Dust collection designs

[Barefootboy4]

Does anybody have some good designs for dust & cuttings collection. I'm running the big 3.25 Porter cable and the air flow out the bottom of the unit is very strong. I'm sure there are some good ways to deal with the dust. I would love to see them.

[wcarrothers1]

Clear view dust collection cyclone.. 6" pipe to machine then down to 4" flex tube from celing. I'll have to take pics of my install at some point. Upgraded from my wood magizine design cyclone and 2hp pen state blower. Make a huge difference as I have very little dust getting away from me now..

Probably overkill for most people though.

b.

[Senna]

Some ideas can be found here... Dust collection :(

A deflector for the router cooling exhaust will need to be tailored to your particular router. The tunnel dust shoe design is a huge improvement over the typical adjacent pickup and the cyclone is the greatest thing since man discovered fire...!

Steve

[robe_uk]

Does anyone have experience using a cyclone and thien baffle, if so which way is the best to go?

Rob

[ger21]

A deflector for the router cooling exhaust will need to be tailored to your particular router.

My personal opinion is that a deflector shouldn't be used, and is only needed because of inadequate suction and a poorly designed shoe.

A good shoe needs to use a brush that forms a seal around the cutting area.
And you need a dust collector with a 4" hose. I use a 1HP craftsman that doesn't have a ton of suction, but it still get's all airborne dust and 95% of larger chips.
I also have a 2HP Harbor Freight that sucks like crazy. Hard to beat if you can get it for the $139 I paid for mine. Even at full price, it's the best deal you can probably find.

[wireb]

My choice is the cyclone. I have a little 2 gallon shop vac mounted on top of mine with the original hose capped off and a 3" hole cut in the bottom where it attaches to the top of the cyclone. Man those things suck a lot better then. Now have a 2.5" hose on it and use it in my metal shop. Just swap buckets when I change materials and keep on going. Also no more oil soaked filters

here is a photo with the cyclone from my junkbox 18x7x7 thread.
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attach...0&d=1294039921

[brtech]

I think the HF DC upgraded with a Wynn filter, and a Thein baffle is by far the most economical way to keep your shop clean and safe. You can mount the baffle INSIDE the HF. You need the filter upgrade unless your DC comes with a .5 micron filter. 5 micron or 2 micron, or even 1 micron isn't enough. The better MERV ratings are better, but the basic Wynn 35A is good enough.

Duct work is a bigger problem. So many variables, hard to get to simple instructions. With the HF, you pretty much are limited to 4" ducts. It would be good to have a single 5" main with 4" drops (assuming you have more than one machine in the shop that needs DC), but 5" is not easy to find.

You can use metal (26 ga or heavier) or plastic (the S&D PVC is recommended) for rigid duct. Don't use any 90 degree bends. You use 45 degree elbows with a short piece of straight pipe between two of them. Use Wyes, not Ts for branches. Use blast gates if you have more than one machine connected to the DC.

Of course, the CNC needs a piece of flexible duct from the drop to the shoe. Use 4".

Lots of shoe designs here on the 'zone. Google for dust shoe and see what you can find.

[gjhammer]

FYI, you can get a coupon for the HF 2HP dust collector for $139, valid through 3/23/11 from the latest Wood magazine. Here is a link to it, I think it is OK to print out. It is a very popular model amongst CNCZoners and woodworkers and for the price it is hard to beat.

WOOD Magazine - December 2010/January 2011

[Mogal]

Originally Posted by robe_uk Does anyone have experience using a cyclone and thien baffle, if so which way is the best to go? Rob

I have a simple thien seperator on my setup. work pretty good, capturing about 95% of the dust. The Hepafiltler in the shopvac gets the rest

I haven't tried a cyclonic cuz the thien is holding up well for me.
Besides, its a 5 gallon bucket, 4 bolts, a couple PVC drain pipe couplers, and a 1/8" sheet cut into the appropriate shape! Too easy!! and only about 6 bucks in parts!

[CNC Lurker]

There are many "Pentz Cyclone vs. Phil Thien Baffle/Seperator" on woodworking forums and both camps have their preferences. It seems more people use a Thien Seperator on standard shop vacs than on dust collectors.

The video on the original site that had the Thien seems to be down, but here is a vid showing how effective the Thien separator is (sorry, you have to wait 20 seconds to download):

Phil_Thien_Baffle_demo LINK

Here is the link to Bill Pentz site (plans on bottom): Bill Pentz LINK

Here is the link to the Thien site (plans not clear, but you can see pics) Phil Thien LINK

I was going to make a cheap version of the Phil Thien baffle using a Harbor Freight Dust Separator lid and a Home Depot 31 gallon trash can. I was going to simply use all-thread to attach the lid to the MDF baffle. I just haven't made the baffle yet. My shop vac will crush the crap out of that galvanized lid if I cover the inlet hose so I know it has good suction.

Harbor Freight Dust Separator Lid

[ssutton]

Originally Posted by gjhammer FYI, you can get a coupon for the HF 2HP dust collector for $139, valid through 3/23/11 from the latest Wood magazine. Here is a link to it, I think it is OK to print out. It is a very popular model amongst CNCZoners and woodworkers and for the price it is hard to beat. WOOD Magazine - December 2010/January 2011

Thanks for that coupon link! I printed that off and picked up the Dust Collector today for $139.00. Even better, the one I picked up has a steel impeller, we have one at work that has a plastic impeller and it has given out twice.

Thanks again,

Scott

[bandtank]

How loud is the harbor freight dust collector?