Ok dust seems to be the enemy

Linc H

Linc
Corporate Member
New to woodworking here however, quickly figuring out that dust is the enemy. Shop vac, fans and dust masks not able to keep up. I am building out my shed, 12 x 8 and putting some tools in there. ( Oscillating Sander, router table, drill press, small band saw and will also be using hand tools saws, sanders etc.. ) I will have some stations set up, some items will be on casters for easy access and want to add a dust collection system. I have the ability to vent outside if needed. I am considering something like the shop fox w1727 dust collector. I have read the previous post on this subject and I am doing research. I need advice on things like appropriate motor size for the space, CFM's, brand names etc.. just want to tap the experience from our community before I confront the enemy. Thanks all Linc
 

Mike Davis

Mike
Corporate Member
It's not the space, it's the tool. Your dust collector should capture most if not all of the dust at the source.
 

Linc H

Linc
Corporate Member
Thanks Mike, I was thinking that the space might matter because of the length of pipe I will need to attach to each station and the ability for the collector to have enough pull to cover the space. I know I can have cutoffs at each station when not in use to ensure good airflow. Just need to make sure it is not an underpowered unit. This is where I am unsure the correct CFM's and motor size to handle my set up. thank you for your advice I really appreciate it.
 

Mike Davis

Mike
Corporate Member
I use a Powermatic 2HP dust collector with a flex hose in my 14 x 23 shop.
I move the flex from tablesaw to bandsaw and sometimes on the lathe if I sand.
Not ideal but it works.
I did alter my table saw by adding a dust collection box under the saw with the adapter for the hose to fit.
It gets about 95% of the dust where I use to have most of it on the floor and a lot more in the air.
 

Warped Woodwerks

.
Senior User
I am still setting up my shop, and don't have any DC, yet... BUT.. what I am initially going to do is:

Use my Harbor Freight DC, with the Rikon impeller installed, then build the following for cleaning the air. Dust Collection Research - Air Cleaner

Not sure if building your own air cleaner, with the addition of a better DC, would be better than buying the parts to build the above mentioned air cleaner.

Hope this information is worthwhile.


Regards,

Rory
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Bigger is better. No regrets buying the ClearView 5 HP. But for a lathe? Not sure anything works. Kind of like miter saws.
 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
I use the "2 hp" Harbor freight motor/blower sitting on top of a 5 inch inlet super dust deputy and exhausting through 6 inch piping outside. I have 5 inch snap lock runs in my shop and one long 4 inch flex hose I use for my planner and jointer because they pretty much have to go in the driveway to be used. The super dust deputy sits on top of a 70 gallon home made box with wheels. Running the planner or jointer fills it fairly quickly. This system keeps me from having piles of dust near the machine but does not eliminate dust in the air. I use a shop vac with a dust deputy on it with the smaller tools. But dust still leaks out. I blow the shop out with a blower when I think of it. It isn't super dust in my shop but it is certainly not dust free. I may add a an air filter.

I used a 1hp DC in my prior shop and had a run with 4 inch S&D PVC. It never worked very well and I sold it before hooking it up in my current shop. I think it was too small, at least to try and power a run of piping. Maybe it would work with a short flex hose and wheeled to each tool as you use it. I also had an ambient dust filter in that shop but the DC was so leaky it got overpowered. When I moved I had to clean this shop and it was pretty terrible. Operating a shop for any time without effective dust collection is not a good idea.
 

JNCarr

Joe
Corporate Member
Here are a couple of documents that helped me design my system. It's really just an electrical circuit with a relatively high internal "battery" resistance (blower curve). Add up all the "voltage drops" (static pressure losses) and make sure the "current" (air flow) stays above 3000fmp. My bet is the shop fox will do fine for that size shop as long as you feed it with 5" or 6" main run. If you plan on using a cyclone at a later date, add in its pressure drop and all the new ducting it will need now to make sure you can handle it in the future. If not, step up the hp.
 

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Berta

Berta
Corporate Member
I use a shop vac. I have one hooked to my tablesaw, another hooked to my plainer. One for my miter saw. One for my sanding station. One sits between my router table and bandsaw. It switches between them and can also be hooked to my wide belt sander. There is also one for my scroll saw and sand flea. As I purchased a tool, I considered its dust collection needs.
 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
When my table saw was a Ryobi BT3100 I also used a shop vac for it and my other tools. But when I got a SawStop PCS, I found a shop vac to be almost completely ineffective and I got another DC. I never tried a shop vac with my 10 inch lunchbox planner but I cannot imagine it would work well, my DC can barely keep up. But maybe it works. For smaller tools, track saw, sanders, domino, my DC is ineffective and my shop vac works well.

A big mistake I made with my 1hp DC was to use it with the stock bags. They leak all the fine dust making the collector a chip collector and a harmful dust distributor. Really bad idea. The "worst" filter I would use if I was to vent inside is the best bags I could find and I ended up with a cartridge filter on my 1hp. If you vent inside you need the best filtration you can find/afford.
 

petebucy4638

Pete
Corporate Member
New to woodworking here however, quickly figuring out that dust is the enemy. Shop vac, fans and dust masks not able to keep up. I am building out my shed, 12 x 8 and putting some tools in there. ( Oscillating Sander, router table, drill press, small band saw and will also be using hand tools saws, sanders etc.. ) I will have some stations set up, some items will be on casters for easy access and want to add a dust collection system. I have the ability to vent outside if needed. I am considering something like the shop fox w1727 dust collector. I have read the previous post on this subject and I am doing research. I need advice on things like appropriate motor size for the space, CFM's, brand names etc.. just want to tap the experience from our community before I confront the enemy. Thanks all Linc
I have one large Oneida dust collector that is great for most tools. But it can be over-kill for a hand-held sander or even my router table. And I have some tools that I sometimes use outside the shop, including my miter saw, that need to have a portable dust collector. I have a Bosch HEPA shop vac/dust collector that I use for the main work bench, with is usually connected to sanders or routers. It is my portable dust collector of choice. The router table is connected to a porter cable dust collector that came with my drywall sander. It can use a HEPA filter. It can also be connected to my spindle sander and a few other tools. Both of these dust collectors employ a cyclone-style (Dust Deputy) device that separates most of the dust into a plastic bucket which also save the filters in the Bosch and Porter Cable vacs.

The big Oneida is connected to a SawStop table saw, a large planer, the jointer, and the shaper. It can move a lot of air, but on smaller tools, the Porter Cable and Bosh units work just as good, if not better.

Dust is more of a problem that many of us ever wanted to believe. I think that you probably should still wear a dust mask of some sort, but a good dust collector can make your life a lot more comfortable and probably keep you healthier too.
 

LeftyTom

Tom
Corporate Member
I use a Penn State Industries 1HP dust, which I bought from a fellow NCWW'er. I upgraded the upper bag with a cartridge air filter, which I bought from another NCWW'er. The difficult part is sealing the bottom of the cartridge to the DC.
 

Linc H

Linc
Corporate Member
I use a Powermatic 2HP dust collector with a flex hose in my 14 x 23 shop.
I move the flex from tablesaw to bandsaw and sometimes on the lathe if I sand.
Not ideal but it works.
I did alter my table saw by adding a dust collection box under the saw with the adapter for the hose to fit.
It gets about 95% of the dust where I use to have most of it on the floor and a lot more in the air.
Mike, is your main line 4" or 5" from the collector? I am thinking I go 2HP with a 5" main and 4" branch hoses to the tools. I could start out moving the branch hose as needed and that sounds like what you are doing. thanks for sharing your experience.
 

Mike Davis

Mike
Corporate Member
I only have the one 4 inch flex that is about twenty feet long
I move it from each machine to the one I'm using at the time.
I know this is not the best way but my shop is to small with
too many interferences to run a straight pipe from one end to the other.
 

Linc H

Linc
Corporate Member
I only have the one 4 inch flex that is about twenty feet long
I move it from each machine to the one I'm using at the time.
I know this is not the best way but my shop is to small with
too many interferences to run a straight pipe from one end to the other.
yeah, I am in same boat small shop, however I can run straight pipe. Sounds like 4" would be fine. Thanks Mike
 

Mike Davis

Mike
Corporate Member
Yes, I think so.

If you had a larger shop with lots of drops and bigger machinery then 6 or 8 inch pipe would be warranted.

But our small shops, short runs and few drops seem to be the standard.
 

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