Harbor Freight Dust Collector Mod

Cory, I'm building this right now and am at the point where I need to connect the 5" piece of hose that came with the unit to the separator top. I just realized the hose is 5", not 4 which I originally thought and can't seem to figure out how to connect it. You mentioned a delta part, do you have a link for that? And how exactly is it mounted to your top? Thanks.

Brandon and Cory,

I have a similar set up for my DSC ( HF plus the Wynn Filter). Has been working well for a couple of years. I found an easy way to dump the can and dispose of the dust. I use a 45 gallon plastic bag, cover the whole can with it, and invert the whole thing to dump the dust. Reasobly efficient, and WAY less messy than dumping the can itsewlf.
Hope this is of help.

Matt: I bought the 5" connections from Woodcraft locally. I only needed the one that goes through the top of the can. I just used epoxy and caulk to mount it to the can.

Cory,
Thanks. I went ahead and bought this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007SXGWE/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

Should have it by Thursday and I'll use Loctite Power Grab to put it on.

Very well done : ) Nice and neat construction .

Hi Cory,

Quick question from a newcomer.

I see your connection the top of the garbage is a straight down connection, does this interfere with the cyclone flow in the can ? Could putting the connection on the side make things better ?

Cheers Fred

Nice job. I have been looking for some pictures of a mod like this.

I just started on this mod myself. I do have a question. My present duct system is 4" PVC and my seperater inlets and outlets are both 4". At present I don't want to build another seperator so I was wondering if it would be better to come off the collectors 5" outlet and reduce to 4" at the inlet or make the inlet larger (to 5") and keep the outlet at 4"?
Not sure if I am making myself clear or not. Any comments appreciated.

When it comes to serious air flow it is hard to beat the way I treated my unit. I have a wooded back yard and simply blow the sawdust out into it, with no filtering or dust capturing at all to slow the air flow. I built a small wooden base to hold the thing, and got some curved pipe from the plumbing department at Lowe's. I already had a small GMC unit, but it would only handle one tool at a time and I needed more suction to handle up to three tools. I built artistic collages out of wood pieces (I have exhibits in five galleries in this area), and I need for the unit to be able to simultaneously deal with my table saw, band saw, and miter saw. It works just fine. Some points:

1. The 20-amp motor is rated at "peak" amps, which is almost a useless specification. No mention of the steady draw, but it is probably in the 12 to 15 amp range. I am basing this on the air pressure I feel with my hands in comparison to the 7-amp GMC, as well as on number two, below.

2. Relating to number one, above, the 6-foot power cord is a 16 AWG type, which is obviously NOT thick enough to comfortably handle even 15 amps, let alone 20. This is probably due to the often sloppy way Chinese manufacturers will build an item that is strong in one respect and weak in important other respects, even with upscale tools, let alone budget HF versions. I replaced my cord with a 12-foot 14 AWG type, easy to do with this machine. There is no 240-volt option.

3. The impeller appears to be a roughly 9-inch job, made of steel, and is vibration free. This appears to be the same diameter as the one in my much smaller GMC unit (which was not vibration free when new; I had to install small weights to fix that problem), although the individual blade pieces are a bit wider. (Pictures of both units side by side, as well as the HF alone with its amiable exit ports, are attached, as is a shot of the work area with some of the tools set up to go.) I cannot guarantee the exact size measurements of either impeller, since I did not remove the outer covers and do an exact check. Instead, I did my measuring by inserting a ruler into the housings through the outlets and up against the center shaft of the impeller and noted the distance to the outer edge. With both units it was 4 inches, which tells me (assuming about an inch thickness for the center shaft section) that the overall diameters were roughly 9 inches. (One review I read of this unit said it had a 10-inch impeller, but perhaps there were variations during the construction runs.) Interestingly, the housing is big enough to handle a 10, 11, or even a 12 incher, and one wonders why the smaller size was chosen. However, it may be related to it being wired only for 120 volts. A bigger impeller would put the motor under greater load, increasing the current draw, I think, mandating a 240-volt feed. The smaller impeller keeps the unit out of electrical trouble with the input.

4. The motor itself seems very solidly built, with the shell made of cast iron instead of the usual steel or aluminum. It may be an old design, but as long as the bearings are good it should hold up.

5. The on-off switch appears to be a 10-amp rated type, which makes it too small for the current draw, even if the 20-amp rating is radically bogus. This switch looks identical to the one on my 7-amp GMC. and even with that low rating the GMC switch pitted enough over time to give me trouble. I took the switch apart and cleaned off the burned marks and it works OK now, but it will eventually do the same thing all over. Fortunately, switches like this are easy to take apart and clean up (and cheap to buy), but it is likely that the one on the HF unit, with its obviously much larger motor, will pit up and cause problems much sooner than the one on the GMC did. Consequently, I ordered a 20-amp switch from Grizzly to replace it.

Time will tell if this unit does the job, but so far, so good. I ran the old GMC continuously and it never let me down, except for that switch. The HF unit will be run similarly as I do my work out on my work deck. It had better do the job, because my mods have already violated the warranty.

The three photos show the modified unit, the unit next to the still sometimes used GMC unit, and my woodworking deck, with the collector, in operation.

Howard Ferstler

Just wanted to say thanks for posting this. I just finished my setup and used yours as a guide to follow. I made a quick video showing the performance of the thien baffle in this setup for those that may be interested. Thanks again!

I did mine pretty much like the one in the video…except my seperator sits on top of my trash can with the HF DC sitting directly over the top of the serperator. I also upgraded my ducting to 5" metal. Works so much better with a bunch more suction.
Charlie

Here is my take on your design. Thanks for sharing your ideas Cory. It really helped me sort out my DC project.

@timbertailor: some FANTASTIC space saving ideas in that design. I'm definitely going to copy that to mine as well. I've had mine for the past two years just sitting on the HF base and I hate that base/wheels so I was going to re-build the base to be more usable. The additions you made are going to make it even better and save me a ton more space. Awesome post!

Cory, what are the dimensions of the base and how tall is the motor support? Also, has anyone fed a 6" port into the lid from 6" collection lines?

After purchasing a Harbor Freight 2HP dust collector, I would like to thank many for their contributions on various websites that allowed me to build my unit (see picture).

Naturally, Phil Thien for his dust separator concept.

ghostses for his excellent 5-video series on YouTube that allowed me to build a top hat Thien separator. Having a Rubbermaid brute trash can required no modification to the dimensions. I used polycarbonate for the sides so others can observe the saw dust movement in the separator as I should be focused on the project!

Using an ABS coupling in the center of the separator, I was able to mount the motor on top of the separator. Three 2×4s, attached to the metal platform and the separator, elevates the separator high enough for the trash can to sit underneath. The 2×4s are positioned to allow removal of the trash dumping. A hinged platform with bungee cords holds the can in place (kudos to Mathias Wandel). The metal platform that came with the dust collector was not long enough to hold everything, so I added a wood extension to hold the items on the right in the photo with six casters on the platform for mobility. The riser on the right was necessary to align the motor outlet with the inlet to the filter. As seen in the photo, I also purchased a Wynn cartridge filter. I did upgrade the motor wiring and bought a switch to operate the dust collector remotely.

I made I own modifications but your contributions provided the inspiration. So again, thanks, and keep up the good work!

Just built a similar setting in my garage, working really well so far

Cory
Stunning job. I'm replicating it. You posted the base as 23 X 46. What s your upright measuring? I might have a slight deviation,due o impeller height, but your build is a nice clean model to follow. Any other dimensions are well appreciated. This forum has saved me hours of research.
Also what part of Indiana are you in? I'm in NWI
Thanks, Jeff.

Cory
Stunning job. I m replicating it. You posted the base as 23 X 46. What s your upright measuring? I might have a slight deviation,due o impeller height, but your build is a nice clean model to follow. Any other dimensions are well appreciated. This forum has saved me hours of research.
Also what part of Indiana are you in? I m in NWI
Thanks, Jeff.

- Jtull01

Click to expand...

Jeff, I'm in southern Indiana near Louisville. I'm sorry, but I don't know the measurement on the upright. I sold this unit about a year ago and upgraded to a Laguna Cyclone. I use the term upgraded very loosely, though. Besides being a little sexier unit, I really don't think there is a huge difference in the suction or efficiency in the Laguna. For most of my build on this, I really just winged it. Good luck in your build!

Here's my custom dust cyclone design based on a 2hp Woodworkers Warehouse (out of business) collector

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