Garage Dust Collection

[jtooley75]

Hey guys, I know there is a lot of info on this subject, but was wanting some personal info on my particular setup for the garage. I have a 2 car garage that I only use one side(wall) for the shop (hobbyist). I am getting a 2HP dust collector soon, and was thinking of running one main along the wall to 3 machines (table saw, bandsaw, and a mitersaw). Curious on what you guys think would be most bang for buck setup with those particluar machines in mind for a shop that is not run as a full time job. For more information, I am insulating all the garage walls right now and will probably be installing a window A/C unit for the hot Summers and would like to be able to work in there with the garage door down (it is insulated as well). Any info would be appreciated. Thanks

[James Finley]

It depends some on the particular machines you have. You should be able to find out what the SCFM needs to be at each of the machines for best performance, this is something most manufacturers provide. You'll then want to make sure the collection at the machine gets to that SCFM rate, including the losses that occur in the ducting. Whichever machine needs the most collection power should be closest to the DC, and you should try and set up the piping so that you can close down sections that run to machines you aren't using, so that all of the DC's power goes to collecting at the machine you are using (assuming you'll only run machine at a time, being a hobbyist shop). I get by OK with a flew hose and DC on rollers, but YMMV.

[rodger.]

I have a similar set up in my garage.

I researched (and tried) a lot of different ideas, and decided not to install rigid ductwork. I have the delta 50-760 DC, and I use a 4 to 5 foot section of flex hose. This allows me to keep my CFM high, and I just wheel it around if I need to. By keeping the machines clustered, I can easily switch from my jointer to TS to planer or router table in less than 5 seconds.

I use a pigtail on my TS to save time when hooking up the DC.

[jtooley75]

So after some thinking, I still want to make a mainline against the one wall for the 3 machines and also add a floor sweep in the main line. I really want to prevent moving a collector around everytime I want to use a machine. The 2hp dust collector has a 4 inch port on it, so should the mainline be equal to the 4" intake or should I make it larger? No machine will be run at the same time. The order of machines from furthest to closest to the collector would be miter saw, table saw, bandsaw, then floor sweep (all being in the same wall).

[Eric.]

You don't want any duct in your system to be larger than the intake port. So 4" is as big as you can go with with that DC...it would be counter-productive to go larger than that. Good luck, let us know how you do.

[jHop]

I'd recommend that, if you put the ductwork along the lower edge of the wall, you mount the blast gates facing out, or at least accessible for extensions that go to arm height. It can be something as simple as a yard stick attached to the lip of the blast gate, but bending over constantly while balancing your project might get counter productive after a while. The theory being do as little bending in the duct line as possible...

(I say theory because I'm still using a dust pan and no shop vacuum system...)