My Shop Dust Collection

One aspect of my work shop that I had a tough time putting together was my dust collection system.  I couldn’t find much information out there about the specifics.  So, I figured I would share my findings and failures, so the next person could be more informed.  I am not trying to persuade everyone to get PVC ductwork.  I decided to go with PVC primarily due to cost and it was pretty easy to get all the materials.  If you are also going to head down the PVC path,  just go ahead and subscribe to Amazon Prime now.  You will thank me later.  I am not sponsored by them or anything like that, but I bought almost everything from there, 2 days later, at my doorstep.

Most of the information here focuses on my 4″ dust collection journey.  I spent years acquiring 2.5″, 2.25″, 1.5″, 1.25″ dust collection hose, fittings, and adapters and I wish I could recall what pieces from that trial and error session actually worked out.  I could share that too, but it was too many beers ago.

History

My dust collection journey started with a shop vac.  That did not work very well.  The filter was constantly clogging and driving my crazy.  I did some research and found the Oneida Dust Deputy.  I was completely surprised how well this worked and how effective the small cyclone was.  It served me well for some time.  I bought a bunch of adapters, hoses, gates, wyes, for 2.5 hose.  Eventually  I got sick of moving the hose around constantly and tripping over it.  I also felt that the shop vac wasn’t capable ofcapturing the dust off my table saw.  So, I had lots of saw dust sitting inside the cabinet.  I still use my shop vac and dust deputy for sanding and cleanup, but thats about it.  The tone of the shop vac is irritating and I think its louder than my new dust collector.

Research and Dust Collector

I did some research on dust collection and I found a lot of information on the dust collector itself.  So I went with the resounding favorite to balance cost and performance.

• Harbor Freight Dust Collector (2HP Central Machinery #97869
• Wynn Environmental Filter
  • I went with 35A274BOL Cartridge Kit
• Oneida Super Dust Deputy (AXD002030A From Amazon)
• Fiber Drum (15 Gallon Vestil from Amazon)
  • This size does fill up pretty quick, but I can easily dump it into a large garbage bag when I need to empty it.
  • It seems crazy, but a 15 gallon drum packed with sawdust will fill a 30 gallon trash bag.

I also bought a remote control for the Dust Collector

• PSI Woodworking LR110-3 Long Ranger for 110 Volt (Amazon)
• Extra Remote
  • You woulnd’t believe how often “I just had the damn thing, where is it” has come out of my mouth.  A second remote greatly reduces the frustration

Here is the “power module”

I should mention that I had to run a dedicated 20 Amp 110 volt circuit to run this collector.   It would trip my 15 amp circuit that also ran the lights and garage door.

As you can see , I built a framework from 2X4s and some plywood.

I need to add more detail on the framework down the road.  

I used pocket holes and 90 degree metal brackets from Menards to hold it all together.   Once I was satisfied with its position, I used Tapcon cement screws into the floor to ensure it wouldn’t tip.  It ended up quite tall.  I eventually cut the bag down in height and added a shelf where the lower portion of the bag would be.  This is where I store some of my DC hoses and fittings.   Picture below of how it looks today.

Connections at Cyclone

The tricky part is getting the harbor freight dust collector 5″ inlet to match the 6″ inlet of the dust deputy.  I didn’t order the reducers from Oneida because I figured I could find something local.  Nope, Wrong, Incorrect.  I ended up finding some furnace reducer from 6 to 5 and used a ton of the alunimum tape.  If you haven’t used this stuff before it is amazing.  This was my first project using it and I was pretty astounded.  It is extremlely strong, sticky and will contour around anything.  The joint does not look pretty, but is strong and air tight.  The 5″ hose that comes with the Harbor Freight DC is used in between the Impellar and the Cyclone and in between the Filter/Bag and Impeller.  The hose is extremely stiff and hard to work with.  I would suggest a soapy water mixture for sliding it onto the components.  There may also be some swearing involved.

The next connection to make is the Super Dust Deputy (SDD) inlet to your dust collection piping.  I am using 4″ pipe SDR35 (ASTM3034) to be exact, but more on that later.  So I need to get the 5″ SDD inlet down to 4″.  Here is how I did it.

I have a flexible coupling from 5 to 4″ (From Menards and rather pricey if I recall) that goes to a 4″ piece of Schedule 40 (which is hard to see in the picture) that goes to a Schedule 40 to SDR35 Reducer.  I think the reducer is called PVC to Sewer and Drain coupling.

Pipe Layout

So now, Its finally time to start routing the dust collection runs.   This routing is very specific to shop layout, so I wont go too deep into my routing right now, but I will go into the connection details and mounting.

The fisrst two feet in between the Pipe and the SDD is a flexible dust collection hose.   I had to get to the wall and it wasn’t a straight shot.

For the pipe, I used 4″ SDR35 (ASTM D3034).   I bought 40 feet initially and then had to buy 10 more feet to finish it off.  All from Mendards.  All the connectors are sewer and drain (from Menards and Home Depot).  The connections are not super tight, so a full wrap of electrical tape makes them perfect.  Just a single strip wrapped 350 degrees around is good.  All the bends are either 45s or 22.5s.  Here are some pictures of the fittings I used.  If I had to make a 90 I would use two 45s with a short piece of pipe in the middle.

Mounting it to the wall or ceiling is a littel bit of a process.  I snapped chalk lines to get started.  Then I cut a bunch of 3/4 plywood to act as spacers since the couplings have a larger diameter than the pipe.  I drilled two holes in each spacer and marked the center line of the spacer.  I placed the spacer on the ceiling and drilled holes for the drywall anchor or screw into stud.   Then mount the spacer to the ceiling.  I used large self tapping screws into the strapping to mount the pipe.  The pipe gets sandwiched between the spacer and strapping.  No screws into the pipe itself.  All couplings and connectors get a small pilot hole and small self tapping screw.  Some connectors got 2 or 3 screws, like the verical drops where a lot of weight is on them.

Connections and Adapters

Now, we are ready to hook up the blas gates.  I bought these gates off Amazon.  They work pretty well.

The blast gates fit nicely inside of the SDR35.  A wrap of tape wasn’t necessary with them.  A couple pilot holes and self tapping screws hold it nicely.  Connecting to a flexible dust collection hose takes some custom adapters that can be created with the SDR35.  Take a look at the picture below and I will try to describe them.

I shouldh have mentioned this earlier, but I used my Miter Saw (Dewalt with a standard 40T blade) to make all my cuts.  It is very fast, but makes a giant green static cling mess.  The custom adapters are the 4″ SDR35 pipe with a ~5/8 section cut out of them.  I would cut them to about 3-4 inches long and rotate it 90 on the miter saw table.  I would apply pressure to the inside of the pipe with a small section of 2X4 and make two cuts to make the “slit”.  Then pinching a file in between the slit I would flatten the cuts.  Some more of that magical aluminum tape to seal the slit and place it inside a standard piece of SDR35.  I used some more aluminum tape to seal around the circumference between the two pieces.

I had to make these adapters to be able to connect directly to 4″ dust collection accessories and I found that my favorite connectors are the ones pictured below

This adapter above  has a slight taper to it and I use these at the SDR35.  (Amazon)

This is the connector I use at all my machines. (Also from Amazon) Fits snug, but easy to remove.   The hose in between is from Amazon, I think its from Powertec.  I connect the hose with a step clamp that steps over the helix without crushing it.

Here is the shopping list from Amazon for the hose/couplings/clamps/blast gates

• Woodstck W1038 4 inch quick connect (tapered)
• Big Horn 11426 4 inch PVC Pipe Adapter
• Big Horn 11754 4 inch left hand bridge clamps
• Powertec 70135 4 inch blast gate
• Powertec 70143 4inch X 20 feet hose

Specifics on my system

Okay, so that covers a bulk of the PVC dust collection.  I will share a few specifics about my setup below and mention some components I like and some components I wasted my money on.

Some items that are must haves:

It took me a long time to find something that worked well for my drill press.  Eventually I will mount the hose clamp to the drill body, but this is getting me by for now.  Starting from the bottom and working my way up the hose.

• Powertec 701356 4 to 2.5″ Cone Reducer (Amazon)
  • This reducer fits pretty well, into the 4″ connectors I listed above.  It also fits into the 2.5 hose in the picture and other 2.5 inch DC hose
• Stay Put Dust Collection Kit by PeachTree Woodworking (PW501-Amazon)
  • Just like the name implies.  It stays put
  • It comes with a couple end adapters (near drill bit)
• 1.5 to 3″ Universal fench clamp (Amazon)
• Stay Put Hose Bracket by Peachtree (PW 492-Amazon)
• Scrap Block of Wood (Everywhere and priceless)

I don’t have any pictures at the moment, but this adapter gets used all the time too

• Powertec 70147 Tapered adapter (Amazon).  It hooks directly up to my Dewalt planer

Things I don’t use very often or shouldn’t have bought.

• Woodstock Floor Sweep (W1003)
  • I thought this would be really handy, but I just use  a dustpan instead
• Woodstock D4242 Big Gulp Dust Hood
  • Works really well, I just need to find a better way to mount/hang it.  So it sits in the corner for now.
• Kaufhof KWY187 4 inch ball
  • Excellent concept, terrible product and execution.  Broken when it arrived, fix it, broke again, went into trash.  The connection of the two halves is not rugged enough.

Here are some specific pictures that illustrate my layout in my garage.

Starting at the Super Dust Deputy, you can see the flexible hose going to the pipe that is hung on the wall and coming into the foreground.

It then comes up the wall with a wye and blast gate.

Once it comes up the wall, it makes a 90 onto the ceiling (starting on the right out of frame).  This is the most used connection in the garage.  It is the drop for my table saw.  I also will plug my planer in here.  The tapered fitting works pretty well for this, but if you are moving the hose around a bunch, it does fall off.  Watch your head!

• I have a better way to make the connection at this location in my head,  I just haven’t spent the time to make it happen.
  • I am thinking I could cut an “L” shaped notch in a slip fitting and put a screw into the SDR pipe.
  • That way,  you can put the fitting up and turn it to lock it into place

After the central drop location the piping Y’s off to each corner by the garage door.  I don’t use this very often, but once I acquire enough tools and my wife can no longer park her car in the garage, I will use this more often.  One interesting thing you can see in the picture is  a capped wye.  I am not able to put a vertical drop here due to the garage door opening and hitting it.  The next pic illustrates my solution.  Unfortunately its from a different angle from within the garage.

I use this collection point alot for my circular saw.  Its pretty simple.  I remove the cap from the wye and plug in  a pre-made pipe combination that ends with a 2.5″ hose adapter. Its the same part number as the 2.5 hose adapter I use with the Stay  Put hose on my drill press.  This adapter has a short run of 2.5″ hose that gets reduced down again to 1.5″? (i think) for my circular saw.  I still want to add a blast gate into the SDR section, so I can shut this off instead of removing the whole section of pipe and cappng off to use another tool.

This last picture shows the branch to the right.  It also has a capped wye above my workbench.  I haven’t used it yet.  There is another drop with a blast gate that you can just barely make out next to the wall cabinet.

The last element to my dust collection is grounding wire.  I wrapped the entire exterior of the PVC with it to reduce static shocks.  I haven’t been shocked yet, but I will wait until winter until the final verdict is in.  There is alot of discussion about its actual effectiveness, but I figured it couldn’t  hurt.  Maybe it was just delicious placebo.

 

Whew!  What a bunch of words haphazardly put together.  Sorry

Comment and let me know if there is something more I need to expand on.  Please don’t comment  on my poor grammar, sentence structure, and fragmented thougts.  All the wood dust and fumes has made me strange.