End Grain: Dust Collection for Beginners Part 3
So you know about dust collection systems and you have your unit picked out, what’s next? Time to set up that system!
This part of the process will be very dependant on each individuals shop and preferred style of system design. To start out the two majors differences you can decide on are if you want to run a main line on the ceiling of your shop that runs straight though and drops down to each machine or if you would rather like to run the main line around the perimeter of the room and then connect to each machine. Both are valid options and work but I personally plan to run mine along the perimeter of the room and connect from there to each machine therefore saving me overhead space and only losing a few inches off of the walls. One other possibility would be to run the pipe underground if you have the ability to do so. Generally you would have to be setting up a new shop for this to work and while this is a great idea in the sense that your system won’t get in your way, if you were to ever have a clog in a pipe it could be a nightmare trying to deal with this problem. Because of that I still personally recommend the outer wall style system but again, it’s your choice.
To choose wether to use rigid or flexible hose will be another choice of preference. A common theme is to run a rigid main line with ridged branches and then flexbile hoses to connect to each machine which will allow you some room to move those machines if necessary.
Without getting too into detail about all the many specifics of dust collection this is pretty well all the basics you need to know other than a few more tips I can give you:
- Generally you want to have machines that will produce the most dust closest to the dust collector (planer, jointer, etc.)
- If you choose to use a floor sweep make sure you have a cyclone in your system so you can avoid large pieces from getting into the system
- When choosing between a Y or T joints choose the Y since it is a less drastic change of direction whenever possible
- Make sure to always face your Ys with the single opening facing the direction of suction
- Using blast gates is highly recommended and will help make systems with weaker dust collectors more efficient
I hope these tips and articles can help, if you have any specific questions please feel free to ask! Once again, much of this information came from a book that I will link while some is from personal experience. I’m no expert when it comes to this but I hope I’ve been able to shed a little light on how to set up a dust collection system. Thanks!
