I'm in the process of upgrading my shop and am ready to add dust collection. It's a small (one wall) garage shop. My goals for the dust collection are:
- Reduce the amount of dust in the garage. I share the space with several bicycles and my wife's car. Less time spent cleaning up dust = more time making dust
- Be able to work with the doors closed. I currently do most of my cutting outside or with the doors open. I'd like to be able to work when weather doesn't allow for that.
- Reduce the amount of dust I'm breathing. I (usually) wear a mask and don't expect my dust collection system to eliminate the need for that but every bit helps.
The major dust generating tools in my shop are a table saw, miter saw, planer, plunge router, and ROS. My current plan is to use a small 1.5 hp dust collector, specifically the one from Penn State. I like the 1 micron bag and think this is small enough to live under the table saw's right wing when not in use. The DC would have a flex hose that could be connected directly to the table saw OR to a (grounded) PVC pipe that serves everything else. The pipe would have 3 blast gates: 1 for the miter saw OR planer, 1 for a downdraft table and 1 for small tools (e.g. ROS, plunge router). The last gate would have a reducer for the small tools' ports. I've tried to illustrate the set-up in the attached picture.
Some questions for the experts:
- Is this a sensible set-up? Am I overlooking something obvious or doing something obviously dumb/wrong?
- Should the pipe be 4" or 6"? This article has me leaning toward 6" but the DC only has a 4" inlet so a larger trunk pipe may be superfluous.
- There is a man door to the left of my table saw and I could put the DC outside in good weather. Would I need a separate, longer flex hose for that or could the same (longer) flex hose be used for the 'short' inside run and 'long' run to the outside? We're probably talking an extra 3 feet to get it outside.
- What is the best source for wyes, reducers, etc? Do I get what I can at the big box store and the rest from Rockler?
- I'm also planning to add something like this WEN unit AND a gable fan above the man door. The idea is to filter the air when the doors are close and blow dust out when the doors are open. Any thoughts/suggestions on that component are also appreciated.
Thanks!
- Reduce the amount of dust in the garage. I share the space with several bicycles and my wife's car. Less time spent cleaning up dust = more time making dust
- Be able to work with the doors closed. I currently do most of my cutting outside or with the doors open. I'd like to be able to work when weather doesn't allow for that.
- Reduce the amount of dust I'm breathing. I (usually) wear a mask and don't expect my dust collection system to eliminate the need for that but every bit helps.
The major dust generating tools in my shop are a table saw, miter saw, planer, plunge router, and ROS. My current plan is to use a small 1.5 hp dust collector, specifically the one from Penn State. I like the 1 micron bag and think this is small enough to live under the table saw's right wing when not in use. The DC would have a flex hose that could be connected directly to the table saw OR to a (grounded) PVC pipe that serves everything else. The pipe would have 3 blast gates: 1 for the miter saw OR planer, 1 for a downdraft table and 1 for small tools (e.g. ROS, plunge router). The last gate would have a reducer for the small tools' ports. I've tried to illustrate the set-up in the attached picture.
Some questions for the experts:
- Is this a sensible set-up? Am I overlooking something obvious or doing something obviously dumb/wrong?
- Should the pipe be 4" or 6"? This article has me leaning toward 6" but the DC only has a 4" inlet so a larger trunk pipe may be superfluous.
- There is a man door to the left of my table saw and I could put the DC outside in good weather. Would I need a separate, longer flex hose for that or could the same (longer) flex hose be used for the 'short' inside run and 'long' run to the outside? We're probably talking an extra 3 feet to get it outside.
- What is the best source for wyes, reducers, etc? Do I get what I can at the big box store and the rest from Rockler?
- I'm also planning to add something like this WEN unit AND a gable fan above the man door. The idea is to filter the air when the doors are close and blow dust out when the doors are open. Any thoughts/suggestions on that component are also appreciated.
Thanks!