Thread: New workshop, help needed with dust

Hi Sandiethelandie (something very familiar about that name?),

Welcome to the forum.

If you're only going to use 100mm duct you'll be wasting your time with even a 2HP DC - you won't clear any more of the fine dust than you currently are. You need 6" ducting, appropriate size ports on your machines (4" to 6" depending on the machine) and at least a modified 2 HP DC to achieve what you're hoping to. If you get a 3HP DE, one with an 8" inlet, 14" impeller and a matching size serpentine outlet will provide the maximum result, it's probably a waste of time and money going beyond a modified 2HP DE otherwise.

There is heaps of good info. on the forum, see these threads_
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f200/generic-2hp-dc-171247
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f200/1500-cyclone-196076
There are plenty of links to other threads in these too. That should keep you busy for a while, I know it does me.

Cheers,
David

3HP on 4" ducting . . . . that'd be like running a 3 lane freeway with only one lane open.
Remember that that 1 x 6" duct = 3 x 4" duct

As for corrosion from putting the DC outside in an enclsoure and worrying about corrosion, that's a cheap price to pay for the improvement obtained by doing this and a vented enclosure won't make any difference to the corrosion as the DC is always exchanging shed air with outside air - that is after all the whole point. I doubt you will get any more corrosion than any machines inside the shed.

You will still need some sort of filtration unless you don't care about having your back yard covered in dust.

Thanks for the replies, more thinking needed! First step will be to speak to the sparkie and get his ideas on potential power requirements

You are prettty much where I was a couple of years ago. I upgraded from a couple of 1 HP DC's to a Clear Vue cyclone and am delighted with the result. Great air flow, very small footprint ... no filters to clean ... single phase power (15 Amp) with a VFD ... but they are not cheap. These days I walk in from the shop, wash my hands and I am clean enough to sit at the dinner table, a far cry from the dusty mess that once was my shop.

I'd like to hear BobL's perspective, but a cyclone placed between the working machine and a 3 HP unit can reduce your air flow more than somewhat. This might significantly impact your ability to capture the fine dust.

BobL tutored me through my installation, and his advice is top shelf. In particular, his advice to run 150 mm pipe to all machines and to open up machine ports to optimise air flow turned out to be spot on. When the airlfow through my system was tested it was not the length of duct that was the controlling factor, it was the machines themselves and the machine ports. My journey to modify ducts.hoods can be found here ... https://www.woodworkforums.com/showth...amuel+150+dust

For what its worth my advice is to take your time, to seek advice from BobL and to do a good a job as possible. Your shop will be transformed and you will breathe clean air.

Originally Posted by John Samuel

You are prettty much where I was a couple of years ago. I upgraded from a couple of 1 HP DC's to a Clear Vue cyclone and am delighted with the result. Great air flow, very small footprint ... no filters to clean ... single phase power (15 Amp) with a VFD ... but they are not cheap. These days I walk in from the shop, wash my hands and I am clean enough to sit at the dinner table, a far cry from the dusty mess that once was my shop.

I'd like to hear BobL's perspective, but a cyclone placed between the working machine and a 3 HP unit can reduce your air flow more than somewhat. This might significantly impact your ability to capture the fine dust.

Correct - 3HP DCs are generally borderline for dust extraction/air flow anyway so adding things including cyclones into the air path can reduce the flow to less than borderline and they cannot deal with large runs of ducting which can be the case if the DC is located outside which I recommend.

Cyclones are problematic on small systems because small systems simply don't have the spare sucking capacity to overcome the resistance to flow that cyclones impose on these systems. The most important thing is to grab as much of that fine dust BEFORE it escapes into the rest of the shed where it becomes near impossible to recollect. So it matters naught if a cyclone can keep your filters clean for a bit longer if you never collected the fine dust in the first place - in fact this IS one of the reasons why the filters stay clean for longer - its an illusion.

Just like oils aint oils cyclone designs are not all the same. A modern well designed cyclone like a Clearvue will impose minimum resistance hence provide maximum flow and filtration, so much so that if placed outside then no filters are needed. But you cannot put a Clearvuew on a 3HP system because they are designed for a specific size/type of impeller which needs at least a 4HP motor to drive it. The cyclone needs to suit the system. If the cyclone is sized and designed appropriately then they will work on smaller systems but I haven't see any commercially available units that do this.