What I see in that system are bends, kinks, too much flex hose, and a trash can separator lid that uses a sail to keep it from sucking the shavings back up into the DC. Not ideal to say the least...
For starters, google "Thien Cyclone" and get over to Phil Thien's web site, get the instructions and get to building a Thien separator lid, that will remove one HUGE bottle neck in your system...
Next, chances are good your lines under the floor are junked up with shavings. Use a fish tape and free up your lines.
Get rid of as many of the bends, turns and twists as you can, each and every time the air has to change direction, it looses speed (CFM) and thus its capacity to carry the dust and shavings...
Next shorten up your flex hose as much as is feasable. You need flex line to allow for movement, vibration in your system, but keep it to a minimum. Every bump in your system slows the air down as well, so each and every single ridge in your hose slows the air down....
From the photo, it looks like your filter bags are pretty old, a lot of those old bags let pretty much everything but air flow freely through them. It's time to upgrade that thing to a decent canister and clear plastic lower bag. You will get MUCH better air flow, and filtration... Grizzly, Wynn Environmental, and others sell cartridges.
Make certain you aren't sucking through all of your circuits at once. Say you have branches going to the planer, a jointer, a table saw, a band saw etc... Make sure each of those branches are closed off with a blast gate. There is NO WAY you are going to get effective dust collection if all of your branches are wide open....
Others have mentioned the Tees as well, so I will leave it alone. But to say the least, you really need to rethink the way the plumbing is routed... Too many bends, and not smooth transitions...
Last edited by David Hostetler; 02-24-2010 at 9:21 PM.
Trying to follow the example of the master...
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Originally Posted by mark r johnson
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