pharper
Well-known member
Thanks!
Thanks for posting. Great pics. I was not organized enough to plan for in ground vac system even though I had lots of time. I feared that I would do it then need to move the TS 3 ft over.
Question, how does your miter dust hood work? I made one out of a large plastic tote with a 5" collector and still don't catch it all. And I still have to clear the corners by hand or with a shop vac once a week.
Thought I'd share mine. I went with the Penn State Ind premium spiral, I cheated, told them the layout and let them design it. Works well, but my biggest problem is the table saw. I need an overhead collector, it just spits sawdust right at me.
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Three things here:
First: Nice space. Well thought out.
Second: care to provide any opinions on what looks like a Grizzly 12" surface sander in your first pic?
Third: For the tablesaw spitting sawdust, if an over arm collector isn't in your plan for your tablesaw, I've seen and used saws where folks have drilled a series of holes in the front fence rail, plugged one end up and connected dust collection to the other end. It worked well.
Nice setup FT. Thanks for posting. Penn State is good stuff.
Your statement about the drum and planer volume reminded me of my first experience after setting up my DC at my previous house.
Not knowing how fast the drum would fill, I checked twice a day and there wasn't much in it. Then I started planing. I forgot to check as I got in the rhythm of pushing boards over and over. Then I suddenly realized I was surrounded by a giant dust cloud. WTF!
I looked over and the output flex tube to the pleated filter cannister had blown off and was spewing dust everywhere. The over flowing drum had backed into the cyclone and the filter. Bam! Presto! A garage full of dust, chips, and all.
What a mess.
Now I check every time I power up the DC.

FT, nice shop. Looks like a Grizzly truckload sale.
Here's mineAnyone done a simple setup with and shop vac and PVC (1-1/2" or 2")? That's my plan to keep the vac tucked away under my bench but have an easy connect on the other side of the garage. Going to use the grey stuff so I can do sweeps instead of ells for the corners.



Thanks! Yeah, When I was given the green light from my wife to outfit the shop, I looked at the options, and felt Grizzly gave me the best quality for the dollar. So I figured why mess around and went ahead a ordered a truck load. It felt like Christmas when the truck arrived. I'm just a weekend woodworker, and just make some decent looking firewood... I hope someday to make some fancy firewood... LOL! I have two older boys who went to tech school for cabinetry, so it's a place they can come over and we can hangout together. I'm 8 years to retirement, and I'm stoked to have my shop to enjoy in my next phase of life.
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Hi,
I'm a newbie to the forum, have read a few links, but haven't found the answer to my question. I bought a HF dust collector last week, assembled it and am having second thoughts about using it as designed. Specifically, I'd like to permanently mount the impeller on the wall of my shop and directly vent it outside (no neighbors with 1/4 mile; my house 400 feet away) and eliminate both bags. If it's going outside into my fields, why would I even need the bags. Make-up air is no problem since the building is very
drafty. Any thoughts about what I'm missing? Many thanks!
Scott in Maryland.
FTWingRiders is a tough act to follow, for sure. His DC system inspired me to upgrade to spiral pipe. Here is mine.
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Penn State 3hp cyclone...
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Control box...
It when the zone is active the blue indicator goes on. It also has a delay relay on shutdown to clear the lines.
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The guts..
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The table saw, planer and jointer have a power sensing relay that activates the system when a tool is turned on plus a push button.
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I built this box with a plug that also has a power sensing relay so when you turn a sander on the DC kicks on.
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The FTWingRiders inspired spiral pipe.
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It was a super fun project. And I'm with the rest of the folks here... The drum I have is too small and fills up quick when rumbaing the planner.
Cheers,
Chris
What a great shop! Love that spiral pipe, and that relay system is the bomb! Thats one part I hate.. I have a remote I can carry, (which I don't, and have to look for), but then I've forgotten to close a gate somewhere and need to retrace my steps..grr.. Chris..Thats awesome!! Sorry I missed it back in December, I think you win!What a great shop! Love that spiral pipe, and that relay system is the bomb! Thats one part I hate.. I have a remote I can carry, (which I don't, and have to look for), but then I've forgotten to close a gate somewhere and need to retrace my steps..grr..
Now that its a few months gone by, how do you like it, anything you'd do different? I have to ask, where did you get it? Thats definitely on my to-do list now!

^^^thats sweet!!!^^^
Make sure you post pics of your blast gate when they're done.
Now your just bragging.....
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Please excuse the mess...
LOL...on my best day my shop isn't that neat.







Dust collection system has grown and evolved with the shop. Fully automated. Turn on a machine and the cyclone starts if it’s not already running, associated blast gate opens and closes when tool is turned off. Completely transparent to the user.
I bought this disc sander a few years ago. I put together the pile of parts and finally got it all completed today. 20” 3 phase disc sander with single phase input power, braking and full automated dust collection.
Video of it running. I’m getting zero dust out of it. Very happy!!
Man that all came out sweet! Thats a serious disc sander. The shop looks great,nice and bright and the custom pipe holders are perfect. Love that bench. I'm still so jealous of the automatic gates.. still something I haven't tackled as I have zero skill at programming any kind of custom set up. I see the iVac on rockler, not not sold on it. I need to contact them with some questions I have.
Also what is the air system you have? Looks clean and neat.![]()