Ducting for dust extraction for 3 machines

[peter99]

what type of ducting are people using in their workshops?
I have a startright dust extractor with 100mm bore, reasonably powerful, and need to pipe to 3 machines, an RAS, a P/T and a spare hose for handhelds etc on the bench.
I'll need to use blast gates of course (unless there's another system)? And would prefer "flexible" pipe over fixed ali extrusion. I also want to keep costs reasonable
So;
would 100mm flexi helix pipe be ok?
would I need to fix to ali blast gates?
do I need to stay with 100mm as close as poss to the machine ie ras blade guard extractor is smaller fitting?
Type of jointing
Any advice on where to buy and decent prices?
Any general advice on this?

Thanks Peter

 

[Oryxdesign]

I've just used this firm http://www.ductstore.co.uk/ they gave good service and the prices seemed ok.
The metal spiral duct is more efficient than the flexi and cheaper. Try to keep bends etc to a minimum.
Hope that helps Si

 

[trousers]

Hmmmm
Not familiar with that particular D/E, but my thoughts are that it will be better at chips than dust.
At 100mm bore it suggests it is high volume and low pressure (ie lots of cu.ft./min) which would be ideal for your P/T, but much less efficient for the RAS and other hand tools.
Dust (as opposed to chips) is generally more efficiently collected by a low vol/high pressure device -ie a vacuum extractor (think vacuum cleaner).
I have a LVHP for sanding on the bench and it's ideal.
A lot depends on how much suck you have at your disposal :shock:
I use 150 dia plastic ducting to a chip extractor with 2200cu.ft./min and thats pretty powerful, and it does saw, PT, spindle and bandsaw.
Everything else goes up 63m dia pipe to my vacuum extractor, including the long hose I have connected to keep benches/machines clean.
Blast gates at each take off, and as big a pipe as you can till you get to the machine. Rigid better than flexible, not too many sharp bends.

HTH

 

[LarryS.]

i've just installed ducting for 3 machines using 100mm bore soil pipe, blast gates e.t.c. i'll take some pictures tomorrow and post them for you. I've just tried it out over the last cuople of days and it works a treat !


Paul

 

[peter99]

thanks for the replies boys, I'll think about it today. seems keep reducers as close as poss to machines (if needed) for air flow, ali better than ribbed pipe (ie helix) as less turbulence/drag AND much cheaper :lol:. Seems best to have 2 systems for dust v chips but not sure i can fit 2 sets in. Pics would be great .

 

[DaveL]

Peter,

Have a look at this old thread of mine, I used soil pipe and home made blast gates. That is still in use, I need to add more pipe work the other side of the shop as the number of machines has increased and I am back to moving the hose around which this work was to stop. :roll:

 

[peter99]

Those photos have given me a few ideas, thanks. Still mulling over the way forward....