# Planning My Setup



## Bush_84 (Mar 3, 2017)

Hello all. New to the forum and still a pretty big noob when it comes to woodworking. I just bought the grizzly hybrid table saw. In fact it has not even arrived yet. It has a dust collection port on it which got me reading about dust collection. So now I have the 2 hp harbor freight unit coming as well. To start I'll probably just directly connect my table saw to the DC, but eventually want to make a whole shop system. 


A little bit about my shop before I start. I live in the country with no neighbors. My shop is a detached shed, which has a walled off section that is about 10'x30'. There's a crusty old air conditioner and a crusty old wood stove, but it's not insulated. I have the table saw, miter saw, router (no table), and various small tools. Sanding, table saw, and miter saw probably makes the most dust. I'm new to the router and haven't used it much. 


Cost is an issue at this point so 4" will have to do. 6" is double the cost from what I've priced in my area and fittings are even worse. The DC's port is 4" as is the table saw's port. So I'll just stick with 4" despite what everybody here will tell me.  I plan on building a thein separator. I am also highly considering venting the system outside. Again my shop is not air tight and I don't think air intake will be an issue lol. I've read that the thein separator is quite effective at collecting most of the dust. So what little is left can go out the window. I figure this will avoid the issues with buying a more adequate filter. The fine stuff can just go out the window. I'll have to test it to see how effective my thein system really is before doing this. Venting outside will probably also increase my cfm as it will not have to work against the filter. Now if I find a way to insulate the building and make the stove/air conditioner efficient then I'll change my tune. 


I still have quite a bit of planning to do. One of the issues is the fact that my shop is long and narrow. I figure that I'll want to keep the DC close to my table saw as this will put out the most dust. The saw will sit close to the center of my shop. There is also a convenient window right there. The HF DC comes out as a Y. So I'll probably just have a main going both ways. One direction is a couple of work stations and the stove. The other direction is a peninsula and a large L shaped work station. This is where my miter saw is and where I do most of my work. So I'll probably drop a station down to the miter saw, a sweep station, and maybe a vacuum station or two. 


I'm having a difficult time visualizing the connectors I'll need. I can figure out how many Y adapters I'll need. Do I figure that I'll need two 45 adapters per station? Anything else? Any adapters I'll need to connect the PVC to the hose? I suppose I could always make repeated stops to the store, but I live 30 minutes away to the closest store and would like to minimize trips. 


What does everybody think?


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## gmercer_48083 (Apr 9, 2016)

Another consideration is that the fine dust left over even with a DC stays airborne for a while. Consider using a window fan with a pleated furnace filter on the intake side of the fan. you will be amazed at how fast it clears the air you breath. I would take a wait and see about permanent placement of the DC until you have used it a while to find its best location before adding permanent ducts.


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## Bush_84 (Mar 3, 2017)

My wall ac does work and has an exhaust feature. Not sure I'll be able to slap a filter in there but could easily just put it on exhaust.


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## TomCT2 (May 16, 2014)

I think you're over thinking it.

10 ft diameter dust collection is needed when you have ten dozen machines all running at the same time. otherwise....

and "too big isn't too bad" is not a good option either because if the velocity in the pipes is not sufficient to carry the chips/dust to their final resting place, you get clogged pipes.

I have a table saw, a band saw, a radial arm saw, a planner, a joiner, a spindle sander, and a router-on-a-table. and one ShopVac with a ten foot 2-1/2 hose. works fine. it's a one person shop so there's only one machine producing chips at a time.

if money is an object, you might consider using a shop vac. except for a planner - they make a lot of chips and you'll need a separator for that.


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## Bush_84 (Mar 3, 2017)

I don't mean to sound rude but I'm not sure I understand what you are trying to convey. 

Money is an issue because I've already spent the $200 on the dust collector and my wife won't likely tolerate the cost of the 6" pvc. Also the DC itself has 4" connector and I'm not to keen on cutting the machine to increase the diameter to 6". I tend to really mess that stuff up. So cost and lack of desire to modify are big ones for me. Also I'm not running a ton of equipment. Either way none of my new toys will be here until next week anyways. It's always hard for me to accurately plan ahead until everything has arrived. 

I have been thinking about how to actually run the pvc...would it be easier to start at the tool and work backwards? It seems to me that I would misjudge an angle and mess up the y placement, but if I start at the tool and work backwards it may be easier.


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## TomCT2 (May 16, 2014)

if you research around here a bit you'll come up with some design considerations for dust collection systems. basically, you need a couple thousand feet per minute of air flow. with a given size dust collection fan, the bigger the pipe, the slower the air flow in fpm.

just go with 4" - it'll be fine. you're not going to have so many machines in operation / gates open at one time. besides, odds are good your dust fan does not have the cfm needed to support 6 inch piping.

doing the plumbing . . . start at the fixed dust collector point and pipe out to the various machines. long long long list of reasons why omitted. . . .

besides, at the end of the run, you'll very likely be using a short-medium length of flexible ducting to the machines proper - and that's not much of a concern anyway because if you're unable to cut&rotate standard 90/45/30 degree fittings to end up where you want to be then more plumbing experience is indicated.

what are you going to do about "blast gates?" you can't just leave every end point in the system "open" without a mega-suction-fan.


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## Bush_84 (Mar 3, 2017)

I was going to buy some blast gates. They have them at my local menards.


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## freedhardwoods (Sep 7, 2008)

I agree that 4" will work fine for your smaller sized system. If you expand your dc system down the road, you will probably be able to use much of the 4" for drops to your machines from a 6" main line.

One way to minimize trips to the store if you're not sure what you need is to buy more than you need, put your system together, then take back what you don't use. Two trips and you're done.


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## Bush_84 (Mar 3, 2017)

So looking for some other suggestions on things to add. So again planning on a floor sweep or two, table saw, miter saw hood. Does anybody have neat ideas? I was thinking about table top hoses with attachments. I have tried to search the web for examples of these stations so to speak but all the info is about the DC itself and ducting.


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## ducbsa (Jul 6, 2014)

Bush_84 said:


> My wall ac does work and has an exhaust feature. Not sure I'll be able to slap a filter in there but could easily just put it on exhaust.


You hang the window fan in the room and it just recirculates the air after filtering. It'll keep the AC filters cleaner.

This page has guidelines for velocities when you are sizing your ducts. http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/pn...rts-d_134.html


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## freedhardwoods (Sep 7, 2008)

ducbsa said:


> This page has guidelines for velocities when you are sizing your ducts. http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/pn...rts-d_134.html


Bad link. That website has so much info,I can't find the page you were trying to link to.


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## UglySign (Sep 13, 2009)

@freehardwoods

I believe this is the link: (This website shortens the link, maybe it crapped it out earlier)
http :// www engineeringtoolbox com /pneumatic-solids-transports-d_134.html <-- spaces placed in to show full link
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/pneumatic-solids-transports-d_134.html

I found it by typing in Googlie search box:



> site: http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com _rts-d_134.html_


neat how it finds partial links within that website.

Hope this helps. and yes that site is overwhelming and quite useful.


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