HF Dust Collector - consensus on pipe size

[meika123]

I have been using 4" S & D thin-wall for over two years now, since I built my DC. Never a problem. Carries a ton of sawdust and wood chips. I see almost no dust or chips from my planer.

Dave in NC

[RagerXS]

When I looked into it, the easiest way to acquire 5" PVC was to use the grey conduit from a local electrical supply store.

As for ambient air cleaners, what is the best location for them? Near the DC, or are you better off putting them near a particular tool or workstation?

~ Fred

[JR]

As for ambient air cleaners, what is the best location for them? Near the DC, or are you better off putting them near a particular tool or workstation?

I've always heard that you should put it near the worst offenders. Most likely that would be the tablesaw or your sanding station.
JR

[LCHIEN]

Thanks, all. I understand the cost thing on 4", but I'm thinking with the info here that maybe I need to be on the lookout for some 5". My primary focus is to reduce the "fines" in the air, so I'm thinking I really need to get all the HF "2HP" can do. BTW, thanks for talking me out of the 6", since it seems it won't have the velocity I need with the 1 1/2 HP unit. As a guitar builder, I tend to thickness a lot of exotics that are known to be extremely toxic, and the escaping fines, of course, are the most dangerous of all. Eventually I figure to be able to get a "real" cyclone unit, but for the time being I need to work with what I've got. (I'm sure a lot of y'all can relate.)

If I understand right, the "trash can" separator is more for dropping out the heavier particles, while I've heard amazing reviews that a "true" cyclone does a great job dropping out the finer dust. Sound right to y'all?

Sooo.... sounds like 5" may be money well spent? (After all, I won't need THAT much of it.) I will also use an ambient air filter for additional filtering. This may do more good for the dust than anything.

And, any experience on adding a true cyclone unit like Clearvue inline with the HF DC? Or, when I get to that stage, I wonder if I'm better off selling off the HF and upgrading the whole system to a stand-alone cyclone unit?

I don't think you're going to get a concensus on anything.
There are a lot of people who are happy collecting dust with a shop vac, some who are very happy collecting with a shop vac and a trashcan separator.
Some people think the world of a HF 2 HP DC with a bigger trash can separator, and some who like theiir HF DC with a canister/cartridge from Wynn or one of the other DC specialty companies.

For those who need or want the best a 3-5 HP cyclone and pleated cartridge filter is the ultimate.

I don't want to disparage those who are happy with their system, for them it does what they want it to do. The levels I have roughly described may fit the description of diminishing returns.

The first couple of levels do a fairly good job but have to be emptied often and allow some fines to escape at the machine, but are inexpensive and use cheap plumbing.

Moving up the scale, the cyclone system will pull the largest CFMs, have the separation before the impellor and a large catch barrel with minimal pressure losses and truly engineered separation. You can get the Pentz prescribed 6" ducts, the CFM and the velocity. The ducting will cost the most, you'll need 220V and it will take up space for the machine and the plumbing, but you'll have just about the best of everything for an investment of between $1000 and 2000.
At that point your cost is going up exponentially for more improvement and your improvments are reaching a asymptote (limit).

I think its all a matter of how badly you want or need to capture that last particle and how much you want to spend.

A clear vue cyclone, in my opinion would be better than a trahscan sep but cost a bit of static pressure/ thus cfms, and thus you might lose some poickup at the machine. Some 5" ducting, as I pointed out earlier in the thread would be optimal for the HF DC performance level.

The thing going for the HF DC is that it is inexpensive, runs on 120V, and easily is fitted with upgrade pleated filter cartridge/canisters. Its main drawback is that it does not pull enough CFMs to meet Pentz's recommendations, if that's what you are shooting for.

Equipped with pleated filters, My gut rating of the HF DC is that its a 80/20 solution - does about 80% of near perfect dust collection for about 20% of the price of near perfection - that's a popular compromise point for a lot of technologies.

[LinuxRandal]

Even Bill, says you should still have an air cleaner. Even the big, nice, expensive, cyclones don't get everything. And while saws such as the BT with the sharkguard, have better dust collection, by default, something like a portable downdraft/sanding table, that could be rolled behind the tablesaw (outfeed table), would be a great help. (some of us have LOW ceilings, no room for either a cyclone, or a hanging air cleaner)

[JR]

I don't want to disparage those who are happy with their system, for them it does what they want it to do. The levels I have roughly described may fit the description of diminishing returns.

Nicely said, Loring. I believe there's only one bad choice, and that is to do nothing. One can choose to start anywhere LCDR (Loring Chien Diminishing Return) Curve and stop in any comfortable place. But you have start somewhere and just move forward.

JR