Opinions on shop layout/dust collection plan

[eyekode]

First a little bit about my shop situation: I have been working on creating a functional shop for a couple years now. I have 1/2 of a 2 car garage. I can also pull out SWMBO's car when I need some extra space. I also share this space with a couple bikes and a water heater.

I have mostly larger tools:
- table saw with 50" rails
- 18" bandsaw
- 15" planer
- 8" jointer
- 12x36 lathe
- 15" drill press
- Small OSS
- 10" SCMS
- router table
- etc etc

I currently have a 2HP Grizzly DC (which is for sale by the way ). And as I need it I move around a ~15' long piece of 4" flexible tube to each of my machines. It is quite a pain. And the 15' duct work is always underfoot. Also it doesn't reach all of my tools. I don't have DC for my SCMS, drill press or my lathe. And I use a shopvac for the small OSS.

Here is my current layout (roughly):

View image in gallery​

I don't have a ton of room to walk around but the only tool I have to move to use is the planer.

I am open to ideas for rearranging tools but I don't have much hope. The way it is currently setup I can process 8+ foot long boards at every tool. The kicker for me is the huge table saw and almost equally large workbench. These are the two most used tools in my shop and I want good accessibility to them.

The big goal is to put in some permanent ducting and blast gates. In my current layout my major obstacle is the garage door.

Here is my proposed DC setup (I just drew it in with red magic marker . All of it will be 6" pvc) :

View image in gallery​

At the end of each of the sticks is a drop. The plan still needs refinement. For example I can't decide how soon I should get the pipe to the ceiling/wall. It seems the inlet of most cyclones makes sure you have to make a pretty sharp bend if you want your pipe immediately running on the ceiling. That doesn't really make sense to me.

Anyway, your thoughts? Thanks!
Salem

 

[DWSmith]

My 2 cents worth.

The bends at the miter table and lathe may be problematic or drop the suction. I would suggest a straight run from the DC to drill press and take branches from the main duct to the individual machines.

The major chip producers will be the table saw, jointer, planer and lathe so you will need to plan for the most power there. I would keep the OSS on a shop vac so the DC doesn't have to run for short times. I believe most DC's recommend no more than 6 on-off cycles per hour.

Height? If the duct is to low you will bump your head. If the runs are to long you will lose suction. I would get the dust to the ceiling as quickly as possible.

Don't forget clean-outs.

 

[kooshball]

Salem,

You didn't say what you were upgrading to regarding your dust collector....cyclone...??? Perhaps this is a stealth, implied goat thread as well!

Although i will be of little help, i have the same situation as you except for the addition of a sink where your router table is and an entry door where your OSS is. I will be watching this thread closely as I am still dragging around the DC and a 10', 5" flex...

 

[eyekode]

Yes I am upgrading to a cyclone. I am buying Jay Brewer's. You are welcome to come over and see it when I finish. I am guessing that will be about 2030?
Salem

 

[eyekode]

Thanks for taking the time to read my novel . I will look closer to see if I can run the main trunk straight to the corner with the DP. And I guess I have to figure out about cleanouts. Do you need them at every bend?
Thanks!
Salem

 

[MarkE]

My dc is is in the corner of the shop with the main run going diagonally across the ceiling. The DC stand is raised up on 2x4s to get it up as close to the ceiling as possible, while still maintaining the required clearance above the motor.

Because of the location, I had to use two 8", 90 degree elbows right at the inlet to the DC to get the pipe up to the ceiling to clear the entrance door. It's not an ideal situation, but it couldn't be avoided without some major re-arranging of the shop.

I followed Alan in Little Washington's lead on the smaller machines (oss, belt/disk sander/benchtop bandsaw) and collect dust from them using a Ridgid shop vac and an Oneida mini-cyclone. These three machines are plugged into an Ivac switch that automatically turns on the vacuum when either machine is turned on. I just have to remember to open the right blast gate.

I have pictures in my gallery of all this, and you are welcome to come by anytime to take a look and maybe pick up an idea or three.

 

[eyekode]

Mark,
I was trying to avoid the 2 quick 45's or 90's from the inlet. In my naive/inexperienced view I am just counting bends and trying to minimize them. I like your idea of getting the DC closer to the ceiling by putting it on risers although if it doesn't help remove a the immediate bends I guess I don't get it.

I think swinging by/visiting shops is a great idea to get some practical experience. Hey when is the next shop crawl ?
Salem

 

[eyekode]

Now I remember why I didn't suggest diagonally across the room: I would have to do 2 90 degree turns right at the inlet to avoid the garage door. Maybe if I get the DC higher it will work? But I know if I run along the back wall I can do more gradual bends.
Salem

 

[MarkE]

Mark,
I was trying to avoid the 2 quick 45's or 90's from the inlet. In my naive/inexperienced view I am just counting bends and trying to minimize them. I like your idea of getting the DC closer to the ceiling by putting it on risers although if it doesn't help remove a the immediate bends I guess I don't get it.

I think swinging by/visiting shops is a great idea to get some practical experience. Hey when is the next shop crawl ?
Salem

From everything I have seen and read, reducing the number of elbows is best. Have at least 3-4 feet of pipe in front of the inlet with no bends or branches is what you want to shoot for. Longer is better.

Can you raise the DC so the inlet is above the garage door rails?

 

[CrealBilly]

My dust collection plan is easy, it consists of a snow shovel, broom, leaf blower and two window fans. It's green to because all of it's parts can be used for other purposes, thus saving precious resources.

 

[eyekode]

Unfortunately I don't think so. It is real close though. I will check when I have the DC in hand and can measure.
Salem

 

[Perry Gardner]

I have 3 90s and 2 45s on mine and it works well. The main thing to remember is to use extra long sweeping 90s and turn the 45s the right way. I had a real hard time finding the sweeping 90s. Don't know the exact radius but it is somewhere around 4 feet. You should be able to find them at an electrical supply house.

 

[CDPeters]

Salem:

Two additional thoughts:

1. You can make the 90's "sweep" by using 2 45s with a short piece in between them
2. Cleanouts would probably be best at the bottom of vertical drops since that's where heavy stuff will tend to settle. Maybe one at the far end of your long trunk line might be useful...

Just in general terms, hard turns - bad, keep turns to a minimum, and keep flex as short as possible as flex tends to induce more turbulence which leads to higher static pressure.

HTH,
C.

 

[manfre]

There are a few options for laying out the DC that depend on the obstacles hanging from the ceiling.

The Blue line gives the shortest, most direct path with the fewest Y's and angled pieces, but requires you to route the pipe under the garage door assuming you ever plan on fully opening it.

The Red and Green lines are similar, but Green is slightly more efficient and theoretically would not need any 45's. The Red might be easier to route because it runs closer to the wall.

Tool Shuffle

If you don't have fixed cabinets along the right wall, then you could think about moving the Sliding Compund Miter Saw and drill press to park directly in front of the door (facing in). That would put all of your shop vac tools in the same corner of the garage and remove the most troublesome DC line. Rotate the jointer 90 CW and move up closer to the tablesaw. This gives you a shared drop for the tablesaw and jointer. You may need to move the jointer if cutting down full sheets of plywood or putting dados in a 8' tall bookcase. Move the bandsaw up by the lathe (might require moving the tablesaw/bench a few inches so you don't lose walking clearance). Since you roll around the planer anyway, put it where the Sliding Compund Miter Saw is drawn on the diagram and then just roll it away from the wall.

I made a lot of assumptions, but this might give you a few ideas.

 

[Dutchman]

Have you considered putting the dedicated shop on the other side of the garage and park the car on the water heater side? Is it a gas water heater? Seems very close to the lathe which makes a LOT of dust.

 

[eyekode]

Manfre, thanks for the suggestions. I had not really considered running the DC under the garage door. I will look closer to see how that would limit head room. I would be concerned about support for this but I want to put a floor sweep where I make the drop for the TS. And that should provide excellent support for the run.

Last night I spent an hour or two moving tools around. All I accomplished is a clean floor because I ended up moving them all back . I once tried having the jointer 90 degrees. But it severely limits the length of stock I can process. It also means I don't have access to the wing of my TS which I use as a staging ground for projects.

It would be great to rotate the SCMS and other tools to back up to the garage door. Unfortunately that space is really not mine. It currently has 5+ bikes and an uncountable number of scooters/skateboards .

Thanks for taking the time to draw up some routes. That green line is growing on me as the easiest to implement. But if I can live with pipes below the garage door I think something like the blue is the winner for reduced bends to the major chip producers!
Salem

 

[eyekode]

Yes that is a gas water heater. I have wondered about dust being an issue. But the combustion chamber seems pretty well isolated from the outside world. And it is a direct vent water heater so the exhaust doesn't get very hot.

If you look closely you will see a door frame on the left side of the garage. This is the entrance to the house. I have also built out this wall with lockers for my kids. I could move this to the other side of the garage but that means they have to walk through some portion of my shop every day to get to the car.

Best wishes,
Salem

 

[DWSmith]

Option #2: Build a 2 car garage in the back yard, returning the existing garage to the cars and make the shop work for you and not you for the shop.

 

[eyekode]

Ah if only . It is not in the cards today but maybe someday.
I actual like my cozy little space. I just wish I could keep some of the dust out of the air and off the tools... and bikes... and strollers... and car...
Salem

 

[manfre]

Do you have an air filter hanging from the ceiling and is it rated for the full size of your garage? If not, that might help reduce the amount of dust that settles on everything.