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Many years ago I bought The Woodworkers Choice DC unit. I believe it's 1.2 horse power. It came with a 2 1/2" dust collection kit with plastic piping that I had used in a basement shop. My shop now is in a metal building where the metal wall supports are about 3 feet apart. The connections on the 2 1/2" plastic piping aren't the best so I am thinking about converting everything that I can to 4" wire reinforced hose. I'd have to keep the 2 1/2" inch blast gates for the router table and my planer. Everything else is 4" anyway. Just curious if I am chasing my tail by changing it and whether it would be more efficient. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Dave
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(04-13-2020, 04:42 PM)DaveM123 Wrote: Many years ago I bought The Woodworkers Choice DC unit. I believe it's 1.2 horse power. It came with a 2 1/2" dust collection kit with plastic piping that I had used in a basement shop. My shop now is in a metal building where the metal wall supports are about 3 feet apart. The connections on the 2 1/2" plastic piping aren't the best so I am thinking about converting everything that I can to 4" wire reinforced hose. I'd have to keep the 2 1/2" inch blast gates for the router table and my planer. Everything else is 4" anyway. Just curious if I am chasing my tail by changing it and whether it would be more efficient. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
If the DC is a more conventional blower and not a shop vac, it might work better to upsize. BUT, don't use hose, use pipe with a smooth interior wall. Hose, with the rough inside surface, will create a bunch of resistance and work against you.
Keep the runs as straight as possible. Make any radius a wide, sweeping radius.
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I use 2.5 inch stuff for my dust collection but I use the dust deputy on my shop vac. It works okay. If the unit you are using came with 2.5 inch fittings, I'd be surprised if it has the cubic feet per minute to adequately support 4 inch pipe...
-brew
