Dust Collection ???

[Jim VanBramer]

I recently picked up one of the infamous Harbor Freight dust collectors, and need to know a few things to get the most out of it. For now I'm just going to be moving the hose from machine to machine. Should I just run 4" hose the whole way, or would I gain alot by taking the fitting off the side, running 5" hose out to the machine and then stepping it down to a 4" connector??
Thanks,
Jim

[Jay Albrandt]

Jim,

Generally, the bigger the hose the better. If your into it, change the ports on your machines and the inlet to the collector to 5" or 6". If your using flex hose, keep the length to a minimum.

Jay

[mike lucas]

There is no way of giving you help (You have crossed the line into the Harbor :eek: just kidding!) without knowing how big the dust collector is, HF sells several sizes.

If the motor and or blower/housing does not put out enough CFM, Going to larger hose/pipe can and will cut down on what is seen at the machine. Just like in the one that Bill Pentz builds, you should not use 8" because it reduces the CFM.

[Jim VanBramer]

[QUOTE=mike lucas]There is no way of giving you help (You have crossed the line into the Harbor :eek: just kidding!) without knowing how big the dust collector is, HF sells several sizes.

It's the one they claim to be 2 hp (although we all know that it doesn't measure out quite that high).

[mike lucas]

I am not sure of the blower size, so I can not be sure what would work best. But I would guess that you would be best off by running 4" smooth wall sewer PVC pipe, and only use flex pipe for very short runs at each machine. And make long 90`s where needed. You may be able to go up to 5", but I would be surprised if that were the case.

Just remember the old rule of thumb; for every true 90* bend, the flow or CFM is reduced by 25% So with that in mind, keep the pipe as straight as pos;) sible.

[Brian Hale]

Hi Jim,
If your just moving the DC to each machine as needed, a short piece of 4" hose will do just fine. If your going to install runs to each machine and leave the DC in one central location then make your runs with the largest pipe possible based on the intlet size of the DC. If it'll take 6" duct, then run that and neck down at the machine or, as noted earlier, increase the outlet at the machine.

Brian

BTW, Where's The Pic!?!?! Tyler, Step away from the donut, it's time to work... :D :p

[Brad Olson]

Jim,

The HF with its stock bags can only support 4" hose reasonably. However, do realize the stock bags only filter to 30 micron (not good enough).

I changed my HFDC to 6" blower outlet and added a Wynn canister filter. I easily am in the neighboorhood of 800 cfm (real) and have already noticed a HUGE difference in the amount of fine dust that settles out of the air (not a perfect test, but hey, what can you do?). By upgrading to a canister or dual 1 micron bags you will be able to support a LOT more airflow than 30 micron bags allow.

Click my weblink and you can link over to my website for a discussion of how I changed to a canister filter and added a neutral vane. I can also provide info on how to increase the blower outlet to 6" once you have upgraded the filtration system.

All said and done, I got my DC, Wynn canister upgrade and 6" ducts and fittings for a small shop for a hair under $300.

Hope that helps and let me know if I can answer any specific questions

Brad

[nic obie]

Jim,

Until I converted over to a dual blower HF DC cyclone I ran a single HF unit with the top bag replaced with a inexpensive Grizzly 3 micron bag. I used 5" schedule 40 pvc (i.d. 5.20") for my duct work, with 5" flex going to each machine. I stepped the flex down to 4" at the machine. My longest run, which was to the mitre saw was about 48'. I had one vertical run of 8' toward the end of the run.

The system worked great, never had a plug, the garbage can collector worked as it was supposed to and it had enough volume to do a good job at the mitre saw.

I'd run 5" flex not 4" if you are going to go with a single machine hook-up. If you buy a garbage can collector lid be sure to change the inlet and outlet to 5". If you live near me, you can have the one I used to use.