Dust collection sizing

[bthoron]

I'll be the first to post a question?
I'm buying a new dust collection system for my prs. What is the best cfm/sp/hp for really getting control of the dust?

Should I invest in the Oneida High vac system? Or will one of the smaller cyclones do a good job?
I won't be venting outside and I really don't want to have my guys chasing fine dust around the shop.
I've read Bill Petz's pages about dust collection, but frankly my head starts to explode after I read too many of his articles.

thanks

Ben

[ed_lang]

Hello Ben,

I understand your position well!

After reading and talking to Bill Pentz my head also started to explode!

Here is what I did, and am very happy with it.

I bought a Clearvue Cyclone system.

http://www.clearvuecyclones.com/

After running 6" duct to machines, and reducing to what I needed at machines, I can catch dust! As you know, chips are easy, its the dust that kills and is hard to get.

I will not rehash the subject since you have read Bills information.

Hope this helps.

[dewey_dog]

Ben,
I have a Oneita 2hp. and it is a very good system. I made my own dust boot for the PRT I just sold but have not had a chance to with the stock boot on the new PRS. (just got it assembled) The dust boot I made was with grass skirt and it left very little dust escape. The skirt enabled lots of airflow without pulling it up into the duct like vinyl skirts tend to. Oneita will also design a ductwork layout free if you purchase from them.

[knight_toolworks]

any of the name brand cyclones are good. they will filter the air far better then a canister dc will. the shopbot does not need a huge dc for the most part.
what did you use for the grass? I need some that is as long as the vinyl since I can cut pretty deep.

[kivimagi]

Most places that sell the spiral pipe, will design the ductwork for you for free as well. So I wouldn't necessarily pay the premium price for the oneida.

I had a clearvue, and it worked very well. They've made improvements to all the things that I hated about it. Which were the intake shoot hookup, and the bottom didn't have a flange so it was weird hooking it into a drum.

I currently have an Oneida, but I bought it used, as I wanted one system, larger than the clearvue, for all the machines. I don't think I would buy a new Oneida personally.

[henrik_o]

We had quite an internal debate about this. Original thinking was to put the shopbot on one of the stems of our main line DC. That would certainly have given it oompf, but it would have varied greatly (we have more than 20 ports on it) and it would have meant duing long runs when nothing much was going on elsewhere in the shop the main unit would be engaged, which is a bit costly in terms of energy and means ear protection on.

For now, it's on its own dedicated 2kW no-brand DC with just 2 ports, one for the shopbot and one for a cleaning hose. It's in a separate room so we haven't installed a cyclone or similar.

I'm surprised how well this works. This little DC does not pull enough to do much about packed kerf dust, I'm not sure anything will, but it does provide almost perfect suction for dust that would otherwise enter the room's ambient atmosphere.

Better minds could provide better guidance, but my guess is that even a cheap entry level system will do fairly well as long as its dedicated. Beyond that, I think efficiency increases are linear while cost increases are exponential. It would take a true monster of a system to clean kerfs during the cutting pass, afaict.

[henrik_o]

To clarify: the dust collection is in a separate room which is only entered to change bags and stack scrap, not that the shopbot and dc is in a separate room together. If the latter was the case, I would absolutely get a cyclone and all the filters I could afford.

[Gary Campbell]

Ben..
We are happy with the 1100 cfm Delta cannister. It seems to have more flow than the Bot needs. Only surfacing spoilboard with 2.5" cutter @ 2" step over .030 depth of cut would allow some leakage at the skirt. But that is a huge amount of dust coming off the bit. I dont know how the MDF cutters out there do it. I love chips!
Gary

[bthoron]

Thanks everybody-
Gary- Thanks for the reference point on the 1100 cfm system. Do you have anything else hooked up to it?
Ed- I'm concerned about my local fire inspector reacting badly to the clear view system- plastic and dust collectors seem to be frowned on or actually prohibited by the NFPA. Do you know if this has been a problem for anybody?
Ryan- why not buy a new Oneida? Is the markup over the clearview just too much, or is it the yellow paint?

I like the stock boot, it has done well for us so far. We're moving out of shop with a massive 20hp central DC, and into a larger shop, but without the budget to do a central system.

Ultimately, I'm looking for a modestly priced small system thet will both keep the shop clean and keep my worker's lungs clean. The thing I like about the Oneida is that it doesn't require a lot of additional work, the Clearview system appears to be very DIY, which is a bit of a distraction in a busy shop. The price difference doesn't seem that bad when when the costs of labor for the DIY elements are taken into acount.

Ben

[knight_toolworks]

only when you get into the larger systems is static a issue with explosions. you need a lot of dust going through the system before a spark would ignite it. far more then one shopbot could generate.