Direct DC outside

[Brandon Waldrip]

First I live in Florida. It does not get very cold in the winter. Hot in the summer, yes, but I have a few good fans. I want to put in a DC and run it stright outside. No filters, catchers, or cyclones.

The question is where to get a motor and DC fan. Just from looking around, it looks like I would be best off by buying a DC and not installing the filters. Just pipe the air which would normaly go to the filter, outside.

Any ideas?

[Matt Meiser]

What are you going to do to contain the debris, especially if its windy?

[Brandon Waldrip]

Nothing. I live in the woods. No need to collect. My shop is away from the house. It will wash away when it rains.

[Dan Hintz]

Nothing. I live in the woods. No need to collect. My shop is away from the house. It will wash away when it rains.

You'll have to pay attention to the types of wood you cut, then... some have natural oils/chemicals in them that can severely stunt or completely stop growth of other vegetation. Blowing that kind of dust willy nilly into the woods will end up with a large swatch of deforested land around the exhaust. Just a heads up...

[Phil Thien]

Any concern about attracting termites?

[David Giles]

To answer your question, the lowest cost source is a used dust collector from an auction or Craigslist. The second best source is the HarborFreight DC and ditch the filters. Of course, you may want to invest a little more and buy a 3Hp Penn State blower/motor or even the Clearvue 5Hp setup. Be sure and post pictures after a big project! And use 6" duct everywhere.

[Keith Outten]

Brandon,

I have a one and a half HP Grizzly DC that I purchased 16 or 17 years ago and I dumped the bags almost immediately. I have used it with and without an exterior chip box thoughout the years. When I was only using wood I discharged the chips outside onto a pile and I did this for many years. I never experienced any problems, however I only used local hardwoods, the most damaging would have been walnut. From my experience the walnut dust didn't have any impact on my yard or trees. Note that there are no horses in my immediate area, walnut chips and dust are a major problem for horses.

Currently I am using a chip box again because I machine mostly Corian which will not biodegrade.
I am also using a chip box at the CNU sign shop to capture Corian chips. We have a Harbor Freight 2 HP DC at CNU that does a great job without the bags using a 4" PVC pipe system that services a 4 by 8 foot CNC machine and several other shop tools.
.

[Angie Orfanedes]

I have the HF dust collector which I rearranged to exhaust (without filters) through a Thien baffle/can and then to the outside world. Very little makes it to the outside world. It has worked that way for about 2-1/2 years. Pictures here:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...t=#post1134564

[Bob Riefer]

I also use the HF 2 HP unit, HF blast gates and clear flex near machines, with 4" sewer/drain PVC pipe making the runs. The entire setup cost about $250 to outfit all my machines in a 400 sq ft shop.

I exhaust outside, but do collect the majority of the mess in a cardboard fiber drum (using Phil Thien's baffle design). This winter, I'll be blowing some of my heat out of the room when the DC is running, but I'll live with that issue for all of the other benefits that I enjoy.

[Brandon Waldrip]

Thanks for all information

[Jim Neeley]

Brandon,

The biggest controbutor, by far, to my DC's waste os my planer and I've had as many as 50 gallons of chips in a few days when I had a bunch of 4/4 stock to plane down to 1/2".

If you won't be doing much of that or would just get out your shovel on the rare occasion then it's not an issue for you. Otherwise 50 gallons of chips can be fairly bulky and, if it's a rainy season and they get saturated, very heavy and not prone to blowing away. Meh.. YMMV.