DC plumbing question

[smorris]

I've been considering installing fixed ducting from the DC, 4" S&D with blastgates that have pigtails to the tools. Will my 1hp DC support about 25 feet of ducting for its longest run? Some things I've read say pretty much anything under 2hp isn't worth putting in fixed ducts. By the same token my using flexible hose is also pretty inefficient from what I've read since I have up to 15 feet of it.

[twistsol]

I have a Jet DC650 1hp dust collector that was connected to about 35 feet of 4" steel pipe. Even with every seam sealed there was a noticeable loss of performance. It worked alright for the table saw and router tables, but my planer plugged up frequently.

[master53yoda]

How many elbows where in the system. each elbow is equal to 30' of pipe, a 90 tee fitting is 100' on the branch, a 45 ell is 25 on the branch at about 300' total you will have lost 80% of the flow due to pressure drop in the piping.

On my system the total equivalent length (with all fittings is only about 97' counting all the elbows at the DC to the end of the run. I loss about 1/3 of the static pressure at the end of the run that is developed at the DC. My main line is also 6" with only the riser 4". the hoses are 3" . They will handle anything but the 13" Belsaw planer which i connect directly to the DC if i'm planing anything wider then about 6". The planer has 2 ea 3" runs of less then 10 foot.

Your system as described would definitely need to use a separator at the planer.

[atgcpaul]

On my system the total equivalent length (with all fittings is only about 97' counting all the elbows at the DC to the end of the run.

That's with all the gates open, right? Let's say you have 4 branches at 25'
long, if you close 3 out of the 4 gates, that only counts as 25', right? Fixed
DC piping is the next big thing for my shop. I want to make sure I understand
it before I run to the store for all the pipes.


Paul

[master53yoda]

That's with all the gates open, right? Let's say you have 4 branches at 25'
long, if you close 3 out of the 4 gates, that only counts as 25', right? Fixed
DC piping is the next big thing for my shop. I want to make sure I understand
it before I run to the store for all the pipes.


Paul

the effective length is the length of piping and fittings that a chip would go through getting from the tool to the DC. the flex adds to this but it is not counted in the 97' that i stated a 10' piece of flex is probably close to 75' of pipe of the same size. Flex is calculateable but varies between manufacturer. The total effective length would be different for each tool. the 97' I quoted was the length to my bandsaw which is furtherest from the DC

[dbhost]

The overall consensus is for a 1HP DC, keep the duct length to 10' or less.

[Iansaws]

Just building my system

The LOML just gave me a 1.5 HP Delta DC for Christmas. Apparently I have been a very good boy this year. Never thought I would ever get one of these and had resigned myself to making the best use of a shop-vac system. The DC is so much mre powerfull though and I am looking forward to getting it all plumbed. My intention is to use 4' S&D pipe and fittings for as much of the runs as I can. However, my BT300, By 10" CRAFTSMAN bandsaw and the flex tubeing I will use for my drill press all have 2.5" DC ports. I have installed a 4" DC port underneath my BT300 and my plan is to join 4' flex from this port with 2.5" flex form the rear DC port into a single 4 " flex tubing that I can disconnect from the DC when not in use. This run should be no more than 12' or so. I will also run a second line from the DC up to the ceiling and across the ceiling to wall joint to where the band saw and drill press are located. then down to each of these tools with 2.5 inch clear ridgid pipe and flex hose with blast gates. In the middle of the run for the DC to the band saw I intend to T (really more of a "curved" T) off the 4" pipe and run 16 ft to the other side of the shop and down the wall to my miter saw all of this will be 4" S&D pipe and fittings. As it runs across the ceiling from one side of the shop to the other, I plan on putting a curved T approximately in the middle of the run attached to flex tubing running straight down to the top on the BT300. This is to be attached to a DC hood (yet to be built or designed) that will hover over the TS cutting area. When I run the TS I will have DC from three areas...underneath, in the back and on top. Is this too much to ask of a 1.5 HP DC unit? I could use my 5HP shop vac for the underneath and backside DC ports.

[JimD]

My DC is a 1hp Delta. I have hard lines of 4 inch S&D plus a short piece of flex going to my BT3100, drill press, bandsaw/jointer (I switch one line between the two), radial arm saw/CMS (again one line switched between two tools), and my router table. The router table is the furthest from the DC and the only one that the DC cannot keep up with. It is probably 20 feet away and the line run through the ceiling so there are several 90 degree bends in it. I have recently started putting my small shop vac on the connection on my router table fence while running the DC to take dust out of the cabinet. This works well.

I would like to use my DC on my AP-10 thicknesser but I do not have the hood for it. I may modify the stock output chute. I am not real confident my DC and keep up with the thicknesser but I don't like sweeping up for it either. Sometimes I take it outside.

My DC works significantly better with my homemade blast gates than it did with the inexpensive plastic blast gates I initially tried. They did not fully open or close. You need to keep losses down with a 1hp DC but if you set it up right, it will work well with at least most of your tools.

Jim

[Uncle Cracker]

I have a 1.5-hp Delta (50-760), and I use 4" S&D pipe. I also have WC metal blast gates at each machine. My farthest distance is about 30' (the DC sits in the middle), and all ells are made with 90-degree long-radius sweeps. End result: I have not had any DC performance problem on any machine (including the planer and the Performax sander).

[Iansaws]

I have a 1.5-hp Delta (50-760), and I use 4" S&D pipe. I also have WC metal blast gates at each machine. My farthest distance is about 30' (the DC sits in the middle), and all ells are made with 90-degree long-radius sweeps. End result: I have not had any DC performance problem on any machine (including the planer and the Performax sander).

Uncle C. I also have the 50-760 and I am curious about the long-radius sweeps for the 90 degree turns. I have purchased the normal 90 degree elbows for my turns. Is there a long and a short radius 90 elbow? Also I am curious about your general set-up. Have you installed a separator in between the DC and the machines? If so how did you do this?

[Uncle Cracker]

Uncle C. I also have the 50-760 and I am curious about the long-radius sweeps for the 90 degree turns. I have purchased the normal 90 degree elbows for my turns. Is there a long and a short radius 90 elbow? Also I am curious about your general set-up. Have you installed a separator in between the DC and the machines? If so how did you do this?

Long-radius sweep ells are commonplace on sewer fittings (for obvious reasons). In fact, you'd probably be hard-pressed to find a sharp 90 until you got to pressurized water fittings (no "solids" there...). As for a separator, I do not have one. Minor chips and chunks run right through the DC and into the lower bag. Major chunks (I try not to let much of that into the system) will get hung up somewhere upstream of the DC, which can be a bit of a PITA, but I'm pretty careful not to let the really big junk get in there. I mounted all the piping so that I can get into it if I really need to.

My setup is pretty simple... I have a triple branch right at the DC, with one 4" dedicated to the lathes next to it. I have a second branch that runs under the RAS and over to the TS, disk sander and OSS. The third branch runs overhead to the other end of the shop for the planer and the drum sander, with a drop midway for the BS. There are a lot of gates in the system, but it allows me to isolate the service to the particular machine I'm using, thus making the most of the DC performance. I keep telling myself that I'd like to upgrade someday to a bigger one (3 or 5-hp), but my current setup works well enough that I can use that money for more pressing needs.

[Iansaws]

One more question and I am sorry that this may seem obvious. Do you seal the S&D pipe with PVC glue or just depend on a tight fit to prevent leaks? I am not sure how permanant my layout will be and once you glue up the fittings then they are pretty much done. For this reason I would like to just depend on wedging the together and hoping the joints won't' leak.

[Uncle Cracker]

Most joints are tight by themselves (I run a little sandpaper around any edges I cut to remove burrs). The socket joints in the fittings are slightly tapered, so a press fit holds nicely, and I took care to strap down the fittings and pipe near the joints to keep them in place. I did have one joint that was slightly loose, due to the fact that I could not avoid a very small misalignment, and I used silicone on the outside of the joint to seal it, so that I could take it apart if I ever needed to. Use of PVC cement inside the joint would make that quite impossible.