Small tool dust collection??

[MarkE]

What do you do for dust collection with your smaller tools?

I have a small benchtop bandsaw, a Ridgid oss, and a delta belt/disk sander. They each have 2-1/2" or smaller dust collection ports. Right now I have a 4" pipe from my cyclone running through 4x4x2-1/2 wyes and reducers going to these three machines. It just seems silly and a little wasteful to turn on a big dust collector for these small machines. Especially when I am only doing a couple of quick operations, which is most of the time.

Also, what do you do for DC at the drill press? I had been using a 4" flexform pipe for mine which work great, with the same caveats. I have been moving some tools around and the new location for the drill press is not convenient to any of the existing DC runs. I really don't want to have to re-configure the DC pipe (again) just for the drill press.

My thought is to set up a small system using my shop vacuum/CV06 with some pvc pipe, or maybe some of that Rockler DC pipe. Just looking for some ideas.

I have seen Alan (in Little Washington)'s shop vac system and that looks pretty slick. Sure would love to get some details on that set-up. :wwink:

 

[jobelenus]

I put together one of those Rockler downdraft tables and have it hooked to my DC unit via a 4"hose - works well enough so that my nose doesn't blow out wood after a long session with the orbital sander...about $55 total cost..Of course for larger pieces it won't work but it serves a niche in my shop.

 

[MarkE]

I put together one of those Rockler downdraft tables and have it hooked to my DC unit via a 4"hose - works well enough so that my nose doesn't blow out wood after a long session with the orbital sander...about $55 total cost..Of course for larger pieces it won't work but it serves a niche in my shop.

A downdraft table is in my future. The plan is to build it into a new combination router/downdraft/outfeed table. That will definitely be hooked into the cyclone DC system.

 

[KenOfCary]

I bought a switch that lets me plug in the shop-vac and the tool and turns on the vac when the tool starts. I use it with a 2-1/2" hose for the Oscillating Spindle Sander and with a smaller hose for the Festool's and other small things that need DC.

I actually have a dedicated shop-vac under the bench were the Sliding Miter Saw is just for that machine.

I originally ran reducers and used the big DC for some of this but like you it seemed a waste of power to me. I just move the shop-vac were I need it.

I do have a downdraft table with a 4" port and use the DC for that one when I'm using it.

This is the switch I use for both of the shop-vacs.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2005855/18215/ISocket-Vacuum-Automator.aspx

- Ken.

 

[CrealBilly]

Every single tool in my collection collects dust

 

[MarkE]

Every single tool in my collection collects dust

:rotflm:

 

[McRabbet]

I use an original ClearVue Cyclones CV06 mini-cyclone for my smaller dust collection activities. I have a Porter-Cable hose accessory that connects between my P-C ROS and the inlet port on the CV06. I also have a hose attached to my miter saw (a P-C 12" compound MS) and use it as well to my stationary 6"x48" belt /9" disk sander. The mini-CV06 sits atop a 5-gallon bucket and the suction is provided by a 16 gallon ShopVac. Almost no dust gets to the bin on the ShopVac although I have a HEPA filter in it.

I also have a brand new, completely redesigned Mini-CV06 from ClearVue that is a very nice unit. It comes with a pair of 5 gallon containers -- one to attach to your ShopVac and one that nests into the first one and has the Mini-CV06 mounted on it with reinforced inlet ports. This little beauty is very efficient and much smaller than the original. Check it out at ClearVue Cyclones.

 

[MarkE]

I bought a switch that lets me plug in the shop-vac and the tool and turns on the vac when the tool starts. I use it with a 2-1/2" hose for the Oscillating Spindle Sander and with a smaller hose for the Festool's and other small things that need DC.

I actually have a dedicated shop-vac under the bench were the Sliding Miter Saw is just for that machine.

I originally ran reducers and used the big DC for some of this but like you it seemed a waste of power to me. I just move the shop-vac were I need it.

I do have a downdraft table with a 4" port and use the DC for that one when I'm using it.

This is the switch I use for both of the shop-vacs.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2005855/18215/ISocket-Vacuum-Automator.aspx

- Ken.

I have the ivac switch set up right now for use with the ROS. That set up uses the Shop Vac Hang-up vacuum. The ivac switch can be plugged into 2 separate circuits to provide 15 amps for the vacuum and an additional 15 amps for the tool. I use the ivac for the three or four benchtop tools and the bigger Ridgid vacuum. I'll have to test the switch with a multiple outlet strip of some kind to see how it works.

 

[MarkE]

I use an original ClearVue Cyclones CV06 mini-cyclone for my smaller dust collection activities. I have a Porter-Cable hose accessory that connects between my P-C ROS and the inlet port on the CV06. I also have a hose attached to my miter saw (a P-C 12" compound MS) and use it as well to my stationary 6"x48" belt /9" disk sander. The mini-CV06 sits atop a 5-gallon bucket and the suction is provided by a 16 gallon ShopVac. Almost no dust gets to the bin on the ShopVac although I have a HEPA filter in it.

I also have a brand new, completely redesigned Mini-CV06 from ClearVue that is a very nice unit. It comes with a pair of 5 gallon containers -- one to attach to your ShopVac and one that nests into the first one and has the Mini-CV06 mounted on it with reinforced inlet ports. This little beauty is very efficient and much smaller than the original. Check it out at ClearVue Cyclones.

I have the new Mini-CV06 as well. It replaced the Oneida Dust Deputy, which is now in the garage. I find the CV06 to be a little more efficient then the DD at separating out the fine dust, but not as good at bigger debris, like hand plane shavings. After I vacuum the floor, I find quite a bit of shavings in the vacuum.

BTW, did you get the new lid for your CV06?

My thought is to have a short piece of 2-1/2" flex pipe from the CV06 attach to some rigid pipe that comes up through the bench top and across to the tools. At each tool would be a 2-1/2" wye with a 2-1/2" blast gate. Flex pipe would attach the DC port on each tool to the blast gates.

 

[JWBWW]

I have a shop vacuum connected to a network of 2 1/2" pvc pipe with drops and blastgates over each of three bench areas for use with random orbit sanders. In the system I added an Oneida dust deputy miniature cyclone about two years ago and have found that it reduces my filter cleaning time to once a year (and I'm in the shop five days a week). For router table mess I have another dedicated shop vac because that machine is too far away from the main line of the central system. Movable shop vacs are used for portable hand tools... Festool Domino, biscuit joiner, miscellaneous handheld router tasks. Central system handles jointer, edge sander, floor sweep, table saw and oscillating spindle sander. A separate homemade cyclone system handles planer mess. Four overhead homemade air cleaners do some air scrubbing... and then there is the broom... a manually operated model...

 

[MarkE]

John, do you have any pictures of your 2-1/2" pipe system?

 

[JWBWW]

Mark:
I just grabbed a few images but can be more specific if you have questions. The blast gates were a clearance item at Home Depot about ten years ago but I'm pretty sure Lee Valley/Veritas still sells a 2" blastgate. Note that standard pvc pipe needs to be "ground down" a little to make it fit with the blastgates but the tradeoff is significant savings over the clear pipe sold for such systems. My dust philosophy has always been to try to get as much as possible at the site of generation/right off the tool... as opposed to letting some secondary process take over (downdraft tables and similar). My system may not be pretty... but I have always been satisfied with the result. If I were doing it all over again I think I would have added two or three additional "branches" as I prefer working with the least amount of hose possible (not an efficiency thing but more an ergonomics thing).

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[Charlie]

Mark, Stop by my shop sometime and I will show you my setups. Craftsman $99 shopvacs work wonders!

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

Since you've see the photos of my installation (they are in a gallery) I'll just provide some additional details.

My shopvac is in a cabinet with the CV-06 mini-cyclone outside. As long as the cabinet has a good exhaust air flow with the opening as high as possible, vac motor temps should never get above 90-95 deg. (I tested this for American Woodworker Magazine before they published my tip last year.)

Instead of multiple I-VAC type switches, I just made a low voltage control circuit with a transformer and contactor, push buttons at each drop, and a pull chain switch over my assembly table. I used standard off-the-shelf plastic blast gates.

I used 2" PVC pipe (gray electrical conduit) and long sweep plumbing elbows and wyes (white), and electrical conduit elbows (gray) for those places where really large radius bends would fit better. I have four drops- mitersaw blade guard (there is a 6" DC drop at the mitersaw as well), bench-top mortiser, vac hose, and one with a hose over my assembly table for ROS, router, biscuit jointer, etc.

 

[merrill77]

What do you do for dust collection with your smaller tools?

I have a small benchtop bandsaw, a Ridgid oss, and a delta belt/disk sander. They each have 2-1/2" or smaller dust collection ports. Right now I have a 4" pipe from my cyclone running through 4x4x2-1/2 wyes and reducers going to these three machines. It just seems silly and a little wasteful to turn on a big dust collector for these small machines. Especially when I am only doing a couple of quick operations, which is most of the time.

I haven't done the math, but I'll bet that any energy savings from running a smaller shop-vac compared to the bigger DC is swamped by the cost of the shop vac.

I hook my Rigid OSS up to a 4" line for my DC whenever I use it - even for a few moments. Sanders are big producers of fine dust. I built my own splitter from 4" to 2 x 2.5" lines and made a shroud around the spindle on the sander connected to one of them. It works great with both the spindle and the belt - and seems to collect virtually all of the dust.