Incremental DC upgrade, or skip a step.

[Monte Milanuk]

We're planning on moving in a few weeks, and there will be a new shop to set up

The total size / square feet will be about the same (24' x 32') as the total at the current house, but it'll be all in one spot, with decent ceiling height - no more having to go back and forth between the basement and the detached garage (cuz the tool I need is inevitably in the *other* location), and no more having to dodge around support pillars, furnaces, etc.

So that's the good news - and it is very good news. Most everything I have as far as tools are portable/mobile in one fashion or another, as there just wasn't a good way to lay out all the tools without restricting access to one thing or another - and as a result, the DC had to be mobile as well.

Current config is a Delta 50-760, with a stock filter bag and a Thien separator on a 30 gallon can, and 4" flex hose running from the DC to whatever tool I have rolled out for use - table saw, band saw, planer. For other stuff I use the Ridgid shopvac + Dust Deputy, or a combination of the two i.e. DC for the cabinet on the 4512 TS, shopvac for the blade guard when appropriate.

I've been planning to upgrade the 50-760 to a Wynn 35A filter for some time, and the top on the Thien separator cracked, so I've been eye-balling a 4" SDD + fiber drum to replace that. The house move seemed like a great time to do both. But in discussion with SWMBO, I received tentative approval to get a bigger, better dust collector

The thing is, between the house move and a few other things going on in 'life', it may be (much) later this year or early next year before that becomes a reality. So I'm a little torn...

A) Fix the Thien lid, and use the Delta as is until I can swing the full-sized cyclone

B) Upgrade the Delta incrementally, and enjoy 'better' DC in the mean time, until the time is right for the bigger cyclone

In either case, I'm not sure I would want to jump right into the cyclone immediately until I have a little better idea where/how I want the tools laid out in the new space. For the interim, I'm okay with rolling the DC around to the tools - I don't want to have to (re)do the duct work too many times.

A is probably the 'easiest' and cheapest, but I'm not too enthused about the filter bag in the new shop. To be fair, part of the reason I got it originally - and have stuck with it this long - is that it was a high-rated bag (smaller micron) to begin with. And it is probably pretty well 'seasoned' by now While the Thien is certainly better than nothing, its not perfect, and the fit of the lid on the can has always been a PITA point, particularly when it comes to emptying it. Not sure if that would be 'better' with the SDD and the fiber drum, but it'd be hard pressed to be worse.

B... is within reach *now*, and should, in theory, improve the separation, the air flow, and hopefully the ease of use (emptying the drum). But then I'd have a DC with new-ish filter and mini-cyclone, and have to hope that I could recoup some meaningful fraction of that on the used market. While this area isn't exactly rural, its a long ways from urban/metro, so the number of people looking for such items is pretty sparse. Not sure if I could part them out or what...

Thoughts?

[Jim Becker]

I think the question you need to ask yourself is "how soon?" can you swing the upgrade to a quality cyclone system for your new shop. That's going to help guide you relative to any "incremental" changes you might make. DC is one of the most important tools in the shop, so if you can get to the end-state sooner without spending money that might be hard to recoup in doctoring your current system, do that. Adding a separator will certainly improve "separation", but it will reduce performance a little on your existing setup, for example. I have no idea what a "Delta 50-760" equates to, but I'll guess it's something like a 1.5-2hp conventional dust collector. It can only move so much air. Don't get me wrong, improving filtration and making it easier to deal with the debris via a separator is a good thing. Just take into consideration how long the cost of those improvements will be in place. If short term...save the money for the cyclone. IMHO, of course, but...

[Carl Beckett]

This is a little bit like me telling you how to spend your money (something I do not like doing).

But I went through SEVERAL iterations of DC equipment as my budget allowed. Time and incremental $ ongoing. And am still refining and improving.

Ultimately you are likely to get to the place of a large cyclone DC (given you have a fair size shop and equipment to run). So my advice would be your option A. Limp along as best you can, save up a fund, and pull the trigger on a full size unit when budget allows.

$.02

[Josh Kocher]

If it were me (and it was at one point), I wouldn't throw more money into that system since it's not what I'd ultimately want...

$400 or $500 of upgrades is 1/4 of the way to the cyclone you really want... while you save up you can browse the used market too... I see good used cyclones come up often... sometimes for great prices.

Good luck whatever you decide.

[Monte Milanuk]

I've been thinking on this a bit more since I originally posted... while the TS would certainly benefit from more CFM and better separation from a bigger cyclone, the planer (DW 735) already has a chip ejector fan which when coupled with the current DC setup gets all but a very little bit. The primary 'problem children' are the circ saw (breaking down sheet goods), the SCMS, and the router (both in hand-held and table-mount modes) and the bandsaw. I'd been considering upgrading some of the portable hand tools to the ones that come in systainers and the BS to one with better all-around features; this might a good opportunity to accelerate that process while figuring out what stationary tools I want where, while building my DC 'slush fund' along the way.

[Josh Kocher]

Buying tools in systainers is a difficult way to build a slush fund...

Although I agree that the tool itself is a big part of how well you can collect the dust from it.

[Monte Milanuk]

Buying tools in systainers is a difficult way to build a slush fund...

No doubt! Might have to see if I can leverage the "better DC" agreement with SWMBO to get a head start on that

[Jim Becker]

Leveraging hand-held tools that are designed for dust extraction is a good idea (with a bonus of quality and decent precision)...but it doesn't solve the long term goal with excellent collection from the larger tools and the "really hard to collect from" tools like the SCMS. So keep on lobbying...

[Matthew Springer]

I was in exactly your situation ayear ago with literally the exact same dilemna. My end state is I have almost your proposed setup with a Delta 50-760 with a wynn 35A filter over top of a SDD Xl. I went 6", although in retrospect 5" would have better balanced the machines ports (all 5"/120cm) and given a bit better velocity with no real loss in CFM. Prior to that I'd bee working for 10+ years with no DC whatsoever beyond a broom and shop vac. I got a crazy good deal on the delta and filter, so my main expense was just ducting. I converted the DC to 220.

My total build took me about 20 odd hours, mostly in ducting layout (ungrounded PVC sch 20 6"). I added a long ranger remote (remotes are awesome sauce), but all the gates are Clearview that operate manually. The total was somewhere in the $500 for the remote+ collector + sdd and another 500 ish for the ducting. Even with the system relatively underpowered relative to a "real" cyclone, it works SOO much better than the previous HF 2 hp with bag.

I honestly do not know how I functioned without DC previously.

That said, I'd probably go back in time and buy a oneida v3000 in the 3hp flavor. The delta will be underpowered for a 6" duct (at 4" you might be able to get away with it) so I still get most of my dust leakage due to not enough flow at the tool intake. That said, the separation aspect is fantastic.

[Tom Bender]

Definitely work in the shop some before you start running ductwork, and even then plan to rework it. This new shop is going to be sooo much better, you will be able to scrap the mobil bases.