How do you collect dust in a home shop?
I’m planning to complete my shop in the next month, with all the big machines in place. I still have to buy a 3hp cartridge/bag dust collector, around 1700cfm.
My shop is in my 3 car garage and I roll all machines on mobile bases, from one garage bay, into the full 3 car garage before starting to work. This is quick, well laid out and I pretty much fill up the three car garage, with no extension cords lying on the floor. When I’m done, everything is rolled back into one bay and I park two cars in the garage.
So, now the challenge of dust collection………..
Last night, I laid out the collection system everything 4″, with a combination of hoses, steel pipes, blast gates and fittings on paper. The hoses, pipes and fittings alone were over a $1000.
So, now I’m looking at using only hose, hung from the roof, with clamps to connect up quickly, or perhaps a smaller collector unit, which is portable and can collect directly from two 4″ ports on a machine.
Any ideas from members working in their garage, will be appreciated.
Willie
Replies
I lucked out on my 6" pipe by getting it off a commercial jobsite that had some stuff left over. I have everything mounted to the ceiling so it is out of the way and I used 4" flex to drop down to my tools. I tried to keep all the runs as short and straight as I could to help keep the CFM up at the tool end. I found metal pipe is cheaper than flex pipe even if I had to buy the stuff. I have also used PVC pipe in the past and it has worked great. As for gates buy cheap ones or make some yourself. As time and money permits them upgrade these items with better stuff.
Scott C. Frankland
Scott's WOODWORKING Website
"He who has the most tools may not win the race of life but he will sure make his wife look like a good catch when she goes to move on."
Scott,
Thanks for the pictures. Like the way you used your blast gates, if that's what they are.
Willie
Here is a pic of my old DC. It was a small 1Hp and it worked great on all tools. I made some mods to it so that it would be easier to clean out when running the planner. I had some extra shop money and had a large job come up that needed the extra CFM so I upgraded.Scott C. Frankland
Scott's WOODWORKING Website"He who has the most tools may not win the race of life but he will sure make his wife look like a good catch when she goes to move on."
Willie,
Sounds like you don't mind a little inconvenience moving things around. You might want to consider a small portable collector. This is what I have and it works ok for all my stuff (including a 20" planer).
I use flexible dryer hose with galvanized fittings duct taped to the ends for easy and quick connections to individual machines.
You won't be able to use it on multiple machines at the same time but I doubt this will be an issue for you. Anyway, I use mine on tablesaw/jointer simultaneously and it works fairly well.
Have fun.
Dave
ALuminum or plastic dryer hose?
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