Summary of what I have and measured.
CFM measured with HoldPeak HP -846A anomometer.
Dust collector Delta AP-400 1HP.
New felt filter bag.
33 gallon metal trash can.
90 deg elbow on inlet and outlet of trash can lid.
AP-400 inlet 780 cfm
Trash can inlet 498 cfm
4" x 20' Dust Right hose extended ~10' 270 cfm
4" x 10' clear flex hose. 250 cfm
4" x 13' metal duct and 4' flex hose. 240 cfm
Long winded version ….
A while back I converted my dust collector to a two stage system with a metal trash can.
I knew that adding a trash can in front of the dust collector had impacted the airflow but it seemed to still work decently enough moving a 10' hose between tools.
I was happy enough not having to wrestle that collection bag.
The garage has always transitioned between woodworking and car parking so I never really developed a shop setup.
Tool placement was most often decided by how easily it could be McGyvered back into storage configuration.
Being newly retired I am now piddling around trying to setup the garage as a more permanent woodworking shop and the plan is to spend a lot more time playing there than ever before.
To that end I would like to improve a few things for the workshop.
The dust collector is as good of a place to start as another so I put a window in my trash can and sealed all the seams with caulk.
I thought the airflow might improve with only one 90 elbow in the lid so I swapped in a straight hose coupler.
Some observations about the trash can separator.
It separates much better when using two 90 elbows in the lid vs one elbow and one straight coupler.
It doesn't matter if the single elbow is on the inlet or outlet, lots of stuff blows through the trash can.
With elbows on the inlet and outlet virtually nothing of substance blows through.
I doubt that either configuration affects fine dust particles very much.
I put the trash can back to the original two elbow configuration.
Since any new dust collector (that I want) is expensive I thought it would be interesting to record some numbers to see for myself just how much the trash can, hoses, and fittings are affecting me so I got an inexpensive anomometer and made some measurements.
As far as the measured cfm numbers go all I know for sure is the meter is setup correctly and I held the probe the same way for all measured locations.
Is it actually accurate? I don't know.
Comparatively though the measurements should be very accurate to each other so the losses are quantifiable.
I have no way to know if the numbers would scale on a percentage basis to compare what I have to what someone else has or if they would hold up on a percentage basis if I were to simply replace the dust collector and leave everything else the same.
CFM measured with HoldPeak HP -846A anomometer.
Dust collector Delta AP-400 1HP.
New felt filter bag.
33 gallon metal trash can.
90 deg elbow on inlet and outlet of trash can lid.
AP-400 inlet 780 cfm
Trash can inlet 498 cfm
4" x 20' Dust Right hose extended ~10' 270 cfm
4" x 10' clear flex hose. 250 cfm
4" x 13' metal duct and 4' flex hose. 240 cfm
Long winded version ….
A while back I converted my dust collector to a two stage system with a metal trash can.
I knew that adding a trash can in front of the dust collector had impacted the airflow but it seemed to still work decently enough moving a 10' hose between tools.
I was happy enough not having to wrestle that collection bag.
The garage has always transitioned between woodworking and car parking so I never really developed a shop setup.
Tool placement was most often decided by how easily it could be McGyvered back into storage configuration.
Being newly retired I am now piddling around trying to setup the garage as a more permanent woodworking shop and the plan is to spend a lot more time playing there than ever before.
To that end I would like to improve a few things for the workshop.
The dust collector is as good of a place to start as another so I put a window in my trash can and sealed all the seams with caulk.
I thought the airflow might improve with only one 90 elbow in the lid so I swapped in a straight hose coupler.
Some observations about the trash can separator.
It separates much better when using two 90 elbows in the lid vs one elbow and one straight coupler.
It doesn't matter if the single elbow is on the inlet or outlet, lots of stuff blows through the trash can.
With elbows on the inlet and outlet virtually nothing of substance blows through.
I doubt that either configuration affects fine dust particles very much.
I put the trash can back to the original two elbow configuration.
Since any new dust collector (that I want) is expensive I thought it would be interesting to record some numbers to see for myself just how much the trash can, hoses, and fittings are affecting me so I got an inexpensive anomometer and made some measurements.
As far as the measured cfm numbers go all I know for sure is the meter is setup correctly and I held the probe the same way for all measured locations.
Is it actually accurate? I don't know.
Comparatively though the measurements should be very accurate to each other so the losses are quantifiable.
I have no way to know if the numbers would scale on a percentage basis to compare what I have to what someone else has or if they would hold up on a percentage basis if I were to simply replace the dust collector and leave everything else the same.