Dust collector upgrade decision

[dbhost]

LOL...

Yeah, I have seen setups with that jointed pipe stuff, it always leaks. Try taping up the joints.



FWIW, I see at least 3 90 degree bends that can be eliminated by moving the motor / impeller housing to dump straight into the inlet ring.

[master53yoda]

Duct design problems

My background is commercial duct design. Just some food for thought the short radius elbows used in the picture of the chip remover equal 100 ft of pipe as far as air restriction is concerned when using those elbows adjust them to be 45 degrees instead of 90 and increase them to 6 inch and it will reduce your air restriction by about 60 %. I have the same DC and have run all my runs in 6 inch with long radius elbows (2 set at 45) in all locations. Vertical lifts are 3 or 4 inch depending on the device served. Also the male end of the pipe needs to point towards the dust collector in all connections to reduce turbulence. also Seal all locations with duct sealer that paints on and hardens. Run your DC when putting the sealer on with a 4" port open, this will pull some of the compound into the joint giving a far better seal. also seal the length wise joint as well.

An unsealed (taped) duct system will leak 60 to 80% of total air flow on a system that is designed to operate at the static pressure that a DC operates at.

I'd deal with the duct system first before the larger DC It doesn't deliver much more static then the HF unit does. and unless you want to run more then 2 machines at once you don't need the higher CFM. You would need to replace all the duct work anyway if you go to the large DC.

To check for a tight duct system close all ports and remove the outlet hose form the DC and see how much air it moves with all ports closed. Any air that is moved is being pulled in from leaks.

ART

[Carlos]

I guess the photos above are misleading; I taped all those joints since taking them, and all the other joints in the system. Things certainly were much better after doing that, but still not great for the tools with multiple pickup areas.

I got the new one wired up though I don't have an 8" to 5" adapter to plumb it in. I fired it up and immediately sucked in a couple of sheet metal screws sitting near the inlet. Oops. Small animals should be kept far away from this thing. It's amazing. I hope the 8" adapters are in stock.

[cgallery]

That is a pretty substantial motor!

Can you tell the diameter and height of the impeller?

[Uncle Cracker]

You'll sure be able to kick ass now... Try not to stand anywhere near an inlet when that thing is running.

[ironhat]

Off Topic

Hey Art - Welcome aboard!! Be prepared to enjoy the locals - we don't bite often or hard... usually. LOL

[Carlos]

Can you tell the diameter and height of the impeller?

13" diameter, and the blades are 3.25" tall. There are six curved blades. The arrangement is kind off odd-looking with a lot of extra space inside the impeller box, but it seems to work well. Just looks strange to me. The motor is huge. The weight of the whole machine is surprising.

Try not to stand anywhere near an inlet when that thing is running.

I'll also need to keep it away from any hitch balls that I'd like to keep the chrome on.

when using those elbows adjust them to be 45 degrees instead of 90 and increase them to 6 inch and it will reduce your air restriction by about 60 %.

The one elbow on the DC itself is the only sharp one, due to space. The others were what they called "sweep elbows" except for one where I used two adjustables, each set to 45, to get a 90. Is that what you meant? I avoided 90 as much as possible, so a lot of stuff has a 45 and diagonal run.

[dbhost]

Ooooh, if I had the space for THAT... where's the drool emoticon?

I bet that thing would be a hazzard to aviation due to the change in air pressure right?

[Carlos]

I was worried about the space, but it's actually not a huge change from the old one. It's smaller in width by a few inches, and only longer by one filter diameter. I moved the drum sander over a bit and it fit sideways where the old one was. The sander moved into an unusable space/walkway. Impact was minimal. Also because the intake is vertical, you eliminate a lot of space that is used up by ducting on horizontal intakes. If you include that, the footprint is really no bigger.

[dbhost]

Now, if you eliminate the trash can separator, and go with a built into the inlet ring separator, or at least a neutral vane, you will spend a LOT less time cleaning your canisters and have a lot fewer plumbing bends to make...

[Carlos]

I have no idea what those are, so I'll start googling. I did decide to keep the trash can, because it ends up fitting perfectly and uses no space that would be useful for anything else. I did add a baffle in the can similar to others' design to help keep most of the stuff in the can. If there's more I can do, this is a good time while I have it all ripped apart.

Luckily, Timber had enough parts for me to get from 8" to 5", and they were even in the discount scrap heap ("nobody uses that 5" stuff any more").