In preparation for 6" ductwork I wanted to make a few modifications to my dust collector in an attempt to increase efficiency.
I started with a PSI DC2000
This dust collector has a 6" inlet and I am currently using 4" flex hose and moving the hose from machine to machine.
My first step in increasing efficiency was to get the blower up off the floor and place the blower inlet at the height of the ductwork. This saves me 6 feet of pipe and 2 90° fittings not to mention the loss in airflow caused by the extra plumbing.
Here is a shot of the DC blower mounted on a pedestal. (in the background)
What I didn't know when I bought this unit is the outlet of the blower and the inlet to the filter is only 5". This bottleneck is not good for DC efficiency. So, the next mod was to cut out the 5" inlet and replace it with a 6" inlet.
Here is the original 5" inlet inside the new 6" pipe.
Next, I remembered reading about a simple modification for single stage dust collectors that involved adding a baffle below the inlet to keep dust in the bag and not in the filter.
The baffle is basically a circle cut out of partial board the diameter of the DC body. A 1 1/4" slot is cut 240° around the circle with the 120° remaining positioned beneath the DC inlet.
I know this seems wrong having the baffle between the inlet and the bag. It seemed to me like this would force the dust into the filter instead of the bag.
Other people swear by this mod and I figured I give it a try.
Here is the unit assembled with the complete 6" inlet.
I still don't have 6" ductwork but I did try it out with my old 4" flex. Now the dust collector is MUCH quieter than before and seems to pull a bit stronger. I noticed there is less dust left in the bottom of the table saw now than with the original setup.
Before the baffle mod, every time I used the collector I needed to give the filter cleaner few spins to pop the dust loose from the filter pleats. I experimented by sucking about a 1/4 of a bag of sawdust into the collector and took the filter off to check it. There was NO significant dust in the filter! Only a slight colored residue of mahogany. Seems to work quite well. I'll keep you all updated as I use it more.
George
I started with a PSI DC2000
This dust collector has a 6" inlet and I am currently using 4" flex hose and moving the hose from machine to machine.
My first step in increasing efficiency was to get the blower up off the floor and place the blower inlet at the height of the ductwork. This saves me 6 feet of pipe and 2 90° fittings not to mention the loss in airflow caused by the extra plumbing.
Here is a shot of the DC blower mounted on a pedestal. (in the background)
What I didn't know when I bought this unit is the outlet of the blower and the inlet to the filter is only 5". This bottleneck is not good for DC efficiency. So, the next mod was to cut out the 5" inlet and replace it with a 6" inlet.
Here is the original 5" inlet inside the new 6" pipe.
Next, I remembered reading about a simple modification for single stage dust collectors that involved adding a baffle below the inlet to keep dust in the bag and not in the filter.
The baffle is basically a circle cut out of partial board the diameter of the DC body. A 1 1/4" slot is cut 240° around the circle with the 120° remaining positioned beneath the DC inlet.
I know this seems wrong having the baffle between the inlet and the bag. It seemed to me like this would force the dust into the filter instead of the bag.
Other people swear by this mod and I figured I give it a try.
Here is the unit assembled with the complete 6" inlet.
I still don't have 6" ductwork but I did try it out with my old 4" flex. Now the dust collector is MUCH quieter than before and seems to pull a bit stronger. I noticed there is less dust left in the bottom of the table saw now than with the original setup.
Before the baffle mod, every time I used the collector I needed to give the filter cleaner few spins to pop the dust loose from the filter pleats. I experimented by sucking about a 1/4 of a bag of sawdust into the collector and took the filter off to check it. There was NO significant dust in the filter! Only a slight colored residue of mahogany. Seems to work quite well. I'll keep you all updated as I use it more.
George