Thread: Dust Extractor Setup

Gday Jim, looking good so far.

Three things I would do as finances become available, a pleated filter for the top of the extractor, a room air filter and a cyclone dust extractor.

The felt bag you have on top of the extractor lets the nasty dust that is hard if not impossible to see that will really hurt you go right through and back into the room. Most of the dust that the extractor doesnt pick up at the machine will be collected by the room air filter and finally the cyclone will sort the chips and dust into a bin before it gets to the extractor with the pleated filter on top.

Hope this helps you,

Ross.

Originally Posted by jimmcelwaine

Tips for making my system better would be must appreciated.

The suction is reduced for every bit of ducting that you use and gradual bends are better than t joints so try to shorten your ducting and reduce the lengths of flexible hoses as they are less efficient then the plastic pipes.

Photo 1 remove the bit beyond the T section and make the join to the cross piece a gradual bend. The connections coming down to the jointer and thicknesser should be one fixed pipe to close to the machines with blastgates and short bits of hose to each machine.

Hope that helps.


Peter.

A few of my suggestions also, consider putting the DC outside in under a leanto or some cover

For the main line to the DC replace with a larger size 5 or 6 inch...this helps to achieve the max air flow to the DC....every meter of pipe/hose, every fitting all adds up to flow loss. to counter this larger pipe has less loss than smaller so for main line go bigger even if u have to reduce at DC...the caveat is that go too large and the chips will fall out of suspension and fill up your main pipe or at least leave a layer of chips along the bottom

The Y above planer and thicknessor...if u r using say the planer and the thicky gate closed, the thicky piece of hose potentially will fill up with chips and give u grief specially if allowed to sit for a while, consider moving gates up as close to Y as poss. or leave the other just open a wee bit, if u have the airflow

And definatly reduce as much as poss the flex hose

I took a few pics today of my main and branch lines as an example, I have 200mm main with 120 branches, works quite well....

multiple branches into main line.jpgAttachment 133049

Attachment 133051

and a 2 into 1 transition
Attachment 133047

the branch to the right will fill up with chips if that gate is closed
Attachment 133050


Pete

Good Morning Jim

Thanks for posting your photos and asking the right questions. You have attracted some very informed and considered responses which should be helpful to a lot of us.

Now, I do not have a proper dust extractor, but have been gathering information for when its due... If I can make a couple of comments.

First, if you have not already done so, have a look at Bill Pentz's website
Bill's Personal Pages - Home Page
He goes into both the theory and practice of dust extraction - eg airflow speed to move different sized sawdust particles - heavy going at times but worth the effort.

Second, system design includes minimising friction - hence short runs, wide tubes, smooth tubes, minimal corners, etc. Bill suggests that two 45* bends in sequence are better than one 90* bend. Also that T-junction above your timber stack would have smoother flow if replaced with a Y-junction like you used above your jointer and thicknesser.

Having said that, I hope my first effort goes as well as yours.

Cheers

Graeme

Originally Posted by fozz

Three things I would do as finances become available, a pleated filter for the top of the extractor, a room air filter and a cyclone dust extractor.

I'd be put your DC outside the shed and you won't need any of the above.

I'd remove all the right angle joints and replace these with a Y connector - then a 45º elbow and then a 22.5º elbow. This makes a more gradual bend.

Originally Posted by jimmcelwaine

I just finished setting up my dust extraction system due to the amount of annoying 4" hoses on my shop floor. I is 4" PVC pipe. Hope this can help anyone else out who is thinking of doing the same. Tips for making my system better would be must appreciated.

I have an electronic copy of the original Richardsons Fans design manual, which includes all the specifications for their fans, plus some good guides for calculating friction loss in ducting, in bends, and etc. It also has design guides for hoods, and even the specifications for a cyclone separator that I have used to have a sheetmetalworks fabricate a separator for me. It is a damned good thing. Some may need a skilled person to interpret some of the information, but if anyone would like a copy, I could email it, or I could post it online somehow, but I would be keen to avoid copyright complications... Maybe someone could suggest how I should proceed. My email address is georgeharris854(at)hotmail.com cheers!