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I finally got around to moving my two dust collectors to the new shop yesterday. For what little woodworking I was doing in there so far I had just used my big stainless steel W/D shop vac.
A couple of years ago I bought one of the Harbor Freight 2 HP units then as such things tend to work a good friend of my son moved and decided that he was not going to keep woodworking. He had a like new Penn State 1 1/2 HP collector that I bought for $50.
The reason for this post is to mention just how much better built the Penn State unit is than the Harbor Freight one is. The motor/blower unit seems about the same but the base/bag support stuff is as different as night and day. While the Penn State one is very rugged I have to be careful just moving the HF one around the shop. The mounting of the bag support assembly is so flimsy that it flexes badly and the support post bend at the base with almost no force.
This isn't really a problem for me since it is my plan to mount the motor/blower unit of the HF one on a shelf in one corner and plumb it outside instead of into a bag. The outside pipe will run underground from the basement shop out into a grove of trees next to the house.
The PS collector will stay as is as a mobile unit.


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robinson46176 wrote:This isn't really a problem for me since it is my plan to mount the motor/blower unit of the HF one on a shelf in one corner and plumb it outside instead of into a bag. The outside pipe will run underground from the basement shop out into a grove of trees next to the house.
The PS collector will stay as is as a mobile unit.

OH a source for water to come inside and a home for critters in the pipe huh.

beeg wrote:OH a source for water to come inside and a home for critters in the pipe huh.

Oh I have more faith in Francis than to think that will not be 'avoided'.

[quote="JPG40504"]Oh I have more faith in Francis than to think that will not be 'avoided'.]

Yep, Francis hasn't survived this long, without checking the obvious.

steve

I had given a lot of thought to running the line over head but was a little concerned about how much structure I would have to build to support an over head line under our sometimes very heavy ice loads.
I had already decided that I could run it underground then come up a few feet with a turn down and or flap cap to keep rain and critters out.

[ATTACH]19231[/ATTACH]

I was really preferring to run it out overhead since it would be easier and also easier to access if a problem occurred later. Then it hit me I have a 6" X 36' strong smooth steel tube that is strong enough to only need support at maybe 2 or 3 points even with a heavy ice load. I have an older transport auger (grain auger) that I can use the tube from for this.
It looks like this one:

[ATTACH]19232[/ATTACH]

This is probably the route I will take... Time will tell.


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