Under Floor Dust Collection

[Peter Christensen]

Jealous no. Envious yes. Did you buy the long cone cyclone or make it?

[Alan Schaffter]

Jealous no. Envious yes. Did you buy the long cone cyclone or make it?

I built it- it is a version of Bill Pentz's design. It is a so called 3D cyclone which supposedly does a better job separating out the fines than the standard 1.64D cyclone. These are old pics showing manual blast gates. All gates are now fully automatic and each one opens whenever its machine is turned on (current sensor switches at the wall outlets, solenoid air valves, low pressure air, and pneumatic actuators). There are various write-ups and pics on this and other WW forums.

[Jaromir Svoboda]

Yes, green pipe from Menards

[Jack Frederick]

Just because you do not "want" to have to go into the crawl space does not mean you are not going to "have" to go into the hole. I would suggest that you build the crawl space to allow you to get under there with a minimum of fuss. Minimum 30" deep, good vapor barrier & a good stone base that doesn't tear you up when crawling on it and good lighting. My shop has concrete floors but when we re-modelled the house I put plenty of lights down in the hole. I don't recall the brand but the electrician used 6" fluorescent hanging lights with a protective plastic lens. If you do this you will be able to access the DC system as well as move any electrical connections you may need as your machinery lay-out changes. I would not clutter that space up with HVAC ducting. Pay attention to how you seal that area up from the outside. You can't keep spiders out but you want to know that nothing else is going down there. I like your idea of a framed floor and wish I had done a wooden floor in my shop rather than the concrete.

[glenn bradley]

I think my underfloor duct question is about to get derailed....

As you've noticed, several people here have run under floor with good success. Dust collection threads, like electrical threads, run the gamut since everyone's needs are different; excessively so in a home shop. No problem with under or over. I have overhead and some waist-high runs between machines. I put in clean-outs at strategic locations but, when I open them everything looks like bone china. Sawdust does a great job at polishing PVC.