HF dust collector owners...???

[Greg Urwiller]

I have a couple (or more) questions for you HF 2hp dust collector owners out there. Got a new one the other day, so far all I've done is opened the box up and took a quick look at things. I've been reading a lot of the DC threads lately, and it seems everyone feels that bigger is better as far as the ductwork goes and a lot of people feel you need to run 6" to be efficient. Now, the HF is set up for 4" ductwork after the "Y" at the inlet. But the inlet itself is 5" as is the tube to the bags. So has anyone set their HF unit up with 5" ductwork all the way through? Would this be a reasonable undertaking? Or is there even decent ductwork/tubing/fittings in 5" available? I'm going to get the pleated filter to replace the top bag, and for now, I'm going to use it in a portable application. At least until I work in the shop some to see if I want to rearrange things. Then I might make a permanent spot for it. Until then it's probably going to go from machine to machine. Thanks. Greg

[Dan Friedrichs]

Greg,

If you're going to roll it from machine to machine, you are probably OK with using a short piece of 4" flex pipe from the blower to the machine. 5" would be even better (quite a bit better, actually), but may require that you enlarge the dust ports on your tools to accept 5" flex duct.

You can buy 5" ductwork, but it is only available in metal (not PVC). If you are going to the trouble of permanently plumbing your dust collection, you would be better served by 6" ducts.

[John Lifer]

Agreed, but lose the Y at the impeller if you are going to go to 6". Otherwise you are wasting your time and money. Always go from larger diameter to smaller. 5" back to 6" is not good, but much better than 4 to 6.

[David Hostetler]

Greg,

My HF DC is set up goes from the 5" at the impeller, to a 5" in and out of a side inlet Thien separator, THEN I have the 5x4x4 wye that came from the HF DC, this splits to 2 4" lines, one upper, one lower, so I pull from the bottom and top of my machines at once, it has been very effective, albeit I have twice as many blast gates to worry about...

There are LOTS of folks out there that swap the impeller front plate for one made of MDF, and using 6" PVC for an inlet... so far with decent results as I have read, I am happy with the results of my 5 by twin 4's setup...

FWIW, it's not just the HF DC that has the 5" inlet arrangement, the majority of single stage DCs have 5" inlets... It is the rare one that has 6"...

[Harvey Pascoe]

I think the criteria for duct size largely depends on how many machines you are servicing with the DC. You should only need to go to the larger sizes IF your machine is near marginal capacity. If you are servicing only a few machines, and using it as a portable sounds like you are, then I think you'd be wasting your time and making life more difficult with larger duct.

[George Bregar]

FWIW, it's not just the HF DC that has the 5" inlet arrangement, the majority of single stage DCs have 5" inlets... It is the rare one that has 6"...

Not sure about that...Delta 7", Grizzly 6", Jet 6", Powermatic 6".

[Curt Harms]

Not sure about that...Delta 7", Grizzly 6", Jet 6", Powermatic 6".

Penn State uses 6" too. I wonder if Harbor Freight uses 5" to limit the load on the motor? If so, putting a larger inlet on it may load the motor more than the manufacturer intended regardless of the data plate information. There are no reports of motors burning out on upsized inlet machines though.

[David Hostetler]

Not sure about that...Delta 7", Grizzly 6", Jet 6", Powermatic 6".

Varies by model. For example, the ever popular Delta 50-760 has a 5" port... Most of the Grizzly models I looked at were 5" as well... I think the 3HP dual baggers are when you typically get into the 6" and up sizes...

[George Bregar]

Varies by model. For example, the ever popular Delta 50-760 has a 5" port... Most of the Grizzly models I looked at were 5" as well... I think the 3HP dual baggers are when you typically get into the 6" and up sizes...

All the examples I cited were 2HP...except the PM was 1-1/2. The Delta 50-760 is only 1-1/2 HP, the 2HP 761 has a7" port according to specs listed. All of grizzly's 1-1/2 and 2HP DC have 6" ports, the 1HP models have 4" ports. None have 5" ports. I'd say that 2HP DC's with 6" ports is not rare...it's the rule. The exception seems to be HF and it's various clones.

[David Hostetler]

go figure. When I was looking for a DC, the material I went by partially was the Wood Magazine review of sub $400.00 dust collectors, they listed no machines with 7" ports, and I believe only one with a 6" port... Memory gets to be a pain as we age you know... :-P

[George Bregar]

go figure. When I was looking for a DC, the material I went by partially was the Wood Magazine review of sub $400.00 dust collectors, they listed no machines with 7" ports, and I believe only one with a 6" port... Memory gets to be a pain as we age you know... :-P

Sure does...and who knows, maybe that's how things were. I think that Wood comparison is three years old. I just know because I'm looking at single stage units now.

[Mike Gager]

according to bill pentz 6" is to large for the HFDC. if you can find 5" that would be ideal if not 4" will work just fine

[Phil Thien]

according to bill pentz 6" is to large for the HFDC. if you can find 5" that would be ideal if not 4" will work just fine

There are people that run 6" ducting w/ the HF. Seems to work.

[Mike Gager]

well im sure 3" pipes would seem to work, im just quoting what bill told me

[Phil Thien]

well im sure 3" pipes would seem to work, im just quoting what bill told me

I understand that, just trying to offer another viewpoint.