You kind of describe my workshop. I have 110V only and two circuits. And I am not willing to spend 2000+ $$ for a dust collection. So far I have been using a shopvac with remote control and 2.5 inch piping, 150 cfv and 70 inch of water suction with a cyclone separator. It does make things MUCH better than nothing. It has been working for me. Now I still have the x50 in the setup stage. This makes me wonder if I need something better. We will see when it is working.
I am curious, you mentioned that you measured (or it was somebody else) the effect of changing the original filter to HEPA. What would that be? My thinking is that better filtration means higher resistance. If a dust collector has 600 cfm and 7 inch of water suction, then additional resistance may greatly reduce the cfm number. Thus, you may end up with good filtration but the same air flow as a shopvac. I am guessing here. So, did you look into it?
By the way, getting rid of a lot of dust is also possible by saying no to sanding. I got some nice planers from Lee Valley and that was a great upgrade for my dust collection. I am not afraid of wood dust, but I just hate it. It just gets everywhere.
You are correct about the upgraded filters effect on dust collector performance.
I measured my system before I got the upgraded filter. Youād have to estimate your static pressure drop in your system as well as your cfm and your airspeed. There are tables of recommended cfm for various tools and static pressure calculators based on types of tubing and shop layout. They recommend a minimum airspeed within the ducts to keep dust airborne and not sitting in the tubing. The figure escapes me at the moment however.
I just took a guess that I still had enough performance that it would be ok with the upgraded filter. A clogged filter also kills performance on a dust collector for similar reasons. Gotta make sure you clean the filters regularly.
And I love my hand tools. I try to use them whenever possible. I have a nice set of planes also. I love the dust free part and a nicely hand planed surface beats a sanded surface in my humble opinion.
100%. It is funny actually, how sometimes we can argue forever without being able to find common ground, simply because with do not understand / know each others āboundary conditionsā.
Totally makes sense. I would probably make similar decisions as your if it was my business. In my home I donāt do electrical or plumbing. I would but if I messed it up the homeowners insurance wouldnāt pay for my mistakes. Iām not willing to risk the family home for that as my shop is an attached two car garage:
Iām jealous of your setup! One day I may splurge for the upgraded electric and equipment. But with a young kid in private school were pretty stretched as it is. One can dream though!
Nice. I could do it myself but Iād have to get it inspected to document itās up to code as proof against future claims for an insurance company. Iād have to pull permits, schedule code inspectors etc. That just feels painful to me for now. I donāt want to deal with all that government bs at the moment. I guess itās more accurate to say Iām choosing not to.
The title of āelectricianā may not truly apply to the individuals that show up to do the work, in many jurisdictions (including mine) a single licensed electrician may have many unlicensed individuals working under that umbrella and who knows what level of skill they have - itās up to the license holder to underwrite their work.
FWIW during the investigation after an incident/insurance claim the insurance company will do everything they can to not pay the claim, even if inspected by the local authority having jurisdiction. This applies to professional electricians as well. Something as trivial as not being able to correctly answer āwhat are the required torque specification for the deviceā will find you liable for incorrect installation - even if you torqued it to 20 in-lb and the range was 18-24 in-lb - the point being that if you didnāt know the range then you must not have read the instructions.
All that being said, Iāve seen some horrendous installations that SHOULD have caused an issue and did not (people in multi family buildings stealing electricity from each other with automobile jumper cables springs to mind), some people are just lucky I guess.
It is true insurance companies are not exactly altruistic. However, I feel like it is one less argument they could make should I have to fight against a denial of a claim. Maybe Iām just being naĆÆve. Hopefully Iāll never have to find out.
ARGH, it is minus 30 C (-22F) outside and if I run my dust extractor, which is vented outside, I cannot keep the shop above freezing. Oh well time to learn some new software.
This is an interesting issue. If it is an extractor, then it should have a good filter. Right? Then why do you went it outside? I would assume that you only want / need / have to vent poorly filtered air outside.
Because air vented outside means no dust in the workshop at all - except that which the dust collector doesnāt get at the source. Your toolās shroud changes how much gets sucked up. Filtered air will have some level of dust no matter how good the filter.
Have a very small shop and being a tool junkie there is just no room in the shop for a dust collector. Built a cyclone out of a 12 gallon oil drum for the system, which is just outside the shop right beside the blower, the drum catches most of the dust, the amount that escapes is quite small. Easy enough to shovel up one or two wheelbarrow loads a year to add to the compost.
By having the unit outside, the noise level in the shop is way lower, and since at minus 34deg C the blower sucks all the warmth out of the shop, I spent yesterday studying software and designing stuff at the kitchen tableā¦
Thanks for your response, my shop is fully detached and am not going to re work the dust collection, once the local temp gets above minus 15 C it is no longer a problem. This is the first time we have had temps this low since I started the shop, after building the house, so will just take a couple of days to work on my computer skills, which are abysmal. Once it warms up I can go back out to play.
We have the Oneida supercell in our shop. It is so loud that most guys donāt bother to switch it on.
I am still extremely happy with my Nilfisk. I would never want anything as loud as the supercell in my house.
If you only have a CNC the Nilfisk is absolutely sufficient.
I designed and printed my own dustboot, which is extremely effective. Even if I cut MDF there is virtually no dust on the spoilboard. I think that is where the focus should be.
In my workshop, I use a 2HP dust collector (in a cubbie) hooked to a homemade Thien baffle (look them up on YouTube). Hereās a good example.
Mine is modified to include a 2 piece nose cone just above the baffle. I found that with this setup, a gap of 1 1/8" from the floor of the baffle to the bottom of the bell works best. In 4 years of operation, I have emptied many multiple barrels of chips and dust, but have only had to empty the bottom bag on the collector once (last year), and that was only a foot deep and it was super fine dust, like talc.
But there is another dust collection option you may want to explore too. Itās in this months issue of Wood magazine (#294, March 2024)
I initially made a Thien separator myself. Then bought a cheap plastic conical cyclone separator from Ali Express. I really think that conical cyclone works much better for me. I am using a ShopVac though. Better separation, less shavings get in the shopvac, and it never clogs. The Thien separator got clogged regularly, with hand plane shavings mostly. Mine was fit on a Home Depot bucket, so the slot was more narrow, may that was the reason.
I really do not see any reasons to build a cyclone, they are cheap and available.
Yes, you are right. Bigger ones are more expensive. However, I still think that conical cyclones are better, better performing. So, if you can afford it, get it.
Before I purchased and installed the blower/sucker for my dust extraction system, I looked at a squirrel cage fan, of the type often found on furnaces, they are easy to find, both new and used, cheap and move a lot of air, when my current blower fades out, I may take another look at a squirrel cage blower, any one have a good reason against using one?
