I did a similar set up. I took off the 4 inch Y and hooked in a 6 inch main trunk of PVC which runs 24 feet along two outer walls.. All my drops are 6 X 6 x 4 Y's. Ive often questioned if 5 inch steel pipe would've been better but over all mine has done well. I will have 2-3 gates open at times and the largest amount gets pulled out. Could it do better? I would say yes but its adequate for sure. I did not run a line inside but since the addition of my 22/44 drum sander I wish I would've. The static build up is crazy when this runs. I don't see any issue with your plan. Good luck
Hey, the company got back to me with data, and with all that's been going on, I forgot to update. Mine is the 8C50 on the attached list. I really don't know how to read this chart, or, more importantly, how to apply it to my needs. Can you guys help?
Model 8C50-D2-SP 5" inlet 3/4 HP 115/230-1-60-3450 TEFC motor
Brad, that equates your air flow to the SP loss of your ducting (really helps, huh?). Anyway, as you add ductwork, flex (really bad), elbows, whatever, to your system it's increases the drag on the air...known as static pressure (loss). So if you look at the chart provided under the 8c50, you see at 5.3" SP loss your unit will move 200 CFM. So how do you know what the SP is? For most hobbyists it's a guess thing. There are lists available widely online that help you estimate it base on length/diameter of you duct, configuration of the elbows, and a few other things (even the material the duct work is made of has an impact). You can easily get into a lengthy effort trying to calculate it. Best (IMHO) to not screw around with it and see hook things up and see if it works to your satisfaction.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
I'll be completely honest, I think a 3/4 HP dc is not going to move enough air for a 5" pipe. Besides CFM, you need a certain velocity in the ducting to keep the chips suspended...otherwise they just clog the pipe. With that DC I'd use 4"......but that's just me, someone else may have a better idea.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
Specifically section C. 4 and 5 cover what you are thinking about. Good discussion about tapering to smaller inlets and tool outlets can kill flow. Also seal for leaks and use blast gates. IMHO Pentz has thought more about woodworking dust collection than any of us combined. His conclusions is "Bottom line, if you have today's normal dust collector and cyclone blowers, you are limited to either living with 785 CFM airflow with 6" diameter ducting or you can get your 1000 CFM with the 7" diameter ducting but will have some plugging in vertical runs."
That said Fred may be right in saying 3/4HP won't move enough air for a larger pipe. Depends how the motor HP is determined. Can you measure airflow to be sure?
There's a couple of ways to measure the airflow. The easiest is to use an airflow gauge (anemometer), read the velocity and convert that to CFM (if you want). If you have a weather monitor like a Kestrel or such some guys use those. Another way would be to use a pitot probe (or pitot tube, same thing) hooked to a manometer. These aren't terribly expensive (I paid $25 for a Magnehelic gauge and $46 for the pitot tube) but really not needed. You can go batty with the techno-babble behind air flow calculations.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
Like others have said the static and dust created in your home shop has an very low likelihood of exploding. It is possible to generate enough static to be an annoyance. I use PVC and I have to stand very close to the outlet pipe from my planer. Every time I took the board coming out of the planer I could feel the hair on my head standing up. It did zap me a couple times. I took some braided copper wire and did a couple wraps around the outside of the pipe and grounded it. No problem since. I don't think any other equipment I have can generate enough chips fast enough to make much static. I could have also moved the planer DC pipe so I wouldn't come so close to it but the copper wire was easier.
To connect the PVC pipe together I just pushed the pieces together then used some plastic wrap around the joint then duct taped it. Seals fine and allows easy changes.
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
