Dust Collection Help.

I have a 12 x 24' shop. It was built by the previous "handyman" incorrectly. It has a single pitch roof that leaks, has storm windows instead of real windows etc. It's pretty unusable. Instead of throwing bad money at it, I am going to tear it down and rebuild. I planned on doing it this year. My wife disagreed, won and it won't get done until I get a bunch of other things done (at least next year).

So, I moved the cars out of the garage to another garage, and set up a temp shop in my garage. I would like dust collection. I have a 1hp portable collector. I made a quick drawing of the lay out. I am just going to blow the dust down the hill. No filter. It's where I dump my saw dust now anyways.

My question is whether 1 hp is going to do the job or do I need a bigger blower. I don't really want to spend a bunch as the set up is temp. but would like it to work. Ceilings are 10'. I plan on 4" pipe/hose as I have a bunch of it already. One other thing to add. One of the jobs that is standing in the way of my shop getting done is planing, t&g and finishing enough pine to recover my house in knotty pine. Several thousand board feet. The lengths are up to 16'. In front of the garage is a car port. I would run another 20' or so from the table saw drop, to my planer, jointer or shaper so I can work outside. Basically, we are looking at 24 + another 20 feet on the intake side of the blower. Can I run another 24' on the output side of the blower? I can just build a collection box in the old shop, but would like to just blow the chips down the hill. When the shop is done, the blower will actually be mounted outside the rear of the shop, and blow straight out 3-4'.

What is doable and how big of a collector blower will I need? Any guesses?

1HP power motor tends to go with 11-12" impeller. Given your duct diameter & length, I think there isn't enough volume and speed to effectively move the chips, let alone capturing the fine dust. Without sufficient speed, chip and dust will gradually clog your duct.

I think you probably want to consider a minimum of 6" for your main duct, and 14" impeller...so we are talking 2-3HP. Without the filter, the constraint on your system would be on the intake size. 4" duct would limit your real CFM to about 400. You'll actually get less than that at the gates.

I am no expert, those guys will chime in soon I imagine. However one of the first problems you need to deal with is the 4 inch duct. It is adequate for the portable dust collector you have now, but if you upgrade to a bigger machine it will limit the air movement due to the diameter of the pipe.

I went on a 2 hp single stage machine from a 5 inch main duct to a 6 inch. It made a significant difference.

Ok. I'll upgrade the main trunks to 6". With a 2 hp unit could I then exhaust the chips another 25 or so feet after the collector, or would I need to place a box near the collector?

I seriously doubt a 1HP DC has the capacity to move enough air to make a duct network really usable. Keep moving that thing machine to machine for best results I would think.. I could be wrong though...

I recently bought a 18 in cyclone from Clearvue Cyclones, after reading (most of) Bill Pentz' story (and thinking of how much sawdust I've sucked in the last few years). The recommended size motor and impeller is a 5 hp with a 14 or 15 inch fan, and six inch duct work.

I've compromised since I already had a Penn State DC with a 3 hp 12 inch fan. I can always upgrade it later, but I'll still be using 6 inch duct work. As it is, I'll have an extra DC body... and bags. If I'd known about Phil Thiel's DC baffle modifications, I might have gone that route.

The word is that the 3 hp motor may overheat driving a bigger blower- and may not be adequate for the 12 inch one. These DCs for hobbyists leave much to be desired. They don't move the advertised CFMs, pump out all kinds of fines, and are much less HD than they should be.

Hate to be a bearer of bad news, but I'm afraid you won't get much flow out of a 1 hp motor, even if you go with a 6 inch duct. It certainly won't drive that bigger fan very long without burning up.

I'm thinking a short hose and moving it from machine to machine is your best bet,short term, and save up your pennies for an honest to goodness dust collection system.

What you might want to do is build your own mini-cyclone to go on your shop vac. I hear they work really well. Check out Clearvue's DIY pages for instructions on cyclones.They also have some really good tips on hood collectors for machines. Loved that Radial Arm Saw collector- I saw it in action last weekend. I'm going to copy that for the cabinet shop I work for...