Running a line to the bench area? DC with small power tools?

[Jameel Abraham]

Should I include a run to my bench area? I already have a floor sweep run planned for the area...

Anyone ever tried hooking up say a 2-1/2" hose to their DC for use with biscuit joiner or sander?

I've always used a vac with these tools, but now I'm thinking the DC might be better. After all, we hook up the DC to stationary tools with smaller ports, i.e. miter saw, router table.

Should I just use the vac?

Hmmm, maybe a mini CV is in order? :D

[Matt]

Hi Jameel,

I use a 2.5 inch hose on my radial arm saw and also as a vacuum hose on my cnc router.....while it has plenty of suction with everything closed there isn't enough air flow once it hits the 6 inch pipe. It doesn't seem to settle in the horizontal runs but will settle in any/all vertical drops that is passes. Also be aware that the seperation efficency in the cyclone will drop alot with just the 2.5 inch port open. I would say it is ok for cleaning a pile of dust then opening a 4 or 6 in. gate to clean out the pipes but for sanding i think you might end up with alot of dust in the filters. On our cnc machine I open the 6 inch gate about a 1/3 when using the 2.5 inch line to compromise between suction and settling/efficency. Try some different things and let us know what you find.

Hope this helps,

Matt

[dwdrury]

You and I are about 180 degrees out of sync, Jameel. I got my mini set up and running first. but haven't started my CV 1800 instl yet.

Of course, what you get for suction and airflow with one is going to depend on your vacuum source, your shop vac. Though physics says I should lose some energy using the Mini, I haven't noticed it so far. As a point of fact, one might say performance is actually better using the mini because the vac's filter stays clean.

I've been using mine for general vacuuming, and hooked up to various Shopsmith attachments as they all seem to be set up for a 2.5" port. Primarily their strip sander and planer. The separation is phenominal, with only a light coating of the finest of dust making it past the mini and on to the Fein Turbo II and CleanStream filter. The planer still weeps a few shavings, but no worse than when I had it hooked up to my old Delta "dust pump". See the gallery if you're interested.

The other nice thing about the Fein is that it includes an outlet on the front. Coupled with its long power cord, it can act as an extension cord. And the outlet can be set into automatic mode, so when you turn on whatever tool you have plugged into it, the vac comes on. When you stop the tool, vac continues to run for 3 seconds, then shuts off. Very handy! I plug the Shopsmith into it whilst running the strip sander.

The Fein is pricy, though. The Turbo II, last I checked, was just north of $300, then add $30 or so for a CleanStream filter (Lowe's, get the "Sears Red Stripe"). If you want a Fein HEPA filter, open that wallet wide again. Last I checked, they wanted nearly $100 for one. It is very quiet, and though I choked on the initiation fee, in hindsight I'm glad I did. Its a nice machine.

One other thought for you to consider. You can make a sanding table or box. I made one years ago, nothing more than a hardwood ply box with pegboard as a top. Pentz has some good ideas for one on his site as well. But the point is, 5" ducting to the box, plus a 2.5" vac hose will be near enough equal in cross sectional area to the 6" main ducting. So the idea would be to run both the box plus the tool attachment at the same time, thereby avoiding some of the low airflow problems Matt observed. So, bottom line, if you ever think you might do this, might as well run the pipe for it now while you're at it.

Regards,

DWD

[martys]

I had a 2.5" port on my radial arm saw and it didn't do a very good job. I opened it up to a 4" hole and it still didn't catch it all. Finally, I made 2- 4" ports and now it does a good job.

My 12" miter saw doesn't do a good job though. The dust collection hood has to stay back quite a ways in order to utilize the full 90 degree swing of the saw. I'm still trying to figure out a good way to collect the dust. I bought some magnets so maybe I can rig something up that stays closer to the discharge of the blade. Any ideas?

Hi Jameel,

I use a 2.5 inch hose on my radial arm saw and also as a vacuum hose on my cnc router.....while it has plenty of suction with everything closed there isn't enough air flow once it hits the 6 inch pipe. It doesn't seem to settle in the horizontal runs but will settle in any/all vertical drops that is passes. Also be aware that the seperation efficency in the cyclone will drop alot with just the 2.5 inch port open. I would say it is ok for cleaning a pile of dust then opening a 4 or 6 in. gate to clean out the pipes but for sanding i think you might end up with alot of dust in the filters. On our cnc machine I open the 6 inch gate about a 1/3 when using the 2.5 inch line to compromise between suction and settling/efficency. Try some different things and let us know what you find.

Hope this helps,

Matt

[Matt]

I guess i also forgot to mention that my radial arm saw has a hood that's about 4' wide on the back that catches the majority of the dust. I was only saying that it may be ok depending on what you were trying to do with it.


Matt

Here's a pic of what we have done to our Radial Arm Saw's and maybe it'll help. http://gallery.clearvuecyclones.com/Matts-New-Cyclone-Video/Planer_2005_011

Mine is similar just with a 2.5 inch line hooked up where he has the 4". And Mine isn't quite as tall. I had a video of mine in action at one time but seems to be malfunctioning at the moment. Will see about uploading again and posting a link here soon.

I uploaded a short video that i made a while back and while you may notice that while it's not a very well built hood it works very well and still allows me to swing the arm in any position. This link should open windows media player, buffer, then start playing.
http://clearvuecyclones.com/video/RAS.wmv

Sorry if this has gotten too far off subject.

[Jameel Abraham]

Great video Matt!

I ditched the idea of using the DC with small ports. My shop vac works great for this already, and is portable. So I'm thinking now that maybe I'll eventually set up a little "mini" DC system for the bench are (biscuit joiner, router, sander, etc) and pipe in a drop above the bench that runs back to a shop vac with a mini-CV arrangement. That would pretty slick actually. I might even run some duct to a couple areas even with blast gates for when the overhead would not be ideal. I'm thinking too that some tools might be more suited to this arrangement.

[martys]

I like your dust collection hood for the radial arm saw. The video was great.

I'm still unhappy with my dust hood on my 12" miter saw. They didn't design those with dust collection in mind.

Thanks for the pics and video.

Marty

I guess i also forgot to mention that my radial arm saw has a hood that's about 4' wide on the back that catches the majority of the dust. I was only saying that it may be ok depending on what you were trying to do with it.


Matt

Here's a pic of what we have done to our Radial Arm Saw's and maybe it'll help. http://gallery.clearvuecyclones.com/Matts-New-Cyclone-Video/Planer_2005_011

Mine is similar just with a 2.5 inch line hooked up where he has the 4". And Mine isn't quite as tall. I had a video of mine in action at one time but seems to be malfunctioning at the moment. Will see about uploading again and posting a link here soon.

I uploaded a short video that i made a while back and while you may notice that while it's not a very well built hood it works very well and still allows me to swing the arm in any position. This link should open windows media player, buffer, then start playing.
http://clearvuecyclones.com/video/RAS.wmv

Sorry if this has gotten too far off subject.

[Matt]

Yes Marty i agree. I plan to purchase a miter saw soon and plan to search the planet for ideas for dust pickup on that. the 2.5 inch line on my radial arm saw is only there because it blows dust out if nothing is there and if i just closed it off it just fills and starts spitting dust out on the front side. I will have to ride down to lowes or home depot this weekend and look at them a little closer to see if i can be of more help.

Matt

[martys]

The issue I have with the miter saw is the dust hits the support arm and scatters everywhere. And the hood needs to be far away from the saw to accommodate the angle cuts.

I have the radial arm and the miter saw on a portable stand now. I may just make a built in and rig up something like you've made for your radial arm saw. I'll update "Marty Shop" with the photos.






Yes Marty i agree. I plan to purchase a miter saw soon and plan to search the planet for ideas for dust pickup on that. the 2.5 inch line on my radial arm saw is only there because it blows dust out if nothing is there and if i just closed it off it just fills and starts spitting dust out on the front side. I will have to ride down to lowes or home depot this weekend and look at them a little closer to see if i can be of more help.

Matt