Dust collection ?

[Paul Downes]

I picked up a harbour Freight DC 2hp. As part of a deal and have been trying to figure out what size to run the main lines. The problem I'm having is that I was going to get a 5hp clear vue cyclone and ended up with this smaller one instead. I was going to put in 6" main lines (PVC) and am not sure if the smaller DC will pull enough with the larger size pipe. I hate to put in 4" lines and have to upgrade them later. My shop size is 18' x 32' with 12' ceiling. I also was wondering if the smaller dc will pull dust up 12'. Any ideas.......

[David Wilhelm]

What I found out about the HF when i got mine was they overkill the specs. What I learned was as follows: The HF is a 1.6 hp dust collector with an 11” impeller. At a max with no filter, an enlarged inlet, and oversized test pipe it moves right at 1050 CFM. In actual use when connected to 4” ducting it will reliably move 350 to 450 CFM. When you connect with 5” pipe it will go up to about 550 CFM. Going to 6” pipe will have it moving so much air, especially if you change out the 4” dust collector face plate to a 6” flange, that you will soon burn up the motor. In your case, I would upgrade to a 5” flange and use a piece of 5” flex hose with a 6” adapter going to your hood(s). You want to throw an amp meter on the unit when running without filters just to make sure you are not drawing too many amps.

All I was looking to do was remove sanding dust and blow it outside and was told the unit should work. But after I did by research I returned HF unit and waited two weeks for my refund check. I'm looking now for a larger diameter impeller 230vlt. hope this helps

[Josh Wright]

Paul,

I have had the HFDC with 6 inch piping for about 4 years now. I built a trash can collector into the system to get the really big planer shavings. The trash can gets some of the large shavings but not as much as I would like. I also purchased a Wynn filter and put a plastic bag on the bottom. If you think you may purchase a cylone at some point in the future I would opt for the 6 inch pipe. You will easily spend more money on the pipe than the HFDC and when you do get a cyclone you won't have to upgrade your piping as well.

I haven't had any trouble with the motor but the switch does give me issues sometimes. Apparently that is a fairly common issue with these collectors. It is a cheap repair but I haven't replaced it yet becuase mine only shorts occasionally and I can get it working again with some fiddling.

I am actually looing at the Clearvue cyclone now as an upgrade.

Regards,

Josh

[Greg Narozniak]

Before I bought my Oneida (almost 4 years ago) i had a Jet 1100 with AFF bags. I had a 20' straight run of 6" PVC with 4 gates and a floor sweep With a screen to make sure no metal was sucked in) and it worked fine. Kept up with a 13" planer no sweat. I removed the "twin 4" adapter" and used a "shim" to make the pvc fit the flange on the DC.

The 1100 is the same idea as the HF with a 11" impeller and roughly 1 1/2hp motor so I don;t think it would be a problem using 6"

I sold it to a friend and he is using it the same way to this day with no problems.

[Dick Sylvan]

Just curious, if you "were" going to buy a 5 hp Clear-Vue, but instead bought a 2 hp HF, what happened? Extreme optimism or temporary insanity?

[Steven Wilson]

Run 6" and keep the duct length very, very short. You may have some problems with material dropping out of suspension but that's better than choking off your DC by running 4".

[Paul Downes]

Thanks for the reply's folks. No Dick it wasn't insanity. It was part of a deal that involved several machines and 2 truck loads of walnut, cherry, spalted maple, and oak lumber, and a lot of misc. sheet goods. It was rather sad really, a fellow woodworker going through a divorce, and happy to get the stuff cleared out of his house. I am planning on making him a fly tying kit box because he mentioned that he was going to maintain that one vice. I think it may cheer him up some.
It only temporarily derailed my plan to get a more commercial DC going. It is kind of hard to justify to the wife that I need a bigger DC when she knows I already have a "DC". Any thing to keep the peace:D.