# Experianced opinion on dust collection system needed



## tomasm (Sep 13, 2007)

Hello everyone I'm contacting you from Greece. I'm novice in air filtration and dust collection as I mostly worked in open places(outside), but now I'm planning to set up a little workshop in an old storage room which is about 3,00m x 2,50m. The tools I'm planning to use is a small drill, a router, a jigsaw, handheld sander and a small CNC. Which would be the best choice: 1) to build a small cyclonic dust collection system with 1hp motor (silent, cheaper, and less Watt than a shop vacuum) and smaller ducting/cyclone sizes than the original sized once, or 2) should I use a shop vacuum (huge problem with the noise in this case) to do the bussines. As far as it concenes ducting I need 6 hoses, 3 for the basic tools, drill, jigsaw, router, 1 for the floor, 2 hoses with gates for handheld sander(to plug a flexible hose) and for the CNC (all with a blast gate each??). All the hoses/gates would be in a line of the longer side of the storage room (3,00 meters) If in my case a cyclone could do the job I would much appreciate to help me find out the right hoses width and the right way for best Grounding of the ducting?! I have searched a lot concerning the grounding matter but the most I searched the most complicated this search became. Thanks in advance for your time reading my post, and any help would be much appreciated.


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## Messman (Sep 9, 2007)

I would go with the cyclone. Remember it is about air flow. I have 4" ducting for my dust collection system. I do not have the ducting grounded. I know ssome say that I should. I do not know how much time you spend in your shop, but if you are like me the only time the dust collection is on is when a tool is on, then the system is not running for long periods of time...I have never been shocked...that is not to say that there is no danger of the system building up a static charge. So the grounding is a call that you have to make, so make sure it is an educated one. Of course my suggestion is to ground it to be the safest. How that is done I am not sure, someone else would have to chime in for that.

You know what guys, I think that is something that we should have the mythbusters check into...does a dust collection system build up a static electrical charge that is dangerous.:shifty:


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## tomasm (Sep 13, 2007)

Thanks for the reply and suggestion. I 'm planning to ground the ducting with a copper wire runing through the hoses with a terminal to the motor which is grounded via the AC/DC plug. I'm thinking of using 4'' for the main hose from the cyclone (running by the 3.00m wall) and 2'' 1/2 hoses for the 6 branches I want. For this installation to work how do I calculate the cyclone dimensions(any formula and plans avalaible?), and the ducting must have specific arrangement (45 degrees angle form the main hose to the branches?!) Any suggestions, advices would be very useful. Thanks again for your time. Regards, tomas


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## niki (Jul 16, 2007)

Hi Tomas

Considering your post, all the machines that you have, are not "dust producers", as I understand you don't have table saw or planer/jointer the only one is the router and the CNC which, as I know, is also a router.

The cyclone, will also take a lot of space of your small workshop that is already limited unless, you plan to put it outside the workshop.
Also, the noise is not only generated by the motor (you can hear how quiet is the Drill press)...but from the fan accelerating the air and the airflow in the ducts(listen to the kitchen sucker, you don't hear the motor but the fan airflow)...so, your motor can be quiet but when you connect it to the fan...

I'm working with home-vac that I modified to shop-vac, and I use it even with the table saw. It's called Elektrolux and you should have it in Greece, it's 5 filter system and very quiet, usually I use it on "Min" for the sander and drill and "Med" for the router, only for the table saw, I use it on "Max".

I changed the hoses to 2" (50mm) and it gives a hell of airflow.

After the modification, the bag never gets full and I change the bag once in 6 months or more.

If you decided to build the Cyclone, visit the Bill Pentz site, tons of information...
http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm

niki


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## tomasm (Sep 13, 2007)

Hello everyone. Coming back to my first post I would like to ask your opinion about the following I have just bought a PAS 11-21 BOSCH vacuum for woodworking projects. I want to use it with the following DIY tools, a sander, a jig saw, a drill, and a CNC router. I was thinking of making a ducting system pluged on the vacuum for all the tools I work with, so I don't have to plug the vaccum in every tool seperately. The main hose which I will connect to the vacuum will be 2,5m long (x35mm wide) running below the workbench, with 5 connectors+ blastGates + branches. 3 branches for the permanent tools, 1 branche with a plug for hand tools, and the last branch at the end of the main hose for the floor. I would appreciate any help on doing that, advices/suggestions, and most of all is there a need to ground the ducting for the prevention of producing static electricity??? Some quick info about the vacuum: Rated power input: 1.100 W Container volume, gross: 21 l Max. air flow (at blower): 50,00 l /sec Max. ventilating pressure (at blower): 150,00 mbar it works on 220V AC/DC and plug is grounded Thanks in advance for your time reading my post.


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