DC installation question

[Anthony Whitesell]

Although the money's not there right now, I can't stop thinking about my next DC. The Rigid systems I have is just maxed out and I need something with a little more oomph. The Rigid DC I have should have enough, but unfortunately it is designed with a downward facing 4" inlet with an elbow. I have the space at ground level so my current duct work is overhead and therefore end up with 3 elbows :eek: before I even get head towards the tools.

I'm looking at a two systems, the Penn State 2HP system and the Grizzly 1029Z. Both got good reviews a while back in Wood magazine. (I believe they ranked #1 and #2). So here is where I'm looking for expert opinions and options. Because the inlet on both these machines is parallel to the floor, it means a 90 degree elbow right off the bat. This I would like to eliminate. I was thinking of welding a mounting bracket or cage together to both turn the blower so the blower inlet faces the ceiling and to raise the motor/blower up so it mounts it to the bag inlet (reducing that funky piece of flex that normally connects the two).

I can see one potential problem...can the motor and blower be run with the inlet pointing upwards without ruining anything? Does anyone see any other potential problems with this setup?

[Steve Kohn]

I have the Grizzly 1029. An older version of the same DC. It has been much modified. I removed the 5 inch inlet (fan) cover off the motor and cut it out to accept a 6 inch pipe. Then I replaced the bags with a bigger and finer filtration bag on the top and a connector bag to a 30 gallon metal can on the bottom. Then I took the collector ring off the stand and mounted it to the wall. Lastly I took the motor and fan assembly and shock mounted this to the wall to give me more floor room and straighten out the 6 inch DC pipe.

Absolutely no problems in over a years hobbiest use.

[Gary McKown]

I have the PSI DC2000BC (cannister) with 4" plumbing. The 6-to-4 wye on the blower connects to one branch running along the floor (to TS and BS), and the other up the wall and overhead to the other side of the shop. If you turn the wye close to 90 degrees from original so the ports point nearly up and down, then all that is needed to achieve vertical - or horizontal on the other branch - is a 45 deg. bend. I use a short length of pipe from the wye to the 45 at the wall - in fact, all the bends and drops are made from two 45s spaced about 2' apart. The overhead line runs about 20' and drops down to the planer and jointer. A branch in the overhead runs to the router table and SCMS, and another drop connects to the above-table hood on the TS. Despite all of this non-ideal plumbing (and a multitude of blast gates) it works quite well even with a Phil Thien baffle installed. It gets almost all of the TS, BS, planer, jointer and RT waste (especially fine dust) and a majority from the SCMS.

In the next life (read, bigger shop and deeper pockets) I will dispense with the wye and run a 6" "main" overhead and either 4" or 6" along the floor, again using eased bends.

Assuming structural rigidity (that motor is heavy!), I think you could turn the blower and motor 90 degrees without major problems. Another advantage would be to dispense with that right angle flex hose between blower and filter. I do think you would need to design the frame from scratch - the base that comes with the unit is rather flimsy.

[Edward Warren]

If your main ductwork is overhead why don't you mount the fan/motor overhead and go down to the separator - eliminating another elbow? This would be re-engineering the base, but you're already doing that.

Scroll down this thread and see an image of a overhead mounted blower/motor:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=80701&highlight=thein

[Anthony Whitesell]

Yes and no. I still have one elbow to contend with either way. There would be and elbow either between the duct work and the impeller or the impeller or the bag. The overhead blower option is still not out of the question. If the motor and impeller can not be set and run on "its back" then I will go that way. At this point, I thought it would be easier to build a small adapter frame to go on the original base than to build a frame to install it on concrete above my head.