Whole Shop Dust Collector

[SlowJoeCrow]

Good morning all,

My 24' x 48' woodshop is a work in progress... it started as a 1950's framed-in building with little other improvements.  I am have installed a ceiling, ample lighting and am slowly improving the wiring, insulation, walls, etc.

I need a whole shop dust collector, I don't have even a small single stage at the moment and I would like some input on sizing one for my shop.  It would be easy to buy a mobile single stage collector for the immediate need, but in the end I know I want a stationary cyclone, but what I'm not sure of is how big. 

This is a 2 man operation at the most, but mostly just me working in the evenings and on the weekends, it isn't a 40 hour/week production shop.
I was thinking to go with a 3hp stationary cyclone, what do you all think? 

[Carson-saws]

Good Morning to you as well.....Sounds like about the same size as my old shop..which was actually a garage.  I used the Jet 1.5 HP and used I think is is schedule #3 PVC that ran along the top of the shop.  Each tool had a drop to a gate.  Easy to work with but if you get the gates I suggest the metal gate, they do not clog as easy.  I suggest you ground the entire system although that is subject to opinion.  I personally did not ground  mine and had no issues.  I used the remote on/off and kept one of the remotes on the opposite side for easy access.  There are adapters for whatever tool you are attaching to the drops.  A bit pricey but worth it.  I also incorporated the RIDGID air purification which additionally helped "clean" the shop.   One of the drops was close to the main unit that had a "sweep" where if you do sweep, you can take it to that drop and open that gate to suck it all up.  Hope this helps and enjoy being creative.

[teakwood]

mi shop is 20'x 24', so its a lot smaller, i am a one man band. I have about 5 big machines that use the dust collector, Its a grizzly, or shop fox 2hp. works very good, never had a problem with it. But i can just open the 4" pipes on one machine at the time especially on the planer who makes lots of wood chips.
If you work with two people i think you need at least 3hp

some thoughts on carsons reply,  I have a 20" planer with a spiralhead and that thing produces waste, so 3" piping wouldn't be enough if you have bigger equipment. I used 4" pvc (non pressure) pipes. We cant get the dustpipes you can buy down here.

[terrifictimbersllc]

The dust collector manufacturers recommend designing the system first then picking the size of collector.   Identify all the machines and their CFM requirements, and a layout that centrally locates the collector to minimize run length.  With this info one can get back to the collector size.

I would guess while a 3HP might work it might be undersized for longer runs where 6" or larger ducting is needed or if ducts are open to more than one high demand machine at once.   For a stationary cyclone you will absolutely want a large external filter and ability to swap out 55 gal or larger drums or bags if you are going to be planing much.

Oneida offers free design (refundable on purchase of the system): http://www.oneida-air.com/pdf/shop_plan_design_form_2014.pdf
Air Handling Systems offers excellent system design guidance online: http://www.airhand.com/designing/

[SlowJoeCrow]

Thanks for the thoughts and replies guys.  Yes I guess I need to sit down and do my homework on the airflow requirements.   Initially I have been thinking about the Grizzly 3 hp cyclone, but I don't want to regret it later on.

[Czech_Made]

The 3HP seems to be quite the beast.  I use 1HP in series with trash can and it can easily keep up with DeWalt 13" planer and  8" jointer - one at a time, I just connect a hose to the machine I am gonna use.

How big ducting are you going to run?

[Kbeitz]

Thanks for the thoughts and replies guys.  Yes I guess I need to sit down and do my homework on the airflow requirements.   Initially I have been thinking about the Grizzly 3 hp cyclone, but I don't want to regret it later on.

Look at the clear hose. Grizzlys black hose is junk.

[DDW_OR]

SlowJoeCrow, i am also planning a 30x16 wood working shop. mine will be inside the 30x64x12 pole barn.
plan to run 4 inch, to a cyclone separator that will drop the big stuff into a 4x4x4 plywood box that i can pick up with the tractor to dump. then to a second cyclone to drop into a 55 gallon white plastic barrel. the barrel will have a LED light to show how full it is. the whole system to be driven by a large squirrel cage fan.
the flow will be: from shop, to box outside shop, to barrel, then filter then squirrel cage.
will have a camera looking at barrel with a TV monitor inside to see how full the barrel is outside

[SlowJoeCrow]

Concerning airflow, I'm sure I could get away with a smaller unit than 3hp, but almost all of the smaller collectors have dinky collection drums.  I want a minimum of a 55 gal drum or I'll be emptying the collection drum way too much!  DDW, I would be interested to see pictures of your setup when you get it built.

[Czech_Made]

You are right on that.  I use trash can with this lid:



to separate shavings.

The dust bag still fills up but very slowly.

[21incher]

I use a 2 hp Grizzly canister one and it works good for my needs. I placed it close to the planer and ran 2 loops of 4 inch pvc pipe with a bare ground wire inside to everything else. I use one of the Cyclone lids on a 32 gallon trash can on the planer run and it fills in about 10 minutes so having a Cyclone with a big container is  a good idea if you  want to stretch out the dumps. 

[DDW_OR]

.........DDW, I would be interested to see pictures of your setup when you get it built.

It will be a year or two. first a roof over the timberking, and then 3,000 feet of fence, then the chicken coop, then the ? ? ? ?
you know how it goes.

[low_48]

Size of the shop doesn't mean anything if all the big chip generating machines are in one place. The hp also means nothing, we need cfm numbers, and accurate ones. A LOT of companies overrate those things. The final piece of information is the machinery. Size of thickness planer and jointer are the big chip generators and the trunk line has to be designed for velocity to carry those chips. You will likely need 8" or larger for the trunk line. Here is the place for research;     http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/

[Larry]

Some folks are far too lazy to empty drums, preferring a tractor with a FEL to put chips in hole or sometimes into a waiting pickup.

3 horsepower with a 6" trunk line.  I would want 5 if running more than one machine or if my system had a filter/cyclone on it.

I think TT had the best approach in getting some professional help.  Especially if it was free.

[tule peak timber]

Larry, Nice !

[Don P]

That puts a lot of the noise and fine dust outside, and the heat.
I think its worth the trade most of the time. Where I'm building he is putting a shop in the basement. He has an old trailer mounted lawn sweeper that is backed up to the back wall. The blower will be outside and blow into that vented vac trailer

[Texas Ranger]

What were you cutting is this shot?

[SlowJoeCrow]

Well, my "big iron" at this time is a Delta DC-380 15'" planer and a Delta DJ-20 8" jointer.  These are my two large chip makers at the moment.  But who knows what I might pick up in the future.  I am looking at the Woodmaster units closely.

[Larry]

Tex, that's good ole black walnut sawdust.  I was making some benches.

One of my mistakes was dust collector control.  When I built the system I suspended a on/off switch from the ceiling central to my core machines.  This worked well for a while.  I've added dust collection to several more machines and the on/off switch is no longer convenient.

I thought about remote control, but I would loose the remote or figure out some way to break it.  Think I will use a low voltage wired system....at least that's my thoughts today. 

[terrifictimbersllc]

I've had 2 remote control boxes both failed after a few years.   Thinking having blast gates turn on the collector via low voltage would be ideal.

[Texas Ranger]

Tex, that's good ole black walnut sawdust.  I was making some benches.

That color is amazing, not used to it.

[tule peak timber]

Good for weed abatement .

[azmtnman]

the whole system to be driven by a large squirrel cage fan.

I wouldn't think that a squirrel cage fan (like out of an old furnace?) would work well for dust collection. They won't crank much suction. Too many rpms and they will come apart also if you use the old belt driven type to speed them up.

[Just Me]

Some folks are far too lazy to empty drums, preferring a tractor with a FEL to put chips in hole or sometimes into a waiting pickup.

3 horsepower with a 6" trunk line.  I would want 5 if running more than one machine or if my system had a filter/cyclone on it.

I think TT had the best approach in getting some professional help.  Especially if it was free.

After thirty years of screwing with various dust collectors up to a 10hp cyclone, I just got tired of it and went with your method. I moved the shop out in the country, and it sure is nice to just use the tractor. Surprisingly the heat bill did not go up much, maybe $10.

[SlowJoeCrow]

That is very surprising to hear that the heat bill didn't go up that much.  Outside venting seems to be the easiest way to go, but I had dismissed the option mostly due to my worry about heat loss in the winter.  I have been considering a system where I could filter the air in the winter and keep it in the shop and in the summer I could switch over to outside venting.  When you run in the winter, do you have an air intake that lets air into the shop to equalize the pressure or is your building drafty enough that there isn't a problem?