Newbie needs some DC advice

[Mike Koch]

New guy here, and I need some Dust Collector advice.

Picked up a Harbor Freight 2hp unit and mounted it on the wall. Finally got a chance to fire it up and use it today.

It seems to work ok......but I guess I was hoping for more. Below is a picture of my set up.

Any advice??

[Bill Huber]

Welcome to the Creek....

I am assuming that when you power it up you are blocking the left Y of the DC.
I hear a lot of good things about it so what are your problems with it and what is not working the way you think it should?

[William C Rogers]

I see several things. You have a short 90 bend going into the drum and it appears the hose off the wye also makes a 90 degree bend. You can try to make these more gradual. Also the first thing I noticed was there was no support under the plastic bag. When these bags fill they get heavy and I am not sure the band clamp will support the weight. Lastly if you have a Thien seperator in the fiber drum the fed from the fiber drum to the impeller should be in the center of the drum. If you don't have the Thien seperator it is ok that way, but not as efficient as a Thien seperator.

[phil harold]

right off the bat you go to 4" duct (go with 5")
your separator should be designed for 5"
tight elbows reduce flow use sweeping elbows
reduce as many elbows and flex hose as possible
each turn, reduction of diameter, and each foot of pipe (flex pipe is worse than straight) reduces suction

[Mike Koch]

Yes the other port on the Y is blocked.

Of course I have nothing to compare it to except a shop vac, but I was hoping for more suction.

[Mike Koch]

Over the course of yesterday and today I filled my chip container about 1/3 full. Filter was slightly plugged and the bottom bag has a trace of fine dust. Just use it for some normal day to day shop work.

In it's current configuration suction pales in comparison to my Craftsman Shop Vac. More volume, but not more suction.

I plan on changing out the hose from the chip collector to the impeller with some 4" SCH 20 PVC and some 90D sweeps. Ditching the Y at the bottom of he impeller with a 5" to 4" reducer.

Will a Wynn filter help it flow better?

[phil harold]

Ditching the Y at the bottom of he impeller with a 5" to 4" reducer.

with the wye or the reducer you are reducing
with 5"pipe you are gaining 50% more than 4"
staying with the 5" provide less resistance and give you best performance
I have the same machine I actually got better performance from 5" flex than 4" pvc

I set things up to have no wyes I can connect the 5" to individual machines and reduce resistance from wyes and elbows
extra step vs performance
I opted to vent outside
while the HF is decent for its money it is not still not powerful enough for my shop to run dedicated runs to multiple machines

[Mike Koch]

with the wye or the reducer you are reducing
with 5"pipe you are gaining 50% more than 4"
staying with the 5" provide less resistance and give you best performance
I have the same machine I actually got better performance from 5" flex than 4" pvc

I set things up to have no wyes I can connect the 5" to individual machines and reduce resistance from wyes and elbows
extra step vs performance
I opted to vent outside
while the HF is decent for its money it is not still not powerful enough for my shop to run dedicated runs to multiple machines

Do you go right to the fan, or through a chip container?

[Roger Rayburn]

Don't confuse "suction" with volume. I have an HF unit, I'm running 20 feet or so of 4" HVAC duct over to a planer with stops along the way at a Table Saw, sander, etc. I have blast gates, as it looks like your have, I assume you only have only one open at a time. I'm very happy with mine. The real evaluation is: does it move sawdust and chips from the woodworking machine to the drum. Nothing this size is ever going to keep your table saw dust hood dust free. If the bulk of the material ends up in your drum, your good. I would replace your flex duct with something smooth sided, like HVAC duct. Those ribs in the flex are killing you. Check the Workshop section in the forum. Lots of threads on dust collection and this specific machine. You can build a manometer and measure your static pressure and then compare what you get with what others get who live at your elevation. That will indicate whether you have a similar performing machine.

[Erik Christensen]

vacuum's have high suction & low volume - DC's are the opposite. You want a high flow rate to pull a lot of air past/through the tool to grab all the local air with entrained dust & it does not take a really low suction pressure to do that. Not to say a big DC can't pull some air - my 5 HP deforms the side of my metal chip can when it spools up - I can tell when I have shut the DC down when i hear the bang of the chip can sides returning to normal.

[Ole Anderson]

A DC will typically have 8" to 15" WC of suction depending on the impeller diameter and design. The DC fan will spin at a much lower rpm than your shop vac, which will pull a suction typically in the 40-60" WC range. As stated one is designed for a higher volume, the other higher static suction. And don't get suckered on the hp ratings of shop vacs.

[Mike Koch]

Thanks for the info guys!!