Jerry Allen
05-12-2007, 11:51 AM
I have a couple of cheap import DC's I got at HF. One I use for my laser engraver and it is fine for that purpose.
The other I use for my table and bandsaw and it generally works better than my two Shopvacs. But it's really a pain given the footprint with the bag horizontal, bending down to grab the handle to move it and turn it on/off. I had built a pre-separator which works great out of a 5 gallon paint bucket and some 2" dia. PVC, so the footprint was even worse, and the separator got knocked over easily.
So I came up with this fix last week. It's great and the brace for the 4" pipe and separator doubles as a convenient handle for moving it around the shop.
The key ingredient is two Simpson 3x7 tie plates, the thin ones, I think TS37.
They are trimmed with aviation snips to wrap around the output fitting and drilled 3/8 to pick up the four bolts that hold the fitting on the blower. The rails, braces and handles are scrap 1.5 x .75 strips with a small hunk of 1/2 ply to grab the 4" pipe, all held together with screws. I was going to glue it too, but it's plenty strong. Bungy cords make dismantling for dumping fast and easy. There was very little dust in the bag after I added the separator and now there is none.
ps--trim off the tips of the corners of the Simpson tie plates, they can cause some nasty cuts...
The other I use for my table and bandsaw and it generally works better than my two Shopvacs. But it's really a pain given the footprint with the bag horizontal, bending down to grab the handle to move it and turn it on/off. I had built a pre-separator which works great out of a 5 gallon paint bucket and some 2" dia. PVC, so the footprint was even worse, and the separator got knocked over easily.
So I came up with this fix last week. It's great and the brace for the 4" pipe and separator doubles as a convenient handle for moving it around the shop.
The key ingredient is two Simpson 3x7 tie plates, the thin ones, I think TS37.
They are trimmed with aviation snips to wrap around the output fitting and drilled 3/8 to pick up the four bolts that hold the fitting on the blower. The rails, braces and handles are scrap 1.5 x .75 strips with a small hunk of 1/2 ply to grab the 4" pipe, all held together with screws. I was going to glue it too, but it's plenty strong. Bungy cords make dismantling for dumping fast and easy. There was very little dust in the bag after I added the separator and now there is none.
ps--trim off the tips of the corners of the Simpson tie plates, they can cause some nasty cuts...