Need some advice on DC Plumbing

[ssmith1627]

EDIT: Before this thread goes any further, perhaps I should say ... my aim here is only to share what went into my own decision-making process, and to illustrate how I implemented my 4" hard-pipe system. It is not my intent to try to talk anyone into doing it "my way," nor is it to refute the excellent (and, I might add fascinating) legwork that more technically-savvy members like Garasaki and Loring are doing. On the contrary, I am trying hard myself to sort all this out, because I have dreams of building a larger, permanent shop of my own someday (so I can move out of the rented building I'm now in) and I want that shop to have a first-class dust collection system. In the meantime, given my current economic and spatial restraints, I have settled for a system that leaves me with a reasonably clean shop and have further accepted that I might well be running certain risks, health-wise. These are my decisions. They are not necessarily good decisions, applicable to or acceptable for everyone.

Larry, this is exactly what I like about this site. You care what others think and how they're reading / taking your messages. You're making sure others know where you're coming from. Such a refreshing thing over the flamewars you see going on on most other websites. It's really a pleasure to be a part of this family here.

Steve

[ssmith1627]

I was not happy with the results of my HF DC and 4" S&C pipe. My runs were too long and I was getting clogs near the planer and also right at the DC intake itself.

I had everything in place and pulled it all down to re-work my shop so that my dust makers were all in a semi-circle type setup with the DC up against one wall. My runs now are 6-7 feet at the most without any of the up to the ceiling and back down to the tool type runs. Took quite a bit of trying but I've finally found what will work for my space. Now I have to change out the flex hose I'm using because there's too much resistance even with those short runs. I want to maximize what I can there.

I was really too rash in pulling down what I had though and now I'm going to put some of it back. It didn't dawn on me until the past couple of weeks to leave some of the other runs. As long as I have blast gates all over, I can keep all my runs in place. At the ends of those long runs though, I'm going to have things like floor sweeps and 2.5" type hose connections. That will give me air flow from my work bench back to the DC for sanding and for basically keeping the shop cleaned up. Should also give me a connection point for the biscuit joiner and that sort of thing.

Great discussion guys. You'd think at some point with enough of us interested, products would come out to help us -- more accessible 5" fittings and the like. Will be interesting to see what the future holds. I had for spring and summer until now been keeping two doors and a garage door open on my shop to keep air flowing in there. Now it's just too dang hot. I hate that too because I don't want to breath anything I don't have to but until these upper 90's days go by, I'm stuck with it. It's that or just not stay in the shop !

Steve

[Jeffrey Schronce]

has anyone considered 6" piping?

I have, but then again I have a cyclone with a 7" intake hole stepped down to 6", whereas the HF unit being discussed, as well as, most of the single stage dust collectors have 5" inlet port.

Suggesting the theory of opening the 5" up to 6" with a metal cutting saw will likely result in a bunch more of that fancy math so I won't do it!

I noticed a huge difference in air movement between 4" and 6" on my cyclone.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

I was not happy with the results of my HF DC and 4" S&C pipe. My runs were too long and I was getting clogs near the planer and also right at the DC intake itself.
Steve

Steve,
I had to remove the grill at the intake on the HF unit I had. Fixed that cloggin problem.

Disclaimer : The grill is there for a reason and one would be disabling that reason by removing it. Having said that, many here have removed it.

[tejensen]

PVC or ABS?

I see people talking about black PVC at Home Deopt. I think you are actually looking at the ABS. The glue is different and it will not fit into some of the PVC fittings. Also the green PVC will not fit into some of the ABS fittings. If you intend to glue the ABS to the PVC you need a special glue.

I just put in an all metal system from Penn State Industries and am thrilled with the results. I had the ABS before and after fighting with the ground wire inside to keep the saw dust from exploding due to static electricity, I outfitteded my new shop with the metal.

For those who use plastic, take a look at the potential issues with static electricity and possible explosions from dust traveling through a pipe.

[LarryG]

For those who use plastic, take a look at the potential issues with static electricity and possible explosions from dust traveling through a pipe.

That's been pretty much exposed as a myth ... one of those things that keeps getting passed along as a problem but with no facts to back it up. To my knowledge, I don't think anyone has ever documented a case of a dust explosion in a home workshop that had plastic dust collection piping.

[LCHIEN]

That's been pretty much exposed as a myth ... one of those things that keeps getting passed along as a problem but with no facts to back it up. To my knowledge, I don't think anyone has ever documented a case of a dust explosion in a home workshop that had plastic dust collection piping.

That's the way I hear it too. OTOH, static can be annoying, tho.