” PVC with a shop vac?

 

[TerryH]

Like I said, I got the collector for free. I currently have nothing set up. I can get the 4” PVC cheap. I like the idea of changing out the impeller. Would the system I’ve diagramed be better or worse than running 2 1/2” PVC with a shop vac?

The runs are too long for the shop vac. You'd be better off running the HF blower with 4" as close to the tools as you can before reducing. Best to get some 4" to 2.5" adapters and running 4" right to the tool. Even short lengths of 2.5" is really going to hurt the system. Air performs similar to liquid in this application so think about how much water you could flow through a straw vs a garden hose.

You can use this link to get some general numbers and go from there. A real world number for the HF blower is probably about half what they claim. Perhaps 800 cfm at the blower.

https://www.woodmagazine.com/figure-dust-collection-needs-by-the-numbers

 

[rlitman]

...These will take it from 4" to two 2 1/2". Those are shown in blue on the diagram on the bottom. The Harbor Freight Collector is rated at 1550 CFM. From what I see, 2 1/2 hose allow 140 CFM...

You're not accounting for the CFM of the 4".
A 4" line is limited to around 600 CFM, so that 1550 CFM at the machine is purely a Chinese marketing number. Probably related to it running open on both ends.

I get decent dust collection at my table saw with a 4" pickup, but there are no blast gates. Blast gates are very wasteful. Some of the best designs I've seen use home runs, with a gateless switching arrangement at the collector.

 

[machsnell]

What are some good blast gates that dont leak?

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