Dust Collection/Cyclone advice

[Ash Baulackey]

Hello
Im looking for some dust collection advice as I am unable to find the answer online.

I’m in the planning stages of setting up my garage with a few items: table saw, mitersaw, router, small drill press, circ saw and jig saw.

All equipment will be used from the same workbench roughly.

My dust collector is a Magnum Industrial 1.5 HP Dust Collector with Canister
11-250 with 1280cfm. It will be Adapted with a cyclone for two stage. It has the option of single 6” or dual 4” connections.

Ideally I would like to have dust collection on the top and bottom of each machine. For example the router to have 1 on the fence and one below the router cabinet. What would be the best approach:

1. Run both 4” dust collection to the machines, use 4” hose to the bottom and 4” to 2” adaptor to the devices built in dust collection fitting. If option 1, should I have 2 cyclones one for each 4” hose.

2. Run 6” to the bottom (I don’t see any 6” hoods/flanges, I only see 4”) with a 6” to 4” hood/flange and add a separate shopvac to the 2” device?

3. Run 6” to the device and have a 4” T spit to run 4” to the top and 4” to the bottom?

Or any other suggestions would be appreciated.

[Wade Lippman]

#2 would be optimal; I do #3 because #2 is too much trouble.

I wouldn't count on 1280cfm.

[Ash Baulackey]

Thanks Wade, I have a small garage setup, this is the max hp dust collector I can get in my area without having to upgrade the power to 220v

[Randall J Cox]

I have a small shop (220 sq ft) and run a 1.75 HP dust collection system with cyclone to lots of machines (15" planer, 8" jointer, 12x36 lathe, Unisaw, 12" chopsaw, 10" radial arm saw, 2hp 6x48 belt sander with disc) with blast gates. As my shop is small I run 5" to all machines (runs aren't very long). Works great. Randy

[Andrew More]

Generally you want to maintain as large a duct as possible for as long as possible. When you reduce, do so as close to the tool as possible. If the tool only comes with a 4" port, consider increasing the size to 6" if possible.

1) I would use only one cyclone, and try to get one that will allow you to run 6" ducting in and out. If you can't find one, you could make a thien baffle. Keep in mind that adding a cyclone or a thien baffle is going to affect your performance, resulting in a 20-50% performance hit.

2) Not sure what your area is like, but I was able to find plenty of HVAC ducting in the 6" size at both big box stores and local HVAC supply house. You should check some of those places near you. Anything that is 2" or smaller might be better run off a shop vac, but it doesn't hurt to experiment and see what works best for you. I've got a couple of 2" tools, such as a sander that I'm running off my cyclone because I can't be bothered to also have a shop vac. (Small shop)

3) This is what I did for my router table, 6" to 4" and 4" outlets, split to the table fence, and bottom box. One way to look at reductions is that you want to keep the area of the duct similar. 6" duct has an area of ~28.27 sq in, and 4" has an area of 12.57 x2 = 25 sq in, so it's a slight reduction. Another option would be 5" and 3" for similar reasons.

[Frank Pratt]

No matter what choice is made with dust collection, it's a compromise. 1.5 HP is pretty small, so you want the least amount of restrictions possible, but 6" duct may be to large to maintain air velocity. When that gets too low, dust settles out in the duct, particularly in up flowing vertical runs. That spec of 1280 CFM is just a dream some marketing guy had. I seriously doubt you'd get that even 1/3 that by the time you get a filter, cyclone & duct connected.

A collector that size should really be mobile & be connected to 1 machine at a time with as short a length of flex as possible.

[Ash Baulackey]

Thanks Randy

[Ash Baulackey]

Awesome thanks Andrew

[Ash Baulackey]

Thanks Frank, the intention is to keep it mobile I have no issues to roll to the machine

[Ash Baulackey]

does anyone have any thoughts on the Lee Valley Veritas® Cyclone Lids. I've only seen one review of it.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/pag...t=1,42401&ap=1

[Andrew More]

does anyone have any thoughts on the Lee Valley Veritas® Cyclone Lids. I've only seen one review of it.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/pag...t=1,42401&ap=1

Yes, they seem completely reasonable. However, you can probably build it yourself quickly, cheaper, and it could have a 6" inlet/outlet, rather than being limited to 4". Also if you DIY, you don't have to worry about it fitting onto your garbage can.

https://www.madebymikal.com/building-a-thien-baffle/

The thing you should know about this approach is that it's also going to result in a performance hit, just like a cyclone.

[Ash Baulackey]

Awsome, thanks Andrew, something to consider. Do you think it is more of a performance hit than a lid or a cyclone?

[Andrew More]

Awsome, thanks Andrew, something to consider. Do you think it is more of a performance hit than a lid or a cyclone?

I honestly have no idea. I know other members have expressed dismay at the specs pushed out by the manufacturers, but I don't know what else to reference, and I've seldom seen any good comparisons. So taking these perhaps flawed numbers, and comparing a system with a 1 1/2 HP single stage vs 1 1/2 hp cyclone, you can see this 20-50% performance hit.

The simple truth is that you're going to get some resistance, and what that resistance works out to is going to vary depending on a LOT of different factors related to the construction of your separation device. As such, I think I'd go small, in terms of amount of time and money invested. It's going to be a gamble.

However, just judging by the number of people who do what you're doing, it's not a terrible idea, it's just another trade off.

[ChrisA Edwards]

I have a 900 sq/ft garage. I run 5" metal ducting with three 5" drops. At the end of each drop is a wye with a 4" and 2.5" blast gate.

I use 4" flexible hose to most machines and primarily use the 2.5" for vacuuming.

All this connects to a Jet 1.5HP, converted into a 2 stage, using an Oneida Super Duty XL cyclone and a plastic 55 gallon drum.

I put 39 gallon home depot heavy duty bags in the drum and collect all the saw dust and shavings in that.

I've yet to empty the Jet bag since I converted it to 2 stage.

I use this with a 12" J/P, Sawstop TS, router table and others. I generated 12 bags of shavings when I made louvers for plantation shutters using a Shopfox W1812 moulder.

My Jet DC keeps up fine.

[Ash Baulackey]

Thanks again Andrew