# Dude I got a Delta...



## joejmunro (Dec 27, 2008)

Sorry about post title, was a throw back to a Dell set of commercials from years ago. So after destroying my Craftsman shop vac on Thursday I was able to pick up a Delta AP400 1HP (650 CFM) dust collector, it has 1 downward facing 4" port.

My questions or concerns more like it are: do I need 4" or can I use the 2 1/2" hoses I have? Should I permanently mount ducting to the wall (I would like to)? Plastic or tin (steel?) for the ducting? Blast gates? Do I need to ground?

I have one side of our 2 car garage for the "shop". I have a router table, table saw, chop/miter saw, bench top planer and joiner, and various hand tools. I am guessing someone can point me in the right direction either via a link or your own common sense when it comes to this. Thanks in advance for the kind words...and please be gentle. :yes:


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## joesbucketorust (Dec 13, 2011)

I have a Delta too, but I don't think it's that model. 

I think all your questions have been answered, but unfortunately they're spread out over a half-dozen other threads. We really do need some sort of FAQ or Greatest Hits for DC.

A lot will depend on your layout, tools, budget and personal taste.

The consensus seems to be keep the runs large as you can. Half mine use the four, but I also had a box of 2-1/2 stuff so I have a single run going to the far-far-far side of the workshop with 2-1/2 for the sander, and that works fine. It might not do so good for a planer, I don't know. 

There are plans for home-made blast gates in one of the other threads - worth tracking down, just don't use MDF. I did, it shatters. Use real wood or thin plywood.

There doesn't seem to be a consensus on the type of ducting - if it works, it's been used, but a lot are using the PVC from the Borg. I am. It's not grounded, I've been using it since January and it hasn't exploded yet.

I like up out of the way - all mine is mounted up where the ceiling meets the wall, and then drops down near the tool with the exception of the tablesaw. That one drops down the wall to a point near the TS, through a blast gate, into a 10' flex hose with a quick change connector on it. Then I just run it to the TS when I'm using it, or to any of the other tools I've got in that corner of the shop.

If you don't buy the entire product line from one professional dust-collection-accessory place then you're going to have headaches with getting everything to fit. That's OK, you're not alone. Surf the other threads in this section and you'll find all sorts of workarounds using common hardware items. 

You might also think about running that one 4" port into a home-made separator (there's a thread for that) and from the separator you make your runs - that will put all the big stuff in an easy to dump trash can. 

Good Luck. It will take a bit of time to get it set up but once it's done you'll enjoy a much cleaner shop.


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## Theobroma (Nov 19, 2011)

I have a Delta AP400. The nice salesman told me it would handle whatever I had in my shop. What he failed to tell me is that it has to be hooked directly to the port of the piece of equipment it's exhausting. After visiting multiple sites and running different programs to determine the amount of ducting it could support, I came to the following conclusions:

The longest (equivalent) run of 4" pipe it will handle and still deliver 400 CFM at the port being exhausted is about 30'.

Flexible hose has about 3 times as resistance as smooth pipe of the same size. (i.e. I can run 30' of pipe or 10' of hose)

Given that it's about 4 feet to the ceiling from the collector, another 6 or so feet down to a tool and another 2 feet of hose on each end to connect up (2' x 2 x 3 = 12' equivalent), that leaves me with about 8' of horizontal run and I haven't even added any elbows yet. Not a very extensive collection system.

The salesman at Berland's was not, as it turns out, nice.​In the end, I've given up on my grand plans for an all over duct system with my collector parked in the corner. Instead, I have a home made quick disconnect system set up and I wheel the collector to the equipment I'm using. I've also purchased a 1 micron top bag and plastic lower bags to make it run more efficiently.

My future plans call for modifying the cart and installing a Thien style top hat separator. It will look suspiciously like the one posted by *thegrgyle* in this thread: http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f32/thein-baffle-build-you-tube-35374/

But, I will say that when it's hooked up directly to a tool with four feet of hose, it handles everything I can throw at it. My Delta table saw has very little dust coming of of it and my DeWalt 12" planner only plugged it once when I was taking a very aggressive pass on a pine 2 x 10.

As for the size of the ducts, you can go smaller, but the CFM capability at the business end of the hose goes down dramatically. 

Wood Magazine has a good article on sizing collectors and systems.
http://www.woodmagazine.com/woodwor...dust-collection/figure-dust-collection-needs/ and there are many others out there. 

In the end, unless you set your collector as the central point of your shop, you might want to go the same route I have of a portable system with quick disconnects.


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