More Dust Collection

**Alan in Little Washington** · 11-05-2008, 11:56 PM

I finally got around to finishing up some long overdue shop projects.

Shop Central VAC

I have a great DC, but due to physics, DC's don't do well connected to routers and other power tools that have small dust ports- a shopvac, with its high static pressure, does a much better job.

I picked up a ClearVue mini cyclone when they went on sale last Spring so decided it was time to hook up a shop central vac system. Here is the cyclone:

The shopvac is located in the adjacent cabinet. The cabinet needs some sound deadening material.

I used 2" gray PVC electrical conduit which has larger radius bends, for the vac ducting. It runs up to and along the HVAC ducting. There is a utility drop above the cyclone, a drop adjacent to the mortiser:

and a drop connected to the mitersaw:

A branch line runs across the ceiling to overhead the assembly table where it transitions to a length of flex hose that can be connected to sanders, routers, et.

Over Tablesaw Dust Pickup

When I installed my auto-gates and I reworked some dust collection piping, I ran a 4" branch duct in the ceiling overhead the table saw. Here is a pic from last Spring. After the pic was taken, I closed in the ceiling.

I constructed an over-blade dust pickup (NOT A BLADE GUARD) out of some 3" S&D PVC pipe. The PVC is attached to the ceiling at an adjustable bracket in case I need to move the saw slightly. Two adjustable diagonal braces were made from EMT conduit and the remains of a broom handle (red).

The pickup pipe is hinged at the point where the braces connect. The dust shroud is made from a Lexan upper unit that sits 4" above the table and a soft shroud made from broom bristles. In use I just feed the stock into the blade. The bristles can be pushed out of the way but they contain almost 100% of the dust that is thrown off the top of the blade. It works well, but I need to find thinner, more flexible bristles. The front edge of the blade is visible from the top, through the Lexan, to align the cut.

If I need to cut something thicker than 4" or change the blade, I fold the lower section up, out of the way.

Three pairs of rare earth magnets along with gravity, keep the halves of the hinge unit together when it is unfolded. Another magnet and a magnetic reed switch (wires visible) were mounted in the halves of the hinge unit. The wire runs inside the duct. When folded up, the reed switch deactivates the blast gate that is connected to this branch of the DC piping. The blast gate on the duct that is connected to the saw's cabinet is unaffected.

scsmith42 · 11-06-2008, 06:11 AM

Very, very nicely done! Thanks for sharing; as always your work provides both inspiration as well as ideas...

McRabbet · 11-06-2008, 07:01 AM

Another set of innovations by our resident DC wizard! Nicely done, Alan.

DIYGUY · 11-06-2008, 07:19 AM

Beautiful - just beautiful work Alan. You are truly inspiring!

I have the same cyclone and on my 8 gal barrel it wants to tip over every time I try to use it. That is because it is so top heavy. I think I might try pouring in a little cement mix in the bottom to give it some weight down low. But that means I have to drag it around when I have to empty it and who needs that? I suppose I could anchor it to a square base but that makes the footprint larger and I am already challenged to find space in the shop.

Any thoughts on this one??

ErnieM · 11-06-2008, 10:38 AM

Hey Alan,

You have truly inspired me. I'm thinking of buying a new broom.

Ernie

Alan in Little Washington · 11-06-2008, 10:45 AM

Originally Posted by DIYGUY

Beautiful - just beautiful work Alan. You are truly inspiring!

I have the same cyclone and on my 8 gal barrel it wants to tip over every time I try to use it. That is because it is so top heavy. I think I might try pouring in a little cement mix in the bottom to give it some weight down low. But that means I have to drag it around when I have to empty it and who needs that? I suppose I could anchor it to a square base but that makes the footprint larger and I am already challenged to find space in the shop.

Any thoughts on this one??

Make a round ply base with casters like the rolling dollies Rubbermaid makes for their large Brute trashcans. You will still need to anchor the vac/barrel to the base (the Brute twist-locks to the dolly)

Bas · 11-06-2008, 10:49 AM

Very, very impressive Alan.

Originally Posted by Alan in Little Washington

When folded up, the reed switch deactivates the blast gate that is connected to this branch of the DC piping.

Ingenious!

For your next invention, I expect a shop-ionization machine that charges all particles so that they clump together and form a neat little ball next to the trash chan

Travis Porter · 11-06-2008, 10:55 AM

are you leaving all of the vacuum ports open or are you going to do some type of blast gate or autogate? How is the suction?

Partman · 11-06-2008, 12:23 PM

Alan, you told me about it at the spring picnic. Looks good. Does it do a good job with dust, or have you cut any wood yet.

Danny

Hardcharger14 · 11-06-2008, 01:04 PM

Alan, I have a large shoe brush, the buffing kind, that I keep on my wood working bench. medium soft, long hair. This brush had seen little use in its intended purpose. I us it to getting dust and shavings out of fresh cut carvings & moldings and to sweep the top of my bench. This type of brush might work well on your overhead dust collector. Steve Mc

Glennbear · 11-06-2008, 01:43 PM

Nicely done Alan, I recall when you were trying to design the skirts on the tablesaw shroud. Just out of curiosity, I know you use a cyclone on the large line also but does the cyclone discharge pass through a pleated paper cartridge too ? I know that the smaller line likely uses a HEPA cartridge in the Shop Vac but I was wondering what the micron rating was on the large line filter

Alan in Little Washington · 11-07-2008, 01:36 AM

Originally Posted by Travis Porter

are you leaving all of the vacuum ports open or are you going to do some type of blast gate or autogate? How is the suction?

When I used it with my ROS yesterday I had plugs in the utility and mortiser ports, and a piece of plastic over the mitersaw port. I am thinking about making some small (MANUAL

) blast gates.

Originally Posted by Partman

Alan, you told me about it at the spring picnic. Looks good. Does it do a good job with dust, or have you cut any wood yet.

Danny

I did quite a bit today- crosscutting with a miter gage and sled. I found ripping best done with the unifence in the long-side horizontal position. It picked up 90% or more of the topside dust. I really like it- it is a keeper!!!!. The easy fold-up feature is nice too for changing blades, aligning cuts, etc.

Originally Posted by Hardcharger14

Alan, I have a large shoe brush, the buffing kind, that I keep on my wood working bench. medium soft, long hair. This brush had seen little use in its intended purpose. I us it to getting dust and shavings out of fresh cut carvings & moldings and to sweep the top of my bench. This type of brush might work well on your overhead dust collector. Steve Mc

That is the kind of bristle I need, but it needs to be 5" long, and that is the problem.

Originally Posted by Glennbear

Nicely done Alan, I recall when you were trying to design the skirts on the tablesaw shroud. Just out of curiosity, I know you use a cyclone on the large line also but does the cyclone discharge pass through a pleated paper cartridge too ? I know that the smaller line likely uses a HEPA cartridge in the Shop Vac but I was wondering what the micron rating was on the large line filter

The DC runs through two big, pleated Farr type .5 micron cartridge filters. They are plumbed in parallel and set in a plenum that returns the air to my shop. One of these days I will figure out how to run a line to vent outside instead of through the filters when the weather is nice.

Remember folks- what I have is a dust pickup- while it provide some tactile indication that my hand is near the blade . . . .

IT IS NOT A GUARD!

By the way, it is safe to use with a SawStop- bristles striking the blade will not trip the brake (so says Dr. Gass, inventor of the SawStop- he was nice enough to personally answer my email!)

DIYGUY · 11-07-2008, 07:10 AM

Originally Posted by Alan in Little Washington

Make a round ply base with casters like the rolling dollies Rubbermaid makes for their large Brute trashcans. You will still need to anchor the vac/barrel to the base (the Brute twist-locks to the dolly)

I knew you would come up with something! Casters are on the way courtesy of FleaBay and a scrap of plywood will be just the ticket. Thanks Alan!

JimD · 11-08-2008, 09:04 AM

Very Nice!!!!!!!!!! I am going to have to review some of your prior posts.

I am talking about the shop as well as the dust collection. The cabinets for your bench are nicer than some kitchens! Mine are servicable but.....

I use my DC for my Compound Miter Saw and RAS and have two inlets controlled by one gate. One inlet is small and goes to the vacumn collection on the guard. The other is the full 4 inch drain pipe size that I run around the shop. I let the 4 inch create a general vacumn behind the tools and try and get some of the dust with the small line. My Hitachi Compound Miter Saw throws the dust out it's dust port pretty well so it works OK. My Ryobi RAS does not throw the dust well to its port so I still get a mess. Any ideas? Do you think a shop vac would do better?

Thanks for posting. Lots of good ideas.

Jim

Alan in Little Washington · 11-08-2008, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by JimD

Very Nice!!!!!!!!!! I am going to have to review some of your prior posts.

I am talking about the shop as well as the dust collection. The cabinets for your bench are nicer than some kitchens! Mine are servicable but.....

I use my DC for my Compound Miter Saw and RAS and have two inlets controlled by one gate. One inlet is small and goes to the vacumn collection on the guard. The other is the full 4 inch drain pipe size that I run around the shop. I let the 4 inch create a general vacumn behind the tools and try and get some of the dust with the small line. My Hitachi Compound Miter Saw throws the dust out it's dust port pretty well so it works OK. My Ryobi RAS does not throw the dust well to its port so I still get a mess. Any ideas? Do you think a shop vac would do better?

Thanks for posting. Lots of good ideas.

Jim

Mitersaws are the hardest to get good dust collection.

A shopvac generates much higher static pressure (suction) in smaller diameter openings. It won't draw well very far from the opening, but will suck up golf balls in the opening. A DC, on the other hand, while it has some static pressure, works by moving a lot CFM,, so does much better with larger pipe to collect free air dust.

So yes, it is better to connect a shopvac than a DC to the Compound Miter Saw blade guard. As I said, I also have a DC port in the cabinet below the saw.

I will be experimenting with a small bristle shroud fixed to the back of the mitersaw to see if it helps contain and channel the dust to the blade port and the DC pickup. I will post results and pics.