Overarm dust collector advice?

[logos]

A good friend is closing his shop. I went to go look at an old grizzly table saw and saw this dust arm. He told me I could just take it

I've set it up and can't decide to run both the main port of the saw and the over blade arm off the jet collector or use a dedicated shop vac for the over arm?

Here's a pic to illustrate.

Any recommendations?

[cjtboy]

Looks like the hose you have from the overarm connection is specific to a shop vac, but if you can find a way to hook all to the main DC, that is what I would do.  I have no idea if it would be better/worse suction - more just this way you'd only have to turn on one DC machine.

If I had the second machine to turn on (the shop vac) I know the overarm dust collector would sit there, well, collecting dust (not in the intended way!)

I've not seen that overarm attachment before - how is it attached above - to the ceiling? Looks too far from the blade to do any good, but I guess you drop it closer?  Not sure.

[wdwerker]

I would use the dust collector on the tablesaw base and the shop vac on the overarm. Big pipe = dust collector,  small hose = shop vac

[logos]

Thanks! I was originally going to use the dust collector for both but I think it might not be enough suction. The jet proshop is not great for dust collection. I still need to seal up some gaps which might help

I think I might forget or get to lazy to turn on the shop vac but I think you're right about using both

The guard is actually set up for a 5 inch. I put an adapter on to get the shop vac to fit. It's screwed into the ceiling for now and the hight is easily adjusted

I'd love the sawstop set up, but out of the budget this year

I'm on a kick to lower the amount of dust I'm breathing at all machines.

[wdwerker]

If you have a big enough dust collector using 2 -5" lines would let you keep the air speeds that carry the dust high enough. You can seal up the base of a saw too much. Spaces for incoming air are important. 

The vac and dust collector combo may be your best bet. Lower the overarm as close as is practical.

[Tom King]

I have mine running on the DC, but the arm uses a 4" hose.