Dust Collection

[DaveL]

I have spent a day a half trying to sort out the dust collection in my workshop, here are a few pictures of the progress, I know Alf loves this sort of thing

I used the left over red wood from the HiFi cabinet as the basis for the blast gates.

Cutting holes to suit the pipe, these needed cleaning as the cutter leaves a ring in the hole, note the bevel to give a better edge for the hot glue.

The pipe was then hot glued into the wood. This gives a seal but will be supplemented with screws later.

Then the edge of the pipe was rounded over.

I am using 110mm soil pipe for the duct and figured I could save some adaptors by making the gates 110mm one side and 4" the other. I just slit the pipe and reglued it.

The screws to add strength.

Heres the view through a reducing gate.

All 3 ready to be installed.

And here it is all in place,its quite odd to see the chips from the thicknesser going up the pipe

Just to finish an open and closed gate. 8)

Well please with this, just need to finish the cyclone I started almost 2 years ago

 

[Noel]

Hi Dave,

Just done all this recently, wooden blast gates etc, although used metal spiral 4" duct. Notice in one of your pictures a blast gate is attached to a rafter. How do you plan to open and close it? Otherwise looks good.

Rgds

Noel
PS JMHO but prefer MDF or ply for the gates, more stable than live wood.

 

[DaveL]

Noel,

The gates are mdf I like it for jigs and things in the workshop.

The gates are all below the rafters. I can easily reach to slide the gates, its the camera angle mades then look higher. :shock:

 

[Jim]

Good job Dave, just nice to see that I`m not the only one that spends more time improving there workshop than acually making anything.

 

[Chris Knight]

Dave that looks like a pretty comprehensive DC system. Do you have much leakage around the gates?

 

[Alf]

Nice job, Dave. 8) Oh, and I know domestic irons have a use in the w'shop, but ironing boards?! :lol:

Cheers, Alf

 

[Adam]

I struggled with this need to connect 100mm "clear" pipe to 110mm soil pipe, - only without the blast gates - the solution I came up with - was to remove a few loops of the wire in the clear pipe - so the plastic was not supported - and then dipped the pipe into almost boiling water - this then allowed it to be "stretched" directly onto the 110mm pipe.

Adam

 

[CYC]

Excellent Dave, seeing the construction in pictures is very good.
I have need for some of those, I'll try this out, cheers

Do you find any loss of suction with it?

 

[Anonymous]

Nice job dave

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Dave

Thank you for your post. It really makes a difference seeing the way you have done things.

Your posting has come at an opportune time as I am almost ready to plumb in the dust extraction.

Cheers
Neil

 

[Anonymous]

nice to see someone actually putting into action what I've thought about doing myself for most of the winter...

do you need to run 4" throughout or could you run smaller - say 2 1/2" drainpipe - to smaller machines like router table & bandsaw?

And is it just me, or are you really powering the planer/thicknesser (?) at the back from the rear wheel of the motorcycle? You could also make a great drum sander if you replaced the rear tyre with 240 grit

 

[DaveL]

Jim,
Come on I was making things :roll:

Chris,
I have not noticed much leakage, but I think I could reduce the clearance a little without the gates binding. The closed gates suck up tight, its the open one that appears to draw a bit through the sides.

Alf,
you must have stuff for never? As in never know when that might come in handy :wink:

Adam,
nice idea, I would need the help of an adult as boiling water is very dangerous :shock:

CYC,
just the length of pipe does reduce the suction a bit, so far its not been a problem. I am thinking that I may need to up grade the blower if the system gets too big :?

Thanks Bill

Neil,
the thing that caused me problems was the amount of force needed to get the soil pipe into the sockets, the branches in particular! I could get it all coupled up on the floor, but not in the roof space. I cheated in the end, the chap who built the workshop put an opening door in the end of the roof space, over the large doors you can see in the picture. I opened that and feed the pipe in from outside, it would not go up between the rafters :roll:

MP,
I am using a NUtool dust/chip collector on the system and it needs the flow rate to move the stuff in the pipe work. If you look at the pipe hanging down by the router table it is a 50mm hose from Axminster, I also have their 32mm hose I use the sander and hand held router. I was quite surprised at the drop in performance when the bore of the pipe is reduced. I have found that with the small pipe some of the dust tends to be dropped inside the horizontal pipe run, when I remove the restriction I can heard the dust being moved along the pipe.
And no my old CX500 does not power the planer/thicknesser, but I like the idea of the large drum sander :twisted:

 

[Noel]

Dave,

Next time try rubbing a very slight film of Fairy Liquid on the pipe ends before pushing into the sockets. This should overcome resistance from the rubber O rings in the sockets.
Also when reducing from 100mm/110mm down to 50mm or less I find static pressure drops to such an extent that the shop vac is the only answer.
Your point about open blast gates is valid. Mine leak a little too.


Rgds

Noel

 

[DaveL]

Next time try rubbing a very slight film of Fairy Liquid on the pipe ends before pushing into the sockets. This should overcome resistance from the rubber O rings in the sockets.

That's where I went wrong, look at the picture closely and you will see I had Persil washing up liquid :shock:

 

[Noel]

Yup, see the Persil...Lemon flavour too.
Think Grandma and eggs may come to mind.....

Rgds

Noel, who has gone away to try and think of something contructive and helpful to say next time.

 

[Alex]

After laying estate worths of drainage i found a slight shamfer with grinder or file and a squirt of WD40/any silicone base lube, would send em home with the min. effort.
edit: that sure looks like an ace extraction system.

 

[Fecn]

That's a nice looking setup - Thanks for posting the pics.

 

[ScoobySnacks]

Looks like a good system.

Where did you get the dimensions for the cyclone body and cone?

Been doing a lot of reading around and it looks like six inch pipe is the best option for all piping. As you say the reduction of diameter causes a huge drop in air flow and suction efficiency.

Will be interesting to see how much dust you end up with in the filter when you're using the smaller diameter pipes.

Not sure if you mentioned it, what power output is your blower, and what size is the impeller?

Just looking at doing something similar in our workshop at home, although I think it will have to go under a lean-too foor out the back due to us only having 10' x 12' of space.

I know a few sheet metal workers who have all the big bendy tools and such, will probably get them to do the actual forming.

 

[Mark.R]

:? You made a good job of the blast gates. I bought the black plastic ones from Axminster for my dust extraction system. However they get clogged up on the runner for the actual gate. It is a potch to clean out, so do you get the same problem with your home made ones??

Or if any other readers has/had this problem, whats been your solution?

 

[DaveL]

Where did you get the dimensions for the cyclone body and cone?

I bought a plan for the cyclone from Wood Magazine in the states, PDF down load, useful as I printed pages as required and did not have to worry about screwing them up in the shop. If you search the forum you may find I posted a link.

Will be interesting to see how much dust you end up with in the filter when you're using the smaller diameter pipes.

I have not looked inside the relatively recently added large cartridge filters. When I use the smaller diameter hoses to connect hand tools on to the system I do get some drop out inside the soil pipe due to the lower air speed. I try and remember to open another blast gate whenever I stop to clear the pipe.

Not sure if you mentioned it, what power output is your blower, and what size is the impeller?

I bought a cheap NUtool 1HP dust collector and just took the blower off of it. I cannot remember the size of the impeller but having done a few tests with the blower in the vice and a power meter, it never makes the motor max out to 1HP. The only mod I made was to increase the inlet from 4" to 6" to improve the air flow.

Just looking at doing something similar in our workshop at home, although I think it will have to go under a lean-too foor out the back due to us only having 10' x 12' of space.

I can see no reason why the pipe work should not go under the floor. I would use as much smooth bore pipe as possible, the flexible stuff has a much higher loss. Also leave room to get into the end of the pipe, it is quite surprising what my relatively low power system will pick up, I had a glass jar taken off the bench that must of done a dozen circuits of the cyclone, like in a wall of death be for it dropped in to the dustbin, I have had a sponge stuck in the pipe hence the need to get in to it could be necessary.

I know a few sheet metal workers who have all the big bendy tools and such, will probably get them to do the actual forming.

In that case go for it the rest is easy.