Minimum Run Time Switch for 5HP Cyclone Motor

Alan in Little Washington

Alan Schaffter
Corporate Member
I had to search to find your duct thread (it disappeared on me- this thread did also?) to check if you have a mitersaw. Mitersaws are a special case, since most are used for multiple short bursts of a few seconds at most, they are not ideal for auto-gates and especially ones that also automatically start the DC. Though my mitersaw blast gate, like all my others, is electro-pneumatically operated and when activated starts the DC, it is not automatic- I must flip a switch to open the gate. I also have a 2.5" shopvac line running via manual blast gate to the saw's blade guard port. The loud shopvac is in a cabinet for noise reduction. It is activated via a separate low voltage circuit and relay by a different set of contacts in the manual DPDT switch that controls the DC blastgate.
 

Rushton

Rush
Senior User
I appreciate the additional thoughts about integrating a miter saw. We will have a Festool Kapex compound miter saw in the shop. It is supposed to have reasonably good dust capture at its blade guard and integrated dust port when used with a shop vac hose attached to that port. I think I'll need to actually get it into the shop to assess how well that might work with our Fein vacuum, and whether this can be successfully operated independently of the central cyclone system.

For the duct layout, I'm planning to have a 6" duct run to the area where we plan to set up the miter saw. Then it will be sorting out from there.

If we dedicate the Fein vac to the miter saw, we could plug the saw into it's self-activated tool power receptacle to accomplish the auto turn on, turn off function. Not sure that's the solution, but it's an option.
 

Alan in Little Washington

Alan Schaffter
Corporate Member
You could make the Fein part of a mini-fixed system. Plum it with 2" PVC (I liked the look of gray electrical conduit better than plumbing white :rolleyes: I actually did it because longer sweep elbows are available in conduit.) You could put blast gates on the line at various locations (these photos were taken before I added blast gates:) ) to connect other small machines and run hoses to power hand tools (ROS, router, circular saw, etc.,) and a standard vac hose.

In the first photo you can see the 2" line running along the HVAC duct , the drops to the mitersaw and mortiser, and the line running along the ceiling to the hose drop to the assembly table. Barely visible below the electrical and air hose reels is the metal J hook I use to coil and stow the vac hose out of the way. Also, barely visible at the lower left is a mini-cyclone. The shopvac is in the adjacent cabinet.

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A metal chute ending in a 6" DC duct is located in the cabinet below the mitersaw.

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This photo shows the hose coils and stowed on the J hook. Not visible is the small pull chain switch that starts the vac not the wood plug (primitive blastgate? :rolleyes: ) I insert in the end of the hose when I'm not using it. (The aluminum track is for a curtain, barely visible in the dormer, that serves as my spray booth.)

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Rushton

Rush
Senior User
Alan, this is an EXCELLENT set up and good solution for the miter saw and all of the various small machines that need suction. We have a CV06-Mini cyclone so we might well clone your entire setup! I like it.

Thank you for going to the trouble of sharing this. Huge help!

We are now playing with new floorplan layouts to see if we can move the CVMAX into the adjacent storage room. The sketches so far look promising. I'll update the other thread with a couple of images from the current sketches.
 

Alan in Little Washington

Alan Schaffter
Corporate Member
Two comments about the shopvac cabinet- I was going to add a low noise, insulated, air exhaust plenum (muffler with right angles) but never got around to it. If you look in the lower right hand corner of the cabinet, you'll see a rectangular exhaust opening in the cabinet however. Some folks may be concerned about the heat. The magazine that published my tip was concerned as well, so before they would publish my tip, I put a thermometer in the cabinet and ran it for 30 - 40 min. While YRMV, I never saw much above 115°F the entire time. That is well below the rating of the motor or ignition temp of the cabinet materials.
 
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Rushton

Rush
Senior User
Good point. The Fein vacuum is pretty quiet (that's why I bought it), so it will live in the open for now. If we place it in a cabinet, I'll make sure to provide baffled air exhaust and keep heat build up in mind.
 

Hmerkle

Board of Directors, Development Director
Hank
Staff member
Corporate Member
Good point. The Fein vacuum is pretty quiet (that's why I bought it), so it will live in the open for now. If we place it in a cabinet, I'll make sure to provide baffled air exhaust and keep heat build up in mind.
Does anyone know the Db of the Fein vacuum? (I have read 66Db), but my question is: Does it "seem" quiet?
 

Rushton

Rush
Senior User
I don't know the Db but is seems to all of us in our community shop that the Fein runs far quieter than any other shop vac any of us have used. None of us have used a Festool, so can't compare to that. But it's very noticeably quieter than a Ridgid or ShopVac. And, the suction is great!
 

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