DC pipe routing and tool layout

[Jonathan Elliott]

Hi all,

I'm getting ready to set up my first workshop. I've built furniture commercially but have never had my own work space. I realize it's largely a personal preference that will evolve as I establish my preferences for working, but of course I would like to do the best I can to begin with. I am hoping to drawn on the experience of this community and see what you thought of my initial plan.

The shop is 12' x 24' with 8' ceilings on the back wall and 9' ceilings at the front. I live in Hawaii so the shop will be open air. I have a 5hp Clearvue CV1800 and 6" pvc piping. It will be a hybrid shop of power and hand tools. I've attached a few pictures of the proposed tool layout and DC piping. I would like to keep the ceiling free of piping if possible so the two pipes going across the shop floor are actually under the floor. They can't go diagonal because I am using the space below the joists for wood storage. The major power tools starting on the back wall near the dust collector are miter saw, 8" jointer, drill press, table saw, disc sander, wide belt sander, router table, 14" bandsaw, and benchtop planer in the middle. I plan to roll the wide belt sander to the middle and share a port with the planer when in use.

I'm interested in any and all thoughts about both tool layout and any improvements in the efficiency of the DC piping layout. Thanks so much!

Jonathan
Tool Layout 1.jpgTool Layout 2.jpgDust Collection 1.jpgDust Collection 2.pngActual Shop.jpg

[John K Jordan]

I don't have any comments about the ducting, but on the cyclone - is there enough ceiling height in the DC closet? My shop has 9' ceilings and the CV1800 barely fits with a 30 gallon galvanized trash can for a bin. I had to put about 6" of flex tubing between the bottom of the cone and the top of the lid to allow lifting the lid enough to slide the bin out.

An outside door might make it easier to remove the bin for emptying. A wide door is nice. I use a 5' wide double door on an 8' wide closet (which also houses my big air compressor).

JKJ

[Jonathan Elliott]

Thanks for checking me on those details John. I lowered the floor in the closet about a foot so I have 9' ceilings in there and I plan to build a custom plywood rectangle collection bin. I have a 3' x 3' door on the outside of the building to access the bin and will just roll a wheelbarrow or cart up to it and shovel the dust out when needed. The door is shown on the bottom right side of the outside closet wall in the attached photo. I realize the bin needs to be perfectly airtight so I will have a latched plywood door behind the door on the outside of the building.

Jonathan
Outside of closet.jpgDust bin door.jpg

[Tom Dixon]

The pipe layout looks good to me. Nice straight run to the cyclone and gradual bends as you can get with PVC.

[John K Jordan]

Thanks for checking me on those details John. I lowered the floor in the closet about a foot so I have 9' ceilings in there and I plan to build a custom plywood rectangle collection bin. I have a 3' x 3' door on the outside of the building to access the bin and will just roll a wheelbarrow or cart up to it and shovel the dust out when needed. The door is shown on the bottom right side of the outside closet wall in the attached photo. I realize the bin needs to be perfectly airtight so I will have a latched plywood door behind the door on the outside of the building.

Jonathan

I suspect that should work well. I assume you are exhausting outside. I've heard tell of people who planned rectangular and even triangular bins but I've never seen one in action or heard how well it worked. From examining my round bin I notice the rotating column of air extends down into the bin and the dust is deposited first on the outsides. I'm guesesing corners would change this pattern somewhat but have no data on the effect.

One great thing about the CV compared to other DCs is during initial testing you can watch the flow inside the cyclone and see if everything is spiraling nicely and dropping into the bin or if an air leak is disrupting the flow. One tiny air leak can make a mess in your filters! A latched plywood panel with a good seal on the bin should work.

One other thing about viewing through the clear plastic cone - don't vacuum up any cat litter! I did that soon after I set up my cyclone and the abrasive cat litter frosted the inside of the cone. I can still see the action to check on things but just not as clearly!

JKJ

[Jonathan Elliott]

Thanks again for the tips John! There are a few rectangular bins in the gallery of the Clearvue forum and folks mention them working well but once I get mine up and running I'll be sure and post the results. I'm curious to see how it will work too. It might be awhile since I have to get power figured out on the property first

I'm also considering getting a replacement motor designed for home central vacuums since they are relatively inexpensive and have similar power ratings to the fein and festool vacuums and tying that in with the mini CV06 to use as a shop vacuum. Since the rectangular collection bin would be 4' long I thought about having the mini CV06 dump into that as well. Not sure if that would cause air leaks but I could put a blast gate at the bottom of the cyclone to close it off when not in use. Might be more trouble than it's worth and a separate container might be just fine. Brainstorming for now.

Oh, and yes, everything will be exhausted outside.

Jonathan