Dust Collection Hook Up for Bandsaw with dual ports

[Charlie Patterson]

Would like some suggestions on hooking up my dust collector to my 18" Rikon bandsaw which has 2 4" ports, Should I hard pipe it or use just flex hose. I want just one connection to my collector that draws from both ports. Any Ideas????? Pics would be great.

Thanks
Charlie

[Danny Thompson]

The current issue of FineWoodWorking, which is their annual Tools & Shops issue, contains an article titled "Step up to Whole Shop Dust Collection." It shows a dual-port bandsaw setup in which a 4" flex hose from the DC ducting meets a hard-pipe Y-fitting below the table, about 18" above the lower port. One branch points straight down to the lower point, and is hardpiped through a short stright pipe and two 45º turns to it. The other branch of the Y-fitting points at a 45º angle down and toward the front and is hard-piped through two 90º elbows to the top port. It looks like hard-pipe sections--straight, Y, and elbows--are connected with very short segments of flexible pipe.

The photo is on p. 74. Pick up the issue or, if you have a FWW web subscription, you can view the article here: http://www.finewoodworking.com/Workshop/WorkshopPDF.aspx?id=33073

[John Harden]

Charlie, the answer can either be short or long.

Short version is you just use a Y connector at a suitable height with the blast gate at the top controlling air flow to both connections. You then just run flex hose to each 4" port.

Long version is more complicatd and we'd need to know cfm/sp of your collector, diameter of main line, etc.

To illustrate, I run a 1400 cfm cyclone using 6" pipe for the main lines. At some tools it connects to a 6" blast gate, then a 5" hose that goes to the tool port. On others, necks down from 6" to a 4" blast gate and 4" flex. It all depends on the needs and/or port size of the tool.

A band saw needs quite a lot of air flow to work well, so I'd recommend getting as much there as you can. Two, 4" connections should supply quite a lot of air as long as you only have the one blast gate open.

Ideally, you might have a 6" run with a 6" blast gate, that converts to a Y with two, 4" flex hose drops right at the tool. Keep the flex hose runs short to maximize air flow.

This usually means a sizeable collector, 6" (or even larger, depending on your application) main pipe that drops to 5" or 4" to each machine based on need.

Hope I didn't confuse you.

EDIT: To clarify, I use flex for the last 5-6 feet as I occasionally move my tools around a little to accommodate long boards, etc. You may not move your tools. Rigid, smooth wall pipe of the same diameter will always allow more air flow than flex, so use it as much as you can and only switch to flex, when you need too.

Regards,

John

[Bill Arnold]

Here's a photo of my bandsaw DC. I have a 5" drop from my 6" main. I placed a 5" blast gate about 4' off the floor and feed hard duct to a wye. From each of the bandsaw ports, I used 4" adjustable elbows to the wye. I used one very short section of flex between one assembly of elbows to the wye - could have been hard duct but didn't have any 4" at the time. It will be easy enough to replace the flex with hard duct but the current arrangement allows enough air flow to away anything that gets near it.

[glenn bradley]

I run a wye similar to Bill A's. I have since added a below the table hose and blocked the lower cabinet hose. I also added a "plate" similar to the one shown in Jim O's pic here. (http://familywoodworking.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=25555&d=1226515761) With these two tweaks, I get almost nothing in the lower cabinet even after months of use.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=123202&d=1248025668

I did the same thing to my smaller bandsaw although I left the lower hose slightly exposed as the cabinet design allows a little more dust to get by the below the table hose. I'm working on a better collector shape but there is limited space on the little guy.

[Cary Falk]

I used a wye and 4" to connect both ports.
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q297/caryincamas/DSC_0424.jpg

[David Romano]

Hi Charlie,
I have the same bandsaw as you. Here's some photos of my setup. I have my DC very close to the saw, but the arrangement of my machines made me have wrap the duct around the back of the DC to get to the bandsaw. I use 6" ducts and for the bandsaw I used 2 4" saddle wye's tapped into the 6" straight line. One then has an adjustable elbow followed with a vertical dropdown, an elbow and then flex hose, and the other just has flex hose. This arrangement works well for me and lets me move the saw around a bit.
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More significantly though, I also added a funnel, or shroud that help the dust collection alot. Ever notice how the area under the table always has alot of dust piled up on the guides? It really never made sense to me that there'd be a 4" duct trying to pull air out of a virtually sealed cavity under the guides. Where is this air getting in? It's really apparent when the lower door gets pulled shut by the dust collector. I was tempted to drill holes in the door to allow air in, but chickened out. We want the air to come from above where the blade is anyway. Well, look how small the hole is where the blade come through and the distance between it and the table! It's almost designed not to work. This photo shows the area under the table covered with dust after running without my modification.
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Again, I chickened out on enlarging this area under the guides with a hacksaw. Instead, I cut down a plastic solo cup so it would fit between the table and the dust port area and cut a slice in it, lengthwise.
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Then the cup can fit in the space nicely and act as a shroud to concentrate and direct the airflow from the table down into the dust port area.
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Still, that tiny 2 sq inch opening offers pitiful air supply to the 4" duct trying to suck gobs of air through it, but I can say that there is never any build up of dust under my table. I think it would be a nice feature for a bandsaw to have a bellows type of shroud like this to accomodate a tilting table better than my design, and also enlarge the air inlet.

Hope this helps you

Dave