one way to keep dust under the dust boot when surfacing the table is turn down the speed of the router/spindle a bit. that works pretty well.
one way to keep dust under the dust boot when surfacing the table is turn down the speed of the router/spindle a bit. that works pretty well.
Ben,
The color is no issue to me. They are nice systems. But the high vac system is $2372 or $3343 That is 3-4 times more than the clearvue.. I don't think its going to collect 3-4 times the dust??
As I said I own an Oneida and its nice, but I purchased the system for 1/5 of its new price, so it was a no brainer for me.
If you compare their systems to similar systems, from other companies, their prices are still much higher. If I were buying new, I would be looking at Extrema.
But considering the vast quantity of used machines on sites like ex-factory, it isn't a necessity to buy new.
Anyone have clear documentation on sizes etc on making your own cyclone type dust collector?
Ryan- thanks for the advice, color aside, I see your point completely. I'll look into the Extrema stuff.
I used to have a bill pentz original. He sent me one directly. there are plans for one out there but you need to like to work with sheet metal. his design is really efficient. a lot of the cost is a 5hp motor and the 15" impeller.
Danny,
Several years ago "Better Homes & Gardens WOOD" magazine had some plans for one. I built it and have been using it for a long time. It works pretty good with just a 1-1/2 hp Penn State impeller. It may be a bit small for some shops, but I'm sure that the plans could be scaled up. I didn't use the large filter, but instead used the fabric dust bag that came with the portable Penn State unit I had. The only problem is that the fine flour needs to be shook out of the bag from time to time to maintain good flow. Instead of a small garbage can like in the plans, I used a 55 gallon plastic drum. I think it was issue #100
Here's a link to the plans.
Ben...
The DC is dedicated to the Bot. One of the 2 4" outlets goes to a vac and floor sweep, but are closed when the Bot is running.
The issue of plastic piping and dust collection explosions are real. Most will find that it takes a very heavy concentration of fine dust in relatively slow moving air at low humidity to be right for an explosion. And larger chips are more likely to cause static, but that is not to say that fines wont. In the right conditions, air alone moving thru plastic will cause static sparks. Realize that most safety rules/laws/recommendations come as a result of past occurances and design your system accordingly. The filters need to be clean to insure design flow, flexible drops to machines should have grounds installed, and the operater needs to be aware of static tracking in the ambient dust on the outside of the piping. As in most cases, safety is the responsibility of the man with his hand on the switch.
Gary
My ClearVue will generate static. My 6" pvc duct will generate static as well. I have wire around the ClearVue and along the pcv duct. This drains off any charge before they build up. It works for me and I am happy with this setup.
I didn't feel the ClearVue was any more DIY than putting together another brand. I didn't have to "make" any thing, just put it together.
If you go with a Bill Pentz design, your will be getting the fine dust if you collection point is designed right on the dust producing machine. The cyclone will filter out the fine dust.
The best and cheap way is to blow the dust outside. Now that removes the heat or cool in the shop as well as filling the outside air with the dust so each will have to decide what works best for them. For me, I need to keep my cool air in the shop as well as the heat.
I am using a 3hp Grizzly cyclone and it works great for me.. Prior to this one, I was using a 1200 cfm Jet bag type and it worked fine as well.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0441
This does bring up another question though. The dust collector is the cheapest part of the chain. The pipe is where the $$ are spent. When I was using the Jet dust collector, I was making all of my runs with 4" s&d pvc pipe. Now that I have a much larger system, I am going to run 8" main runs with 4" and 6" drops. Where is the cheapest place to get the spiral pipe? I have looked at Oneida and its pricy, but I haven't looked into options.
Where is everyone else buying their DC pipe and fittings?
Scott...
Scott,
This was just discussed herehere Check it out.