Doug Hobkirk
04-05-2010, 1:06 PM
My shop vac and my maybe 2HP Jet DC are in a shed on the side of my garage shop. I do not have the DC hooked up due to laziness running 220V and questions about whether I should bother. My shop vac hose runs to a Phil Thien separator. From there I run 2 1/2" or 1 1/2" or 1" to various tools, connecting only one at a time.
My first question is how can I discover any leaks in my vac connections? Is there any method that works great like testing for air leaks in a tire using soapy water? The suction at the end of the hose after the separator and the second hose is not as strong as the hose going into the separator. [Note: I suspect it's the lid on the separator, but I'd like to be sure and know exactly where to concentrate my efforts.]
My second question is why my 1" hookup works poorly? It is used for a Festool 6" ROS that only has a small fitting. I use a ribbed rubbery hose from a breathing machine I use to fight sleep apnea. It draws but weakly. The 1" hose fits around the Festool dust outlet tightly.
Third, should I bother hooking up the DC with the tools I have listed below?
The only tool I notice needing more flow for sure is the planer, and I don't use that very often enough to justify the DC just for it.
I also don't use the TS very often [I][I use the EZ guided saw system for big cuts]. The TS is a "portable" design saw, so I don't know if more flow would make much difference - the saw doesn't seem to generate huge quantities of sawdust in the type of sawing I usually do.
My "hook up" tools are:
(2/5" hose from separator) DeWalt 734 planer, Rigid 5" RO sander, Ryobi BT3000 table saw, router table underneath box (my current fence is a simple piece of wood with no DC fitting),
(1.5" hose) Rigid oscillating drum/belt sander, the circular saw on my Eureka-Zone guided saw system, and
(1" hose) Festool 6" RO sander.
My first question is how can I discover any leaks in my vac connections? Is there any method that works great like testing for air leaks in a tire using soapy water? The suction at the end of the hose after the separator and the second hose is not as strong as the hose going into the separator. [Note: I suspect it's the lid on the separator, but I'd like to be sure and know exactly where to concentrate my efforts.]
My second question is why my 1" hookup works poorly? It is used for a Festool 6" ROS that only has a small fitting. I use a ribbed rubbery hose from a breathing machine I use to fight sleep apnea. It draws but weakly. The 1" hose fits around the Festool dust outlet tightly.
Third, should I bother hooking up the DC with the tools I have listed below?
The only tool I notice needing more flow for sure is the planer, and I don't use that very often enough to justify the DC just for it.
I also don't use the TS very often [I][I use the EZ guided saw system for big cuts]. The TS is a "portable" design saw, so I don't know if more flow would make much difference - the saw doesn't seem to generate huge quantities of sawdust in the type of sawing I usually do.
My "hook up" tools are:
(2/5" hose from separator) DeWalt 734 planer, Rigid 5" RO sander, Ryobi BT3000 table saw, router table underneath box (my current fence is a simple piece of wood with no DC fitting),
(1.5" hose) Rigid oscillating drum/belt sander, the circular saw on my Eureka-Zone guided saw system, and
(1" hose) Festool 6" RO sander.