Dust collection has been a significant essential to me for several years for many reasons. The challenge for those like myself is doing it effectively in the limited space of a small shop in a manner that is affordable, maximizes effectivity, and convenient. Affordable because I can be a bit of a cheapskate. Effective because I literally hate walking on sawdust, oh and safety. Convenient because, well, I can be lazy and skip using it if it isn't.
So let's do a thread to share our tips we have learned because I always need to learn more! For those who use a shop vac for collection I did as well for years. I still have a 16 gallon vac hooked to a dust deputy separator with a 15 gallon container for general clean up & hand small tools but shop vacs are limited in cfm volume.
While it would be great to have a fully automated industrial mega suction dust collector it just isn't realistic for me in price or space. Mine is a hodge podge of items. Not necessarily the best way to do any of it but has some good points and things I keep meaning to get to.
The motor & impellor is from a cheap Harbor Freight collector I threw the rest away & mounted it high and out of the way. It is connected to a Super Dust Deputy which has been worth the cost. For filter beyond the dust deputy I use a the glorious great out doors. I put a temporary block in a window to duct it outside until I could run a vent thru the wall. 7 years later...it's on my list!
The saw dust drops into a 25 gallon metal trashcan. Not ideal but what I have space for. Literally the only time you can even see anything being blown outside is when the trashcan is over full. That is always when I am running a lot thru the planer and totally forget to check the trashcan and happen to look out the window to see sawdust blowing outside! Unfortunately that means not only is the trash can full but Super Dust deputy is also packed full with sawdust! I keep intending to install a method to tell when it is full.
From the super dust deputy 4" PVC is ducted throughout my cramped shop with 8 blast gates for the various tools: Jointer, mitersaw, table saw, bandsaw, drill press, planer, an articulating arm, ROSS & drum sanders, and a free floating hose for floor and random things.
Because I am cheap I have opted for the affordable plastic blast gates. Unfortunately they tend to fall a part. I started drilling a small hole at each corner and screwing a small screw in it and have not replaced one in years.
A major challenge with that many blast gates is forgetting to close one significantly reduces the cfm available at another tool when using it. For me that means 2 things. First, open and closing the gates have to be easily reached and convenient. If you want to fork out major change or tinker you can opt for the wonderful tool actuated blast gates that turn on when the tool does. I am sure the cost is worth it for many shops. For me, I have rigged up various convenient levers, handles, and cables to open & close gates that arent convenient to reach.
I used an old lawn mower cable with a spring on the table saw cabinet that connects to a lever on the table saw fence that rotates and sets on the fence edge to lock open.
For an overhead gate I have a simple metal rod attached to the gate that I pull up and down. After years of use I recently installed a screw to put light pressure on the gate slide to hold it in the closed position when not in use.
Another factor to keeping gates closed and open is how I turn the collector off and on. I only want the noise of it being on when needed. I use a simple Fosmon brand remote control my collector is plugged into. It was just some random brand off of Amazon but the key for me is that it is programmable to accept up to something like 20 of their remote controls. I caught their remotes on sale at their website for $4 each. $32 later and each blast gate has a remote attached to it to turn the collector off and on when I open and close that specific gate! Collector still on means gate still open!
There are a few challenges of using 4" pvc with dust collector hoses & gates. The pvc is too large. The main reason to do so is it is cheap. No, I've never found static electricity an issue in a small shop that only runs the collector when tools are used. If it works you licking the metal hose clamps should help.
An easy way to shrink the pvc opeming down in size is to lightly heat the pvc with a heat gun or propane torch while tightening a hose clamp until the opening is small enough to just slide over the dust collector fittings.
I don't like to permanently glue my pvc together. On more than one occasion my collector has collected small tools that got stopped somewhere in the pipes and required some pull apart. Other times I have had to rearrange when I got new tools. I instead place the fittings together and drive 2 #6 sheetmetal or wood screws about 3/8-1/2" long thru the fitting and pipe to secure the joint. Follow by simply smearing a bead of caulking around the joint lip. It will hold so well that I have to score the caulk years later to get them apart, but it comes apart.
Something else I have found helpful is using heavy magnets to hold a hose in place on tools. It also allows me to hang a hose up out of the way when not in use by sticking to the clamp.
Eric
So let's do a thread to share our tips we have learned because I always need to learn more! For those who use a shop vac for collection I did as well for years. I still have a 16 gallon vac hooked to a dust deputy separator with a 15 gallon container for general clean up & hand small tools but shop vacs are limited in cfm volume.
While it would be great to have a fully automated industrial mega suction dust collector it just isn't realistic for me in price or space. Mine is a hodge podge of items. Not necessarily the best way to do any of it but has some good points and things I keep meaning to get to.
The motor & impellor is from a cheap Harbor Freight collector I threw the rest away & mounted it high and out of the way. It is connected to a Super Dust Deputy which has been worth the cost. For filter beyond the dust deputy I use a the glorious great out doors. I put a temporary block in a window to duct it outside until I could run a vent thru the wall. 7 years later...it's on my list!
The saw dust drops into a 25 gallon metal trashcan. Not ideal but what I have space for. Literally the only time you can even see anything being blown outside is when the trashcan is over full. That is always when I am running a lot thru the planer and totally forget to check the trashcan and happen to look out the window to see sawdust blowing outside! Unfortunately that means not only is the trash can full but Super Dust deputy is also packed full with sawdust! I keep intending to install a method to tell when it is full.From the super dust deputy 4" PVC is ducted throughout my cramped shop with 8 blast gates for the various tools: Jointer, mitersaw, table saw, bandsaw, drill press, planer, an articulating arm, ROSS & drum sanders, and a free floating hose for floor and random things.
Because I am cheap I have opted for the affordable plastic blast gates. Unfortunately they tend to fall a part. I started drilling a small hole at each corner and screwing a small screw in it and have not replaced one in years.
A major challenge with that many blast gates is forgetting to close one significantly reduces the cfm available at another tool when using it. For me that means 2 things. First, open and closing the gates have to be easily reached and convenient. If you want to fork out major change or tinker you can opt for the wonderful tool actuated blast gates that turn on when the tool does. I am sure the cost is worth it for many shops. For me, I have rigged up various convenient levers, handles, and cables to open & close gates that arent convenient to reach.
I used an old lawn mower cable with a spring on the table saw cabinet that connects to a lever on the table saw fence that rotates and sets on the fence edge to lock open.
For an overhead gate I have a simple metal rod attached to the gate that I pull up and down. After years of use I recently installed a screw to put light pressure on the gate slide to hold it in the closed position when not in use.
Another factor to keeping gates closed and open is how I turn the collector off and on. I only want the noise of it being on when needed. I use a simple Fosmon brand remote control my collector is plugged into. It was just some random brand off of Amazon but the key for me is that it is programmable to accept up to something like 20 of their remote controls. I caught their remotes on sale at their website for $4 each. $32 later and each blast gate has a remote attached to it to turn the collector off and on when I open and close that specific gate! Collector still on means gate still open!
There are a few challenges of using 4" pvc with dust collector hoses & gates. The pvc is too large. The main reason to do so is it is cheap. No, I've never found static electricity an issue in a small shop that only runs the collector when tools are used. If it works you licking the metal hose clamps should help.
An easy way to shrink the pvc opeming down in size is to lightly heat the pvc with a heat gun or propane torch while tightening a hose clamp until the opening is small enough to just slide over the dust collector fittings.
I don't like to permanently glue my pvc together. On more than one occasion my collector has collected small tools that got stopped somewhere in the pipes and required some pull apart. Other times I have had to rearrange when I got new tools. I instead place the fittings together and drive 2 #6 sheetmetal or wood screws about 3/8-1/2" long thru the fitting and pipe to secure the joint. Follow by simply smearing a bead of caulking around the joint lip. It will hold so well that I have to score the caulk years later to get them apart, but it comes apart.
Something else I have found helpful is using heavy magnets to hold a hose in place on tools. It also allows me to hang a hose up out of the way when not in use by sticking to the clamp.
Eric
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The cheap way wasn't the smart way in this case.
