Ducting Efficiency

[Grunt]

I've got my dust collection ducting but I'm having problems with it's efficiency. Does anyone know what could be wrong? I don't seem to be getting any suction happening. The pictures don't show it but I've got duct tape.


http://www.users.on.net/~gril/Ducting1.jpg




http://www.users.on.net/~gril/Ducting3.jpg










http://www.users.on.net/~gril/Ducting2.jpg

[Sturdee]

Grunt,

You have to take the fittings out of the bag and lift the pipes of the ground and then connect them between your machines.
You may have to cut the pipes and install some blast gates. Then seal the joints with duct tape.:D :D :D


Peter.

[Sir Stinkalot]

Hang on a minute .... I see dust in the bag .... what is wrong with the system?

[MarkV]

I think he needs more elbows. There is still room in the bag;)

[bitingmidge]

Abolutely no idea I'm afraid.

I cut my pipe into little pieces to try to find the problem. Perhaps you could try that and get back?

Cheers,

P
:D

[Gumby]

Looks fine to me. have you plugged it in ? :D

[ozwinner]

It wont work because you have got pipe, and you need dust pipe!!


Al :)

[MarkV]

It could be worse it could be Hezbollah pipe it usually comes fitted with explosives :eek:

[ernknot]

Switch the bugger on!!!

[MajorPanic]

What size piping are you using? Is it 5" or 6"??

[vsquizz]

Grunt, you got the title wrong and therefore attracted the wrong goofers. It should have been "plumbing efficiency" posted in the Home Reno forum. Then you would have got all these Dust Collections experts come along de-rail the thread and tell you how to efficiently convert the plumbing into a dust collection system for your shed. Its very logical really:D

Cheers

[Grunt]

Thanks for your replies,




You have to take the fittings out of the bag and lift the pipes of the ground and then connect them between your machines.
You may have to cut the pipes and install some blast gates. Then seal the joints with duct tape.:D :D :D
Sounds like a lot of work. Are you sure?


Hang on a minute .... I see dust in the bag .... what is wrong with the system?
I put that in thinking that it might need a prime.


Abolutely no idea I'm afraid.

I cut my pipe into little pieces to try to find the problem. Perhaps you could try that and get back?

Cheers,

P
I'll cut it up into small bits tomorrow and see what happens.



I think he needs more elbows. There is still room in the bag;)
I've got another 3 elbows that aren't in the picture. You think that's enough?


Switch the bugger on!!!
Tried that. It made noise but no suck.


I'm a little disappointed, especially after getting all that pretty blue flexible ducting.

Grunt

[barnsey]

Grunt,
How many blast gates do you have in the system?
How many suck points are you wanting at once?

Jamie

[Grunt]

4 & 1

[Termite]

You've heard the expression "like a rat up a pipe", well you either have a rat stuck up the pipe or you need to send one up to see whats going on. :D :D
Words of wisdom
from
Termite

[Grunt]

Maybe I could talk to Gemi, she seems to have a supply of rats.

[bitingmidge]

4 & 1
I think I see where I have gone wrong. With only 4 gates, I reckon I could have finished sometime last century.

P
:cool:

[barnsey]

So at the expense of all the comedians -
You should have suction at the machine??
Check all the blast gates for suction.
Then the outlets one by one.
As a matter of interest I've found even with a 2hp blower you can suck a piece of sand paper into it and the bloody thing will sit across the inlet instead of going through it, especially if you have bowl gouge shavings that seem to turn into wire wool at the inlet - it will sit there till you dislodge them with your fingers - good idea to turn the finger mincer off first though :D

Similarly if you only have soft ducting or tight curves you will find that such shavings may get caught - my worst was the burnishing shellawax rag went down the shute only to get caught at a blast gate with a raggedy edge - so anything's possible - just get to know your system and eventually you will work out it's idiosynchricies (How do you spell that word?)

Jamie

[ernknot]

barnsey is right, either you have a blockage or you are you are sucking air in from some other location which is not the station you think.
ernknot

[bitingmidge]

We comedians are just taking notes!

:D :D :D
P

[barnsey]

P

Go and catch a hand full of midges for us will you and tell us what a handfull weighs. That way we'll have another meaningless piece information but will astound the drunks around the campfire :D

[Termite]

Orright! Enough is enough! Whoever's got Grunts Suck give it back NOW!

[Grunt]

I actually suspect my problem might be due to leakage. If you have a look at the pictures you might notice there are a few places where leaks could occur.

Grunt

[barnsey]

OK - LMAO :D
Grunt

The point of my post was that you need to go to the source of the suction and work forward to the equipment with each blast gate shut except for the one you are testing. These 2hp machines won't do more than one at a time. ;)

Termite - Still LMAO :D
You are a sick individual but I know cos I am one - must have a beer one day if you're down this way :D

[bitingmidge]

P

Go and catch a hand full of midges for us will you and tell us what a handfull weighs. That way we'll have another meaningless piece information but will astound the drunks around the campfire :D

Only place the midges are slow enough to actually catch would be Tweed Heads I reckon!
:D :D :D

No offence: I've made notes of your advice for whenever I fire up my machine connected to its ducts; with it's 2 hp I really do have some concerrns, but they may be unfounded.

Grunt: when you connect up 'em, what is the length of the longest duct, and how many bends and stuff are you going to have on it?

I have really tried all those design sites, and ended up just putting in pipe that was long enough to reach each machine, which made sense at the time! If it doesn't work, I'll have to upgrade the sucker I guess.

Cheers,

P

[echnidna]

Reckon its working real good as it sucked a lot of comments outa you lot!!!!

[Grunt]

Grunt: when you connect up 'em, what is the length of the longest duct, and how many bends and stuff are you going to have on it?

Midge,

I've attached a rough diagram of my shop.

I haven't decided where to put the DC & Cyclone yet. My perferred posy is DC1 but that means I'll have a duct length of 6 metres to the SCMS and a bend plus another 3 metres + a lenth of flexible hose down to a blast gate and another wye to the table saw.

Option 2 is to have the DC & Cyclone at DC 2. This will reduce the length of the ducting to the table saw but makes the connection to the SCMS a little tricky.

Option 3 is to have the DC & Cyclone outside which I suppose is best but I need to talk Mrs Grunt into letting put up a structure to house it in one of the garden beds.

I tried to do this diagram in Visio but ended up getting frustrated with its limitations. I've just bought DesignCAD 3D Max which I'm learning. I might design my workshop in that and see how I go. A 3D view of the workshop might be nifty.

This is the main reason all of the ducting and connectors are sitting on the floor.


Grunt

[echnidna]

If you stick your pipe fittings together with 3 self tappers in each fitting and wrap the joins with duct tape you can reorganise your duct layout when you need to instead of having a glued up system. After sticking the self tappers in, remove them and grind them down so they dont stick through the inside of the ducts.

[echnidna]

I wouldn't worry overly about the length of run to a SCMS as they dont produce as much dust as the bigger tools.

[Sturdee]

Option 3 is the best position. Shorter run than option 1 and the noise is reduced and any fine dust that escapes is blown away in the wind.

Put a switch inside and you can turn it on/of easily.

Peter.

[Marc]

I am not sure if this is a real thread or a comic one but I will risk a response. :rolleyes:

Dismantle the pipes and check the suction at the fan, add one section and check again, keep on going until you hit the problem.
If the suction drops gradually, I'm afraid your fan is too small for the pipe section and the number of inlets.
Did you check if the motor shaft is fixed properly to the fan, it may be spinning and not propelling the fan....

[echnidna]

You just sucked another one in Grunt

[Grunt]

You just sucked another one in Grunt

I wished my DC worked so well! :D:D:D