Replies

1. 
   Northboundtrain | Mar 07, 2006 05:18am | #1

   Read up on dust collection at this site before making any purchase:

   http://www.billpentz.com/

2. 
   DougF | Mar 07, 2006 05:52pm | #2

   Bill's site is an excellent primer on DC and well worth your time and effort before adding a system.

   To you specific question, I think your plan is probably doomed since you will, in all likelihood, quickly tire of dragging the DC from machine to machine, tripping over power cords and disconnecting and reconnecting the DC hose each time.  It is a hassle and frankly it is somewhat of a hazard since you have 4 " DC hose on the floor where it can be easily tripped over.   Flex hose is also very inefficient and dramatically reduces the flow of the material due to turbulence created by the ribbing.

   You can install 5" or 6" S&D overhead duct work with flex hose drops that can be hung out of the way wen the shop tools are not in use the middle of the garage.  The larger duct provides better material removal but even 4" S&D pipe would be better than dragging the DC around from machine to machine.  S&D pipe is very inexpensive and effective.  Figure $1.25 - $1.75 ft for the main duct line and probably around $30 per drop for flex hose and blast gates.  If all of your drops are against walls, then the cost is less since you will not need as much flex hose.  IMHO, you should use a DC unit with as much true CFM's as you can afford.   The cyclones, in my experience at least, represent the best bang for the buck since they provide the most cfm's, duct/chip separation,  easiest waste removal and compactness than the bag/canister DC's connected to a separator.