Dust collection sizing

[servant74]

ClearVue is for the most part the Bill Pentz design. If you want to DIY, check out Bill's Website on http://billpentz.com/woodworking/Cyclone/Index.cfm

There is a lot about sawdust and collection safety on Bills web site. It is worth the read.

[bigboxkurt]

I also use an 1100 CFM system, mine is from Jet. First off it works great for my machine, and the canister is soooo easy to clean, bags change out quickly as well. I have the Dust boot provided by ShopBot on mine still, and it works ok for what I do. I trimmed the little plastic fringe a bit though. Regarding static, I have to say that even in a small system it can be an issue. For example I have two hoses hooked up to my system, one attached to the machine, and the other for general shop dust cleaning (like a shopvac). If I get into some good dust (like a big old pile of MDF near the spindle sander) and I get my fingers too near some metal I have gotten some pretty good zaps. It might not be fire starting necessarily, but it's most certainly there.

The best advice I could give you (if you go with a smaller setup) would be to put a small cyclone kit in the middle of your hose run. That way If for some reason you pick up a really big chip (or some foreign matter) it won't go flying through your impeller.

[dana_swift]

Two comments-

First:
First of all is on PVC and static charges, there is an excellent article:
http://home.comcast.net/~rodec/woodw.../DC_myths.html

Which discusses the physics involved, not too thick tho. But down to earth, explains metal duct-work gets static buildup also, and bare wires in PVC do almost nothing to help. He explains why. Interesting read, also he explains why there are so few problems despite the inherent static electricity problem. The background for the author clearly indicates this is not just your average woodworkers opinion.

Second:
The best solution to SB dust is Gary Campbells dust foot coupled with a modest CFM DC system. Using Gary's system I got almost no dust even when I was using a shop vac for a dust collector. Now I run a 2.5hp 1500 cfm (supposedly) and it works great too. Filters to 0.5micron. I over sized the DC a bit to allow some filter clogging and still meet my needs.

Gary's dust foot is so much better than the SB one its hard to describe. Its easy to remove so I can change the bits also.

D