6" DC duct & G1029Z

[someone]

I'm planning my DC setup for a new home shop. I've mostly made up my mind on the 1029Z and PVC drain pipe for the duct work. I think I want to run a 6" main line with 4" branches so that I can use both 4" ports on the BS and (future) downdraft table at full capacity.

I also want to use a garbage can cyclone separator before the DC for collecting planer and jointer shavings and I don't see any garbage can separators with 6" inlets/outlets.

I could:

- Just run a single 4" duct and loose quite a bit of capacity.

- Shrink down to 4" immediately before the garbage can and expand back to 6" immediately after it, but I'm a bit concerned that will either restrict air flow too much or increase the air velocity enough so that the separator won't separate much.

- Buy a second cyclone separator, run both 4" intakes from the DC into separators, and then recombine into 6" duct.

- Run two separate 4" lines, one that is only used only for dust and one with a separator that that is used for dust or chips.

- Remove the Y fitting off the DC. Skip the separator and empty the bag more frequently than I'd like.

- Remove the Y fitting off the DC and run 6" pipe to a home made 6" cyclone lid before the main line.

- Have someone on the group tell me where to get a 6" separator lid.

Any suggestions?

In case it matters, I will have no more than 3 branches/90 degree turns and 30' of pipe between the DC and the furthest tool. I'll use blast gates and will very rarely be using more than one tool (at most two 4" ports) at a time.

Is 6" duct overkill for a 1029Z and a small shop?

[BillyBob]

You are in experimental territory. I intended to run 6" all the way but had severe back trouble at the time and could not manage the 6" by myself, so I went with separate 4" runs, 1 through a cyclone and 1 direct (to the table saw cabinet). I do plan on going back to try 6" someday. My system works well but its performance drops below outstanding level when the lower plastic bag gets about 1/2 full. I think the 6" setup would give me more reserve capacity. I've not seen anybody's setup with a trashcan cyclone for

6". I made my own lid and I will also do the same with 6". My feeling is that much larger can (50 gal vs. 30 gal) would be better for the higher volumes, but I have no proof of this.

Let's hear from you, if you go the 6" separator route. Also, look at the website

Terry has a small circle of friends who have all put in 6" PVC piping and they seem to believe in it.

Bob

[nospam_coloradotrout]

also look at

'm in the process of doing 6" end-to-end

i only have a 1.5hp, so i'm a bit concerned, but we'll see

my runs are short

i have a wye just off the DC; one extends about 8 feet (TS, jointer, and BS/planer), and the other about 16 feet (miter saw, drill press, tbd router table, tbd belt sander). i'm hoping those short runs allow the 1.5hp unit to get by

i'm making my own 6" blast gates. i have the jet 1100CK canister unit. so the bottom bag is just a plastic bag (and later i hope to make it some kind of solid can)

6" s&d pipe and fittings are pretty reasonable $s. 6" flex from wynn environmental is also reasonable. i'll also need to make a few custom dust ports for the tools. for the TS and jointer I made an integrated blast gate/port -- basically the 6" port is the blast gate. because my runs are short i'm hoping having the blast gate at the tool will be ok (it's only about 2 foot to the wye). having it at the tool also makes it real nice to reach over and open/close

i'm hoping i can fit the 6" flex right over the 6" s&d pipe. i've heard it's tricky, but by cutting 6 slots into the pipe, the flex can be worked over it. i'm banking on that as i really want to keep it simple. i fooled around with using 6" hvac pipe; which will fit inside the s&d and then the flex will fit over the hvac, but it's more parts and more airleak potential

bill pentz is a great resource; use his site

the simple fact is that air does not compress at the pressures we are using. that said, you cannot reduce the 6" to 4" and not have a huge loss in airflow. going from 6 to 4 and then to 6 is the same as having 4 all the way

try to do 6" all the way through; especially if you have short runs. try to convert all the tools to 6" ports -- it's easier than you think; at least my jointer and TS had "holes" big enough, i just had to make the port/blast gate. just a few nights ago i was stuggling with making a dual 4" port to single 6" port so I could use my planers

4" port and also put in dual 4" ports to my bandsaw. i finally gave up and am planning to just convert both the BS and the planer to 6" ports. those web sites noted above have some good examples.

i'm going to use my 6" flex sparingly -- just to faciliate assembly of the ducting ( a few feet from the tool to the s&d pipe).

[Scott Wilson]

I have the 1029 and upgraded to 6" ducting and have tried both the '.3 micron' bags and a cartridge filter.

The 6" ducting makes a noticable difference with the bags, and a huge difference when using the cartridge filter. I don't use the seperator at all because one of two things happened -it got sucked clean (so it didn't help), and on longer runs it filled up, but robbed power.

The problem I have now is that when a lot of chips are sucked in they have a tendancy to clog the filter. I plan on making a cyclone in the next few months- if the system doesn't lose much power then it will be perfect, otherwise I'll have to update the blower next...

[BillyBob]

What size separator were you using? Do you think that solid objects would have been sucked out of separator (like small blocks of wood)? I have 4" to a duct on top of my table saw and it tends to suck up small cutoffs. The separator prevents these little blocks from getting into the impeller of the dust collector.

Bob

[Scott Wilson]

I doubt a cutoff would make it through, but heavy chips from the planer usually did...