Rather than drag the 4" hose around from machine to machine for my Oneida Supercell I decided to install a 4" PVC dust collection system. The 4" hose for Oneida's Supercell is bulky and takes up a lot of space, which is at premium in my shop.
For piping, 4" PVC sewer pipe and fitting are relatively inexpensive and fit well with dust collection hose fittings.
Blast gates have been an issue. The plastic slide gates get dust in the slot and won't fully close. The metal slide gates leak around the slides enough to reduce vacuum performance. I came across Woodpeckers version. It is a wafer style that doesn't have the same issues as the slide gates.
However, it still has leakage around the wafer. Still, it seems like a better solution than the slide gates and I also found a solution to the leakage around the wafer. A 4" PVC pipe plug works well for the pipe and a 2-1/2" rubber pipe cap for the vacuum hose reducer:
I ran the piping from the dust collector around the shop with drops for the major equipment:
All of the valves were screwed into the PVC. I also used silicon to seal between the pipe and the valve stub.
By inserting the pipe plug in the hose adapter just after the valve, any leakage around the wafer is stopped:
I also have Sharkguard blade guard and dust collection shroud which helps considerably with the dust coming off the saw blade. By partially closing the blast gate to the lower section of the saw there is plenty of suction thru the shroud. I've also sealed up the table saw considerably which also helps.
I'm not sure if this will work for the lathe, but it can't be worse than having nothing there. Hopefully, being able to adjust it closer to the work, especially when sanding, will get most of the dust.
Since my shop is so narrow and small, one of the drops will allow for the hose to be run into the main garage so I can use the planer and jointer where there is more room:
The last thing I did, was run some 20 gauge wire along the duct. My primary reason for doing so is to avoid the nasty shocks when planing. I've seen the static arc from the hose to the planer bed before (and been the recipient of some painful shocks). I'm hoping the wire will work to ground things. I can attach the wire to the hose wire and it should work.
The grounding will be interesting to see how well it works. I have a few runs of 6" PVC and with the dry air, static attracts all the dust and coats the PVC (reason I considered making an electrostatic air cleaner!) If the wire wrap can eliminate the PVC dust, wonderful! but then that dust will menace me somewhere else.
Nice write up Earl! You’re right, there is a little bit of loss around the sliding portion of the gates. I haven’t seen it make a huge difference in my setup, but every little bit helps! I’ve also used 4” S&D and love it.
As a consideration behind your lathe: if you extend the S&D a bit further and make the turn in 4”, then use the segmented 2.5” as a directional ‘boom’ to point the orange nozzle towards your work, you’ll have less loss. I do something similar (but don’t have a pic). Honestly, it’s not going to help with chips, but it’s a world of difference when sanding on the lathe!
Nice write up. Thanks.
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
those woodpecker gates are what i use also. much better than the rockler slide gates by far. one thing i see is your using sharp 90 degree elbos and t 'S. i did the same until i read about how much your air flow is cut down. so i changed where ever i could to using 45 degree elbo's and sweeps. it all adds up especially when you have long runs like i do.
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
If you do not plug them up, what prevents those blast gates from opening on their own? It would seem like a little air seeping around the edge might cause it to swing open?
--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.
If I find that the regular blast gates are not acceptable, I have thought about making one like this. To prevent leakage, perhaps putting some rubber gasket material around the hole would help seal it.
--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.
I’ve noticed, in at least some of my aluminum slide gates, the vac pressure in the line pulls the slide tight(er) against the housing. I’ve got to imagine that helps a fair amount to reduce leaks too.
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
I remember reading (might have been a video) in Onieda's primer on setting up duct work that their gates are designed so that the suction pulls them tight when closed.
--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.
I don’t know about ‘designed’ but I think it does. If you built them with a sloppier fit, I bet you could line one side of the gate body with a smooth rubber gasket and that would really be the bee’s knees for sealing against the vac. Might play havoc with my GRIT gate actuators, but throwing them by hand probably wouldn’t be hampered at all.
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
That said, on the current system for the TS, Jointer, and Planer I have some that are kind of a pot metal body, and have an aluminum slider. It keeps moving in all weather. Some plasticy ones I tried at first would get all gummed up, and not open, or close well at all. The metal ones rattle like a haunted house, and I suppose some of that is leakage, but close 2 and open one, and the open open drains like it's supposed to. So if I could quite them up, oh well, with the tool, and the DC running it's a ear protection kind of environment anyhow. LOUD ROARING....
Hmmm thinking about it DC is a huge PIA, but it's better than not breathing. :-)
I've been using gates that function like Lazyman's but are slide gates. I can't remember where I got them - we're out in our trailer on the Oregon Coast. Currently enduring gale force winds...
The Woodpecker blast gates are wafers so there is force pulling on the entire wafer. In order for it to open, the vacuum would have to pull on just the top half or bottom half of the wafer. Basically, the same force trying to open the wafer is also trying to close it.
I haven't had a chance to try the planer out yet to see if the wire takes care of the static build up. Same with the lathe. I still need to sharpen my lathe tools before I can play with the lathe.
Pottz - according to Oneida, the Supercell isn't as sensitive to the pressure loss from 90 EL's as regular dust collectors. It pulls much higher vacuum than a standard DC. The key to the higher vacuum are 3 small high vacuum motors in parrallel rather than one large fan with high volume and minimal differential pressure. There is new version has 25% more suction which means it can probably suck the chrome off your bumper. Nathan might have bought it??
i started out running a ground wire on the the piping but as i redid it over the years i just eliminated it. havn't had any issues with static charges yet.
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
Yikes! Now that is what I call dust collection. Is that what they call an electrostatic filter?
That certainly has me questioning whether I want to use PVC for ducting. I was think that some copper mesh like this might be a good static dissipation media.?
--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.
My pipes are what made me thing of electrostatic filters. Good old fashion high voltage and some metal screens would do nicely to collect the majority and may be better collectors that my PVC 😀
splint you dust pig !!!!! 😁 i dont why so many are having issues with electro static shock or dust build up ? ive just used plain ol pvc drain pipe. cheap and easy to assemble. no problems in the last 30 years. that copper mesh sounds, yeah expensive and ive never heard of being used before ?
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
