Hi guys I have done my googling and web research,gone to the library and looked in the books and have read all the opinion on the type of ducting to use.And I am befuddled. I have a grizzly 1 1/2 hp dust collector (110v) if any of you are using this type of collector what type of ducting are you using? and how many inlets are you able to use?
Like most other things, it depends a lot on what you want to do with your system, how safe you want to be, and how much you want to spend.
Concerning duct materials, spiral metal duct seems to be the top of the line solution. Penn State sells it, among others. Rather pricy, but there you are. You can check it out at
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Many people, myself included, use flexible plastic dust hose. This comes in many different varieties, including self-grounding. In general, plastic dust hose is more difficult to ground than metal. Why ground at all? To prevent a possible dust explosion. Nasty business, that. Commercial shops will almost always use metal ducting.
How many inlets can you have open? Again, what do you want to do? Will you run several machines at once or only one at a time? How far is your DC from your machines? Short answer - you can have as many inlets open at a time as you want, but each additional opening will reduce the overall performance of the system. (less suck).
If you have a small DC, you can roll it up next to whatever machine you are using at the time, minmizing duct run, maximizing suck. If you want to run several machines at once, that's a different story and will probably call for a more permanent installation.
As for personal experience, I use translucent plastic 4" hose, grounded, and I have 5 machine drops. I have blast gates on each branch and at each machine. This system seems to work well for me. I like the translucent hose because I can see if and where blockages occur. I'm thinking of switching to spiral metal duct, though. I like the durability of the metal duct.
A couple of hints. If you use the plastic blast gates, be aware that dust can accumulate in the corners, preventing full closure of that gates. This can be remedied easily by snipping off the bottom corners of the blast gate housing.
Finally, I recommend you pick up one of the "Long Ranger" type DC remotes.
Not a necessity, but real nice to have.
I hope at least some of this diatribe makes sense to you. Good Luck, Gus
I have the same sized dust collector from Penn State and I've got my table saw (high and low) hooked up to it, a RAS, a floor sweep plus another outlet to hook up tools I use occasionally, such as the jointer or planer. My tubing is a combination of 4" PVC and 4" corrugated hose along with various elbows, wyes, and blast gates. Works really well.... BTW, get a remote control if you haven't already.
I'd bought an air cleaner first and had I known then what I know now, I'd have bought the DC and been done with it. As it is, I hardly ever turn on the air cleaner.
Sorry how? "Better-safe-than-sorry" is only reasonable advice when there is a possibility, even remote possibility of an event occuring. In the cas of a single home shop dust explosion in a plastic pipe ducted system there is ZERO chance. In such a case, better safe than sorry is just a pitiful justification for the ignorant to continue their ignorance.
Because it's unnecessary and unproductive. Do you sprinkle cream of tartar on your saw before you work? Why not? It's cheap and easy.
Yet you did.
That's fine. But people shouldn't be report as gospel a circumstance when there's no data to support its existance.
I'll "lighten up" when ignorance on this subject is eradicated. Your promotion of it necessitates rebuttal. When it's no longer necessary there'll be no activity of mine up from which to lighten.
I have the 1HP Griz - the 8029. Just switched over to about 20' total of 4" S&D PVC pipe. 20' run is with one 90* elbow. 4 "Wye's", 4 blast gates. Small runs of 4" Flex hose to each machine. Only one gate open at a time. Works great.
thanks guys, I have read the grounding post before.And have consulted my wife the (PHD in electrical engineering) also about the grounding and she say not to. What I'm trying to pick is the material to use as ducting, pcv, havc or special made spiral duct, ect. I have Six machines to hook up and a floor sweep with 1 1/2 hp dc(with a chip collector).
"leonard" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@adelphia.com:
And did your PhD wife comment on the pvc grounding technique in the archives? ;-)
Whatever you plan to do for ducting, figure a chip seperator into your plans. A barrel, some S&D fittings, and a chunk of plywood for a lid, and cleaning the system gets so much easier.
I used 4" S&D, with my 1.5hp Delta, because I could get it from the local hardware store. My hand tools make the biggest mess in the shop now.
Laws of physics. Fairly immutable. Read the article. The author was unable to replicate an explosion with any kind of air/dust/spark combination in common PVC pipe. So if you can't do it when you're trying, how is there any chance to do it accidently? Zero chance.
Obviously. I repeat my challenge: when you can produce evidence of a single home shop dust explosion in a plastic pipe ducted system, I will gladly retract my statement.
In the meantime, maybe the tin foil hat will help.
Look specifically for Terry Hatfield's shop. Look at the gorgeous job he did piping with 6" PVC. For a while he was marketing a cyclone system based on Bill Pentz' data. For an email addy (I'm sure he'll be happy to answer some questions) go to
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and look for one of his posts. He usually has his email addy in them.
I'm not the one perpetuating the dust-explosion-in-a-home-shop-system myth. You're going to have to look elsewhere to apply that apellation, I fear. Start real close.
Not at all. The congratulations go to the person who changed the discussion from an exposition of facts to one of ad hominem attacks. Again, look real close.
You're obviously one of those "last word" guys, so I'll let you have it. My work here is concluded.
So right! Chips and sawdust are notorious for catching on anything. That's why I wondered about some kind of conductive paint that can be used inside PVC to keep the inside smooth. I recall the military had conductive paint used for aircraft, not sure if anything like that is available tot he public.
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