DC Hoses

Something flexible.

What ever you decide on I would use the shortest length I could. The ribs inside kills the CFM.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

SMOOTH and flexible.

Harbor Freight and Grizzly both have decent inexpensive flexible dc ducts. I also found a lot of metal and some flexible ducting at my local recycled home improvement store.

Were I to do it again, I would go with clear pipe so I could see clogs.

If you are buying commercial blast gates, they may not fit in the PVC. Based on your amazing sketchup pic, you probably want gates at each tool first, then if you find you can easily fit them, I would put one where the jointer and planer ducting wye hits the DC. I might also put your tablesaw gate at the wall, not the tool.

I would look at either of the two major books on woodshop dust control. My library had both of them. They go through a good analysis of the advantages of each type of hose.

I recently installed these Long Ranger gates. It’s nice to start your DC right at the tool.

-- Dick Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

My DC system is still in its infancy, but from what I learned in fluid mechanics classes long ago, I would aree with Gary and go with PVC due to it’s smooth interior and put a clean out plug ever so far.

-- North Texas

I used 4” sewer pipe on mine, and I found that the ABS plastic DC stuff fit snuggly inside of the sewer pipe. I used a clear silicon caulk to insure the seal was tight, but I would still be able to pull it apart if needed. You can see what I did for my main line that is going in behind my miter bench. I ran the pipe as far out as I could and plan to use the minimum amount of flex that I can get away with. When stepping down from 4” to 2 1/2” I did the same running the 4” line as far as I could then switching over the 2 1/2” and run flex host the rest of the distance. Rockler sells a decent book on DC for like $6 and it is worth it.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

I use gakvanized. So far I like it a lot.

-- Bruce from Central New York

Kevin, I’ve got the cheaper flex hose (Rockler or the Jet). I don’t think I’d use the flex drain pipe. I’ve got these type of blast gates and I’ve got one at every machine I’ve got it run to. You just cut the hose and put one in line and secure with a hose clamp on each side. On my setup, I put them as close to the equipment outlet as possible, but you can put them at any point along the hose section that provides convenient access for you.

I’m assuming you’re going to use dwv grade PVC drain which is the cheaper thin wall stuff. I’m thinking you can use the drainage wyes and put a very short piece on the branch outlet onto which you can probably stretch this cheaper grade flex hose around and then secure with a clamp. I didn’t use pvc on my system so I’m guessing here that it will fit. If it doesn’t, I’m sure some of our fine LumberJocks will fly in here and correct me. If nobody here speaks up on the subject, I’d get the hose first and take it with you to the big box store to make sure it fits or not before buying fittings. If that scenario doesn’t work, you can always do what sIKE did and use the black abs fittings which will fit snugly inside the pvc and seal them with a little silicone. Another advantage of the abs dust collector fittings is that the 90 deg. bends have a little greater radius to them and therefore less air resistance.

At your mitre saw which probably has a 2 1/2” outlet, I’d go as close to the saw as possible with 4” and then reduce down. Also you might consider putting one of these somewhere directly behind it as a compound miter saw really slings a lot of saw dust. I’m guessing your planer, jointer & TS will all have 4” ports.

Also, I’d invest in the Rockler dust collection basics book. Couldn’t hurt. And, like Justin says below, there is trial and error. Hopefully less error than trial. Good luck.

-- Carl Rast, Pelion, SC

It absolutely is a bit of trial and error. If you are going from PVC to a plastic blast gate, have some rubber inner tube handy to cut up and use as a gasket. that’s the best I’ve found. The blast gates are a bit smaller than the PVC. Put a blast gate generally every place you go from PVC to flex.

My experience has found the Grizzly “Heavy-Duty Wire Reinforced-Clear” to be really good stuff. It’s $39.95 for a 10 foot length of 4”. They have the black flex for $13.95. That will work, but not has easy to work with. The good stuff at Grizzly is product#G3179. The cheaper stuff is G1536. Go to the Grizz site and check it out. I have liked using Grizz because sometimes I need 3’ or less and they have that. I also use 6”, 8” and 5” throughout my shop and I can get the stuff to match. Remember, keep the flex to a minimum and you’re not talking about all that much.

Do not use flex drain pipe. I have a buddy who did that and there is now way to seal the thing up at the joints and it has no flex at all for what you need. Don’t go there.

Anyway, just a few thoughts.

Sorry – I didn’t read that sIKe was able to make sewer drain pipe work. I stand corrected, however, my buddy’s system was a pain.

Yes, I was able to make sewer drain pipe work. A bead of Silicon was all it took. To hook it to a blast gate, I had to get the measurement off of the wye for the short length and cut the sewer pipe. I then put a bead of silicon on the the gate and had to slide the pipe over it. While the silicon is wet it will just slide off. I just use a bar clamp and a cawl to hold it in place until it dried. After that glue the PVC pipe into the Wye making sure my gate ended up in the position I wanted it. Then off of the other side the flew pipe went in.

Early on in the process I used epoxy to secure the PVC to the Gate, but that makes it difficult to re-purpose the gate in the future.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"