dust/shavings collector

[Fred Perreault]

I have posted the Creek a few times, but usually only after exhausting local knowledge. Now I am seeking greater depth of wisdom from the worlds' top turning encyclopedia...the Creeksters.
I have my Nova 1624, and am creating a large volume of shavings, and of course dust. I also have a Delta 10" unisaw, and a 15" planer, among other tools. My questions are many, and I hope to draw from others' experience.... or failure... both of which can produce progress.
I have an old Jet or Reliant 2 hp. 220v collector.

1: I was wondering if anybody had an underfloor collection system. I have a clear span 24'x32' shop, with a wood floor over a crawl space. I would rather not interupt the shop vertically. Do underfloor systems work?
2: Will these 2hp rigs pick up and move planer shavings and turner shavings/debris any distance?
3:I was hoping to make an underfloor system, picking up either the table saw or lathe off a wye, go under the floor 16' then up through the blower cage, and then up into a piping set up that can shoot the stuff directly out doors through the outside wall. I would need to have the outlet pipe from the fan go up 7' or so, so that I can walk under it as the system will be in my adjacent wood shed attached to the shop.
That's it.... under the floor 16 ft. or so, up in the air 7' or so, and then 8' to an outside wall into the wild blue yonder. I can then scoop up the ugly mess outside occasionally with a skid steer, and lose the material in the large, local wooded environment.
Am I hallucinating, do I need a jet turbine engine, or can/has this been done before?
The attached picture is of my recently logged stash of hemlock, red oak, white oak, lowland cedar, soft maple, ash and apple. Most is from my property, but soame came from some jobs of premises. The stuff is from 15" to 32" in diameter.
thanks for your time,
Fred P.

[Jeff Nicol]

Fred, I have a 2hp fan that I bought from Penn State and made my own Cyclone for it. Mine is all overhead and it has no trouble picking up what ever I throw at it. The farthest distance to the fan is about 28' and it makes a sweep 90 degrees to the upper floor of my shop. Try to keep the tools that produce the smaller and finer dust at the farthest locataion and the heavier producers like the lathe and planer closest to the fan. This way the heavies don't have to travel as far. Also make sure you have gates at each branch so you can clost them down when using the lathe and planer. The only thing I leave open when I run my 16" planer is the tablesaw port. The only time I have had any trouble is when I am planing some wide pine boards and taking a pretty big cut, as the shavings are light and fluffy and have a harder time falling into the barrel if the barrel gets to full. Make sure you have some places to clean out the system under the floor, just in case.

Hope this helps,

Jeff

[Reed Gray]

Search for Oneida dust collection systems. They are the best system out there as far as I am concerned. They can design your duct work for you. I also have a 24 by 36 shop, and do flat work as well. A 2 hp system is a bit minimal for that size of shop, especially if you want to run two machines at once. Also, you need a 2 stage system, a cyclone and filter. If you don't have the cyclone, the shavings will clog up the impeller (fan on the collector motor) almost instantly, plus whatever else you may suck up, like small chunks of wood, can bend the blades on the impeller. There are now pleated paper filters for the dust collectors. These do a much better job of controlling dust, while offering up to about 4 times the surface area for the air to vent out of. You can get them that will filter down to 1 micron, which means that you don't have to vent the air to the outside of the shop. A 1000 cfm dust collector can totally recycle the your shop air in about 10 minutes. You would lose all of your warm or cool air in that time. I would not suck up the turning shavings. They are best collected with scoop shovel and a wheel barrow, or heavy duty lawn waste bags.

robo hippy

[Nathan Hawkes]

I have a 1.5HP generic bag collector, something like 850 or 950cfm, and a blower powered air cleaner I made for sanding dust with a 36" long 10" dia. pleated cartridge HEPA filter, made by Oneida to recycle the air from dust collectors. They both work well, but even in a straight run, the blades definitely clog just like Reed said from turning shavings. I'd love a cyclone, but it just isn't in the floor plan now. I use the manure scoop and garden cart method for turning shavings. Along with a couple curtains to keep it in one corner of the 12x16 shop...:D. The other consideration about wet shavings hanging out in your shop is mildew spores. If they sit for any length of time at all, and you start the collector again, you're going to be spreading those spores all over the place. I'm relatively certain they're a fair bit smaller than 1 micron.

[Michael Perry]

I have a clearview 1800 cyclone which pics up anything I throw at it and it is located in another room so you dont have to listen to it. My buddy has the same cyclone and ran his pipes through the floor he has had no issues at all.These are 5hp motors with 6 inch pvc sewer pipe. you can filter it or not...Good luck

[Bob Borzelleri]

I have posted the Creek a few times, but usually only after exhausting local knowledge. Now I am seeking greater depth of wisdom from the worlds' top turning encyclopedia...the Creeksters.
I have my Nova 1624, and am creating a large volume of shavings, and of course dust. I also have a Delta 10" unisaw, and a 15" planer, among other tools. My questions are many, and I hope to draw from others' experience.... or failure... both of which can produce progress.
I have an old Jet or Reliant 2 hp. 220v collector.

1: I was wondering if anybody had an underfloor collection system. I have a clear span 24'x32' shop, with a wood floor over a crawl space. I would rather not interupt the shop vertically. Do underfloor systems work?
2: Will these 2hp rigs pick up and move planer shavings and turner shavings/debris any distance?
3:I was hoping to make an underfloor system, picking up either the table saw or lathe off a wye, go under the floor 16' then up through the blower cage, and then up into a piping set up that can shoot the stuff directly out doors through the outside wall. I would need to have the outlet pipe from the fan go up 7' or so, so that I can walk under it as the system will be in my adjacent wood shed attached to the shop.
That's it.... under the floor 16 ft. or so, up in the air 7' or so, and then 8' to an outside wall into the wild blue yonder. I can then scoop up the ugly mess outside occasionally with a skid steer, and lose the material in the large, local wooded environment.
Am I hallucinating, do I need a jet turbine engine, or can/has this been done before?
The attached picture is of my recently logged stash of hemlock, red oak, white oak, lowland cedar, soft maple, ash and apple. Most is from my property, but soame came from some jobs of premises. The stuff is from 15" to 32" in diameter.
thanks for your time,
Fred P.

Fred...

I can't speak to blasting stuff out into the free world, but I have a 2 hp cyclone that lives in the shop and services one machine at a time quite well. The ducting is currently straight to each machine that is in use with 6" clear hose reduced at the machine.

One day, I will run ducting under the shop (3-4' crawl space) because I want to eliminate as much hardscape as I can coming down from the ceiling. However, I am in the middle of building a closet for the DC and compressor which is in a corner of the shop. I am also installing overhead ducts to last til spring when I will pour a pad, build a shed up against the rear shop wall and run everything up through the floor.

I think the main argument against under floor ducts is that people change machinery and locations so being locked into DC port locations might be limiting. In my case, everything has been used in pretty much the same locations for some years, so I am not concerned about painting myself into a corner. Come warm weather, and the interior closet walls get moved outside onto a pad and the pipes go under the floor.

...Bob