shop dust control : building a pre sepperation drop box
 

Every year.. I do something to up grade my little play pen...

A last year( maybe it was the year before.. sucks to get old)... I went trough and upgraded my duct work and up graded my dust collecter from 850 cfm to 1500 cfm... my only beef with the new unit is after the lower ( disposable) bag is about 1/2 - 2/3 full. it tends to clog the upper cartrige more quickly and drasticly reduces it's power.. thus forcing me to clean the filter ( via a built in shaker) and replace the bag... and being singe stage... pencils( which seem to be the beasts favorite snack) and blown up plugs or cut offs tend to make for a noisy impeller( as do screws and bits of wire swept in to the floor sweep.. these metal items also pose a fire/explosion hazzard if they should spark while going through the impeller.. so this year I built a drop box with removable bin.. built in chutes direct the chips and sawdust into the bin ... a 60 gallon trash bag lines the bin for easy disposal...the box creats a drop in static pressure as the chips and air move through the box and around the internal baffel thus dropping all but the smallest debris from the air stream..and into the the disposal bin.. I made the box virtualy air tight so the loss of staic pressure is minamal...it's not as nice as a cyclone.. but it's pretty darn efficient...
if anyone is interested.. I took some pictures as I built it and will post pictures and specs if there is interest....

Love to see it.

Don't hold back now Joe.... Let's see it.

Not holding back.. ... just alot of work to put it all in print ( with pictures) if no one is truely interested. I'll post the pictures and specs as soon as I get a chance..

im in
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I probably don't turn as much as you so my Delta dust collector has been fine for 2 years now. I built an adaptor that sits opposite my head and tail stock and it grabs about 75% of the dust. I still end up with piles of shavings on the floor but that is to be expected. Just as long as it picks up most of the dust when I sand, I'm happy.
I still would like to see what you did.

yes Joe, I have interest:uhuh:

That would be great!:uhuh:

MS

I don't have the room or money for a cyclone but I'd like to see what you came up with for sure.

Rockler sells the kits to do this. $20

Dust Right Vortex 4'' Dust Separator Components, with FREE Downloadable Plan! - Rockler Woodworking Tools

There's also a 5 gallon bucket top, I have several and use them for high speed pickup of end cutoffs etc. Empty the bucket once a day into the kindling box. That works with 2.5" hose only.

I had one of those on the 850... it's way too small for a system with a 6" main trunk...but worked fine on the smaller system..

the blue print and calculations came from woodshop dust control..

I had a space planned out where i wanted to fit the box after relocating some of the machines and re routing some of the branch drops..

I would advise anyone making a box or using a store bought cyclone to be sure your collector can handle it a 1 -2" drop in static pressure will be encountered... you may have to up grade your duct work ( going up one size in main trunck and branches and keeping the runs straight makes huge differance) a single 4" 90 has the equivilant to 6' of straight pipe.. 5" the same as 9' of pipe and 6" the same as 12' of pipe... although as diameter increases the amount of resistance decreases.. these are the values of the straight pipe.. 4" = .055 ..5"=.042 and 6" .035 )..these values are for main branch pipe.. branch values are slightly higher..

after crunching the numbers ( Blower cfm divided by 500 then multiplied by 144) this number was then divided by my known number(desired depth of the box -24")..I figured my 1500 cfm blower could handle a 24 X 36 X 18" box... the bin size can be as large as you desired... for convieince... I went with a 24" X 24 box... the size of the baffle is directly equal to the size of the box.. .. which I made 18"..These formulas came curtosey of information obtained from the book wood shop dust control.

I made the entire unit out of left over scaps of 7/16 sheathing.. 3/4 ply wood would have been eaiser to work with ( less bracing and gussets) but I did this on the cheap.. buying only hinges 2" casters ( for the chip bin) a counter sunk pull handle , some weather stripping and two 6" 90 take offs as well as a few tubes of liquid nails and silacone...
The total cabinate is 2'X2' X4'.. the air chamber is 24X24 X 18... the baffel is centered and is 18" X 23 3/8..the entied box is glued, screwed ( the strength and seal is in the glue.. use plenty) and sealed...

internaly I have set cleats to rest the chutes on. the rear chute provides and edge above the bin.... these are set @ the 18" mark from the top... thus extending below the baffell.... the chute boards are set @60 degree angle... after installing opposing 6" take offs ( glued and screwed) I sealed the top of the box...

aftter attaching sealing cleats to the sides and botton.. it alowed for a 20" X 20" chip box with 2" castors... a 60 gallon trash can liner fits the inside.. i found by lightly spraying the inside I can form the bag to the corners of the box ...

First set of pictures show the top the air box portion of the cabinate.. as I said... the chutes ( which look flat in the picture but are not) angle down @ 60 degrees towards the center.. the top of the chute is set @ 18" ( or even with the bottom of the baffell)..

also shown are the door seals and door locking /sealing set up

these picturs are of the chip bin... it is made to just fit the lower chamber

these show the unit in place and all hooked up.. and the bin in place.... in the bag a. the debris i swept from the floor and sucked into the box via my floor speep... included in the trash... two 1" hole saw cut offs... a woodedn q tip ( used to clean my air brush) scres, metal shaving and sawdust from the project..

pretty neat Joe :btu:

is that a remote control box for your collector?

real nice setup you have there

yup remote control...you should come by and see the whole shop in person.. pictures don't do it justice... it's a nice place to play!

Where can you get the can for this or would the box Rockfish9 made be as good. I don't want a drop in static pressure that i've gotten with on ths solutions I am trying to increase my pressure and flow off of the Jet 1100 2 micron

you can get that set up ( the lid) at Penn state industries or through rockler or wood craft...

The biggset killer of static pressure loss is through duct work.. 4" duct work creates nearly twice the pressure loss as 6".. Flex hose is also a heavy hitter...

I have the lid setup, I don,t like at all, I want a better solution. I purchased the rockler setup, but need to find a barrel to set it up on
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I emptied the drop box yesterday as part of my reorginaiztion after plugfest...most of this bag was filled in a weeks worth of turning..

my main filter bag has MAYBE 2 gallons of ultra fine dust... the box worked out nicely... is easy to empty and save on my cartritge filter and lower bag...