Please share any dust collection improvements you've made

[fitzhugh]

A couple months ago I had a reaction to some firewood I was turning, turned out it was incense cedar. It drives me out of the shop until I get a proper dust collection system in place. I found a used Delta DC model 50-850, 1.5 HP, largest in cash run on 120v. Note I just need to add/improve the dust collection at each tool.

If love to hear what has worked or not worked for you.

Here's what I'm thinking

Table saw and disk sanders: make a couple new lower guards with 4 and 6 inch ports, respectively, and add a 2 inch port to the upper guard

Bandsaw: add a 4" port below the blade guides, plus a bottom tray like part with a 2" port at the bottom. I've thought about making a box to surround the underside of the table where it is so open but figure I'll start with the simple option and see.

Planer: I will have to see. If necessary I'll do some surgery and make a larger 6" port in place of the existing 4"

Jointer: have not thought of a way to I improve it yet. It is not great with just a shop vac hooked up

Lathe: some sort of box/hood that can be adjusted to the right size for the piece (bowls and small stuff) and out of the way of the tool. Hardest to get right but most important.

So, any ideas? Photos?

Thanks

[algale]

A powerful ambient air cleaner is very helpful. An old furnace fan in a box with a HEPA filter on the front will suck up a lot ambient dust.

Also make sure your collector attached to the Shopsmith has a high efficiency filter.

[rjent]

You don't say where you live, but most of the year, you could put a fire fan or an old evaporative cooler squirrel cage blower and push 3,4, or 5 thousand cubic feet per min through the shop. That is what I do in conjunction with the DC3000. It really moves a lot of air through the building. Of course your HVAC AC, if you are using one, doesn't work ..... :/

Just a thought.

[damagi]

The best strategy is to use a video camera and record where dust is coming out while making some cuts. I used that strategy when figuring out the below. Others have used it successfully to track down the source of dust for the table saw function and such.

Jointer: have not thought of a way to I improve it yet. It is not great with just a shop vac hooked up

The jointer works well with DC using the SS dust collection hookup. However, I found that mine would collect dust as pictured. The solution was to tape a small wedge of wood to prevent the larger chunks from getting stuck.

Side view of chip buildup

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Top view of chip buildup

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Location of wood piece

JonCamp_20111014_9472.jpg (645.94 KiB) Viewed 4612 times

Wood piece in place

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I video taped before and after. With this fix, no more chips collecting.

[damagi]

Table saw and disk sanders: make a couple new lower guards with 4 and 6 inch ports, respectively, and add a 2 inch port to the upper guard

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/maint ... t6063.html
That thread is a wealth of information on dust collection for the table saw.
http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewt ... 02#p155302 specifically is an excellent example of a mod.

[fitzhugh]

That's great, thank you. I spent a couple days mocking up a full DC shroud for the 500, only the is simply too little room between the legs and the blade for the material I have on hand. I'll try again when I get s the sheet metal for m my cyclone. Most will be plywood but the parts around the trunnions need to be thin. I'm determined to make it work, though. Sadly I don't think the parts cut from cereal boxes will stand up to even my Delta DC

That accordion approach is elegant. It might simplify it a lot.

I put a 4" port on the bandsaw and it does very little, what with all the openings everywhere. The accordion would be great there.

On the other hand, I planed and jointed 18 4ft pieces of poplar for French cleats for my shop wall and had very little dust escape. I have another cereal box mockup for a replacement cover and hood for the planer, found a floor register duct thing with a 6" duct port and a 4x12 rectangle (or maybe 3x10? Don't Rachel off the top of my head). Oh wait, ran out of cereal boxes, used box the ducts came in. Thinker, might actually work for a test run. In fact, when the neighbors are up and awake tomorrow I'll try. Will reinforce it first.
I'm going to use some magnets to keep it in place, doing away with the two highly awkward Allen head bolts the stock plastic one pivots on, and on the end it will hook over the bolt heads that protruded from each side.
Photo shows some of the french cleats in the background, plus the parts of a box joint jig I'm ready to assemble, and the cardboard planer hood. At present that is the one direction in the shop that looks vaguely sane. I sure wish there a thread with honest photos of how everyone's ship looks at a given moment instead of mostly seeing clean shops with no dust. Not that I'm about to start that with photos of mine! I dearly hope I never learn that everyone actually keeps a clean shop. I'll feel so deficient

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[jsburger]

I doubt seriously that going from 4" ports to 6" with a 1.5HP dust collector will make much difference. It is all about air flow (CFM). A 1.5HP DC just doesn't have a high enough air flow to efficiently use 6" ducting.

Ceiling ambient air cleaners help a lot. I have two 1200CFM Powermatic units in my shop and see almost no dust collecting on surfaces.

[JPG]

FWIW, it ain't ALL about CFM. There is velocity and there is static pressure. All are interrelated.

True more CFM are needed with larger ducts so as to maintain sufficient velocity and static pressure.

For a given set of conditions, more HP will result in more CFM.

[jsburger]

FWIW, it ain't ALL about CFM. There is velocity and there is static pressure. All are interrelated.

True more CFM are needed with larger ducts so as to maintain sufficient velocity and static pressure.

For a given set of conditions, more HP will result in more CFM.

So given what you just said why is it not all about CFM? Are not velocity and static pressure DIRECTLY related to CFM? More HP and a bigger impeller will result in more CFM. The impeller is the most important factor. It needs to be designed correctly. We dont want a house fan blade on a dust collector.

[JPG]

CFM is a 'result' of all the other stuff. As is the other stuff the result of more other stuff.

A more inclusive(but not exhaustive) list of that stuff is: power input from the motor, resistance to flow of the piping, the velocity of the flow, the size of the piping, the static pressure along the piping. . . These are all interdependent.

Some of this stuff is inversely related. A smaller pipe 'may' result in higher velocity, but also result in lower CFM(think vacuum cleaner). A larger pipe 'may' result in higher CFM, but also result in lower velocity( think 'big ass fan'(High volume, low velocity).

What is desired is a balance that provides sufficient velocity to maintain particles in suspension in the air flow AND sufficient CFM to carry the volume of the debris.

Your point re the 6" duct being needing a larger motor and resultant CFM is accurate and reflects the interdependency of the 'stuff'.