Making a u turn with dust collector piping

[Brian Behrens]

I'm looking for some dust collection advice.


Please look at the attached photo. Where you see the large cabinet next to the dust collector, I would like to move that cabinet and put my router table there. This means that I would essentially have my ducting to the router table doing a 180 degree turn. I would come up that wall, go towards the tablesaw, and go into the overhead 6" pvc with a 45 wye (the one running left to right in the photo). I always space out my 45s with a short piece of pipe to make the turn more gradual. The dust collector is a Clearvue CV 1800 5hp. It is vented directly outside, so I think it has a little more pull than normal.


I will be using a Clearvue 6" to two 4" transition box with blast gates, with a 4" line going inside the router cabinet, and a 4" reducing to 2.25" for my Incra wonder fence.


Is this a bad idea? I did a lot of research but couldn't find anything regarding this situation where my airflow is making a long 180 degree turn back to the cyclone. I would appreciate any thoughts or advice. Thank you very much!

[Bill Dufour]

Why is your Dc mounted so low? Looks like you have enough lanterns if the lights go out. For a simple router I think a 90 degree tee will be okay. Far from ideal but it looks like you have enough blower to make up for that.

[Brian Behrens]

Hi Bill

It's mounted as high as I could get it under the floor trusses, leaving a few inches to add a drop ceiling. I guess it looks deceiving but it is a 9' ceiling in a daylight basement. And yes, my other hobby is lantern collecting. I'm not going to use any 90s . I was referring to the overall routing of the 6" pipe coming away from the wall, going into the pipe you see running left to right, and back to the cyclone .

[Jim Becker]

Honestly, my router table setup has a similar "u-turn" from the main duct to the drop, but the distance is short and for such a tool, it's been insignificant relative to compromising any performance. It's a 4" drop off of a 6" main and was necessary because of the way a staircase to the upper level of my shop building is relative to my slider with the BenchDog cast iron router setup installed as a "poor man's" shaper.

To be clear: This is not the IDEAL way to do a drop, but I doubt you'll have an issue for that one tool.

[Brian Behrens]

Thanks for the data, Jim. I was thinking that theoretically, it would be the same effect as if I turned my jointer drop up 90 degrees towards the ceiling (shown in the photo on the left). That drop has amazing suction, so I don't see how a rotation of the pipe could change that much .I sent this question to Cathy at Clearvue, so I will let everyone know what she has to say about it.

[Lee Schierer]

It would be about the same as the connection to you planer, which is a U.

Or

Put a side outlet Tee in the line very close to the cyclone.

[Jim Becker]

"Direction" is not the material thing...it's the resistance of the "turn" vs "straight". But again, for this application, given it's an add-on to an existing system for an application that's not horribly demanding, you'll be fine.

[John K Jordan]

My feeling is a turn is a turn so a U-turn is the same as two 90s, everything else being equal. I use a 5HP ClearVue too and from my experience you will have plenty of suction with a 6" pipe even with any losses through the 180. I have a three places with an equivalent U-turn and split to 4" and the pickup is incredible, more than I had expected.

JKJ

[Bill Dufour]

I have to say that planner looks to have twice or three times more hose then needed and it drops down in size as well. Maybe you roll it out to the middle of the shop?

[Mike Cutler]

I think you'll be fine since you are using 45's with straight sections instead of 90's.
IIRC my pipe flow "rules of thumb" correctly, 2-45's, with minimum 10 times the diameter of the pipe in length between them, reduces the flow penalty to a single 45 in the flow stream.

[Larry Frank]

Is it a bad idea to do a U turn....of course it is.

However, given the performance of your 5 hp Dust Collector, the loss will not be noticed and you are fine. People with a something like a HF might notice a significant decrease.

[Brian Behrens]

I have to say that planner looks to have twice or three times more hose then needed and it drops down in size as well. Maybe you roll it out to the middle of the shop?

It is a combo jointer/planer, so it needs extra flex hose to accommodate the changeover

[Steven Wayne]

I too have a u-turn for my cnc router. It’s very close to the cyclone and I have excellent dust collection at the cnc machine.

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[Brian Behrens]

Thanks again everyone. Cathy at Clearvue is confident that it will work great.

[Jack Frederick]

I think with a 5 hp you could pull the paint off the wall. Generally adding fittings it is best to space them so you can get a smooth flow back in the main after the turbulence the fitting creates. Try to maintain at least 6 pipe diameters between fittings. That has always been the "rule of thumb" for balancing flow in hydronic systems and the principles are pretty much the same. Where your flow really gets chopped up is back to back fittings. Nice shop.