Dust collector

[David Wilhelm]

I think it's time I came up with a way of dealing with the dust. Space is an issue on the inside. The shop is away from the house and out in the country. I've got 3 lathes and wondering if I piped overhead to each of them and then flexed down just what would it take to get enough vacuum to get my dust outside into a container? I know that HF has the 2hp DC on sale just not sure how it would work if I tried to use it for all three unless I gated the lines.

[Richard Jones]

I have 3 stations on a 1 1/2 HP Jet and it does fine, but they are gated. Don't think it will work well otherwise. Ungated would cut your CFM way down to any particular spot.

Rich

[Jim Becker]

You should gate the lines...most of the machines like that are "one tool at a time" units. Do note that the DC pretty much is only useful for sanding at the lathe. Don't expect it to pick up a lot of shavings while you are turning...they go in too many directions that are never where you can put a hood. You'll also need to replace the filter bags on the HFT unit as they are rated at a whopping 30 micron or larger. The fine dust that you really need to catch is sub-3 micron.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have the HF DC for almost 2 yrs. now. It will pretty much pick up the dust fine. I have it piped to a big bandsaw, a small delta bandsaw and two lathes. i have each one gated otherwise it is pretty useless. I also got a Wynn cartridge .5 micron upper filter for it. That made a big difference also.

[Paul Engle]

David, I have a 1200 cfm and 6 stations all gated,I can run 2 stations at a time but don't unless SIL is over and both of us are working on stuff, the unit is out side the shop and blows away from the back of the shop, I have a nice pile of chips by spring and turn them into the LOML's garden early to help start the rotting process. Living in the sticks I dont worry too much about the dust.... dirt road takes care of that.Dont forget to run grounding wire on all you tube runs , static charge can be a hazard for sure.

[David Wilhelm]

Paul. Is your blower on the inside of your shop? I'm thinking of getting the DC from harbor Frt. and just using the blower. Mounting it up high on the back wall of my shop and running a pipe out the wall a couple feet with a 45. Piping over head to my lathes and dropping flex down to them. Will not haveing the filter effect the suction any?