Anybody ever bought one of these drop kits from Penn State?

[Steve Turner]

If anyone has bought one of these kits:

'd like to get some clarification on exactly which parts are included because the web site is rather fuzzy... For example, a "blast gate" included, but they sell three or four different kinds and I'd kinda like to know exactly which one. Thanks.

[csmark]

numbers of the parts in the kit. They should have that or be able to get back to you.

I've studied these systems quite a bit myself as I'm going to have to move my shop from an absolute dream setup to a basement after I finish my PhD.

I personally don't have a dust collection system because in shop I'm in now I just open up two doors and turn on a squirrel fan. Holy cow can those things move air! I am fortunate to have a handful of good friends who are engineers and I asked them about the setup. They're not HVAC people but they were all excited because they got to use one of the features of their super expensive ProE CAD program that none of them had a reason to use before. Business is kinda slow for them unfortunately so they were happy to have something to play with. I had them use a 6" diameter backbone. That's basically the minimum you want according to what I've read online. I've got asthma already so this is a topic close to my heart and lungs.

The gist of the what I got back from them was that for maximum suction at the end you want to keep the 45 degree branch pipe as large as possible. Reducing it down branch point reduces the suction significantly. They also said that putting the reducers as close to the end as you could was best. Blast gate suggestions were interesting as they said putting them as close to the branch point was optimal to reduce the static air space when that machine was not in use. This is rather difficult unless you have an electric opener though. Finally, keep the flexible hose as straight and short as possible. Extra length and turns in this stretch can kill the best laid intentions.

The best source on the internet that I've found has been

They go into details that I hope to be able to implement.

Hope some of this helps. Sorry I don't have a direct answer for you.

C. S. Mark

[Steve Turner]

I did; they didn't respond :-(

Thanks for all the other info; you have some good suggestions.