Shopsmith Forums

I've had a Shopsmith DC for many years and it still works fine.
I want to distribute dust collection round the shop, so some time back I bought the 4 inch outlet which fits the front of the DC.
I'm going to run 4 inch plastic tube round the shop with 45 degree branches and blast gates for the Mk7 and ProPlaner and Incra router fence. The end of the run will have a 4 inch flexible take-off for the Incra Clean Sweep dust collection system.
My question is this:
Should I run the 4 inch distribution tube overhead or on the ground under the cabinets?
Is either scheme likely to give me clogging issues?

Regards,

Alan.

wurlitzerwilly wrote:I've had a Shopsmith DC for many years and it still works fine.
I want to distribute dust collection round the shop, so some time back I bought the 4 inch outlet which fits the front of the DC.
I'm going to run 4 inch plastic tube round the shop with 45 degree branches and blast gates for the Mk7 and ProPlaner and Incra router fence. The end of the run will have a 4 inch flexible take-off for the Incra Clean Sweep dust collection system.
My question is this:
Should I run the 4 inch distribution tube overhead or on the ground under the cabinets?
Is either scheme likely to give me clogging issues?

Regards,

Alan.

I would use 3" tubing so as to maintain sufficient verlocity.

My problem with using 3 inch tubing is that it would cost quite a lot to convert from 4 inch to 3 inch then back to 4 inch, along with the 2 inch? fittings for the smaller take-offs. I already have the 4 inch fittings and branches.

I would run the piping where it is the most accessible in case of clogs. My experiences suggests you are unlikely to get a clog from sawing or routing, and more likely to get a clog from planing. Keep the planer on the shortest run and as close to the DC as possible. Make sure your piping is well sealed to maintain airflow. Air leaks will kill the system.

I doubt you'll be happy with the end result. You will lose a lot of airflow with the piping and three outlets and may need to upgrade your dust collector. 330 CFM isn't much and is better suited to single machine use. I used to have a 650 CFM Jet DC connected to my tablesaw and router table and it worked fine. When I added the planer things went downhill quickly. When I extended my piping to my RAS and Shopsmith, I had to upgrade to a 1250 CFM two stage system.

As others stated, planing is where the larger chips are going to be.

I might consider putting a cyclone collector near the planer to capture the debris on the front end before it gets into core piping.

Lots of plans on a DIY version out there.

I saw one guy did one with a trash can and lid with a suction release valve to keep it from collapsing. His was 3" but you can make it 4" too. A commercial cyclone that size is expensive, but a DIY might just be the ticket and it would keep all the chips home so to speak.

He just popped of the head, and rolled out the trash to dump in a bigger container.

Everett