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Setting up My New Dust collection System....

6K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  JohnGray 
#1 ·
Setting up My New Dust collection System....

Santa brought me a new Harbor Freight Dust collector! Now I gotta hook it all up. My question is, a lot of my power tools are set up to receive a 2 1/4 inch hose ( that is the way they came ). It was great for my shop vac but I'm reading that I need to put in 4 inch piping. Thats a big pipe!!

Can I go with 3 inch piping and "step" it down to 2 1/4"??
Will I lose all the "vacuum collection" if I do that?

Seems like over kill to have a 4 inch pipe going to my drill press, or scroll saw, table top band saw etc. The planer and radial arm saw I can see, but even my 10" table saw has only a 2 1/4 fitting for a shop vac.

I want to definatley keep the dust down. Any help on what piping, size, routing etc would help a lot.

Thank you
You guys ROCK!
 
#2 ·
you didn't tell us which DC you got… it really depends on that factor.

if you got the 2HP HF DC, then the recommended pipe size to keep from losing the CFM is 5" (I believe that is the main inlet size when you remove the splitter at the blower?).

3" would significantly reduce your DC capabilities.
 
#4 ·
Hi,

There's so much to discuss, where do I begin? First of all, adaptors are available to go from 2 1/4" to 4". You can then run 4" flexible hose from the tool to your piping. Secondly, if in fact you decide to go at least 5", you are not likely to find 5" pipe and therefore will have to go to 6". If you think 4" pipe is big, wait 'til you see 6" pipe. For one perspective of many, you can take a look at the blog I posted on my DC system which uses 6" main pipes with 4" drops. There are other posts on LJ about DC systems. I got my ideas from an LJer. I think his name is Patrick Jaromin. He actually videotaped his dust collection system installation and you can watch it on youtube in fast forward format. You might want to take some time to read several posts and learn as much as you can. Good luck

"Lenny's DC System": http://lumberjocks.com/Lenny/blog/7785
 
#5 ·
I did a review recently of the Woodcraft 4" to 2.25" funnel type dust collection reducers. I highly recommend them at the machine end, run 4" duct to them…

On the machines that you can such as table saw, band saw, drill press, lathe, router table etc…. increase the port size to 4". I have actually kept the 2.5" port on the back of my Ryobi BT3100, but added a belly pan to collect the dust with a 4" port, I use a 4×4x2.5" wye and appropriate hose / fittings to make the connections. It is VERY effective….
 
#6 ·
I have run 4 inch all the way around the shop, at the router table and band saw, I just use cheap reducers at the blast gate. You will want the flow from the 4 inch for other things like future table saws, or downdraft tables or floor sweeps.
 
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