Part 1: Hoisting Away
I built a new shop about 2 years ago, and moved in my collection of machines. But I didn't have money at the time for a permanent dust collection system, and instead made do with my roll around Delta. That did the job, but was in the way, and of course there was always the temptation to make "just one cut" without going to get the hose and turning on the collector. Still, since I do have a small business selling, I was able to build up cash to purchase a new system.
I'd designed my shop with a couple of unusual features which came into play. First, it has a clerestory to provide lots of headroom and light. This gives it a 16 foot ceiling in the center. Second, I had the contractor put an 8" deep trench from one wall to the middle of the shop. This was to hold a dust pipe and electrical lines. I really didn't want to deal with vertical pipes in the middle of the room, and I'd had a pretty good idea where my table saw and planer were going to go, given the shop size (22x26 exterior).
I'd decided to get a 5 hp Super Gorilla, and to mount it in the clerestory. The high mount would save space, since the both the cyclone and filter would be overhead and only the (relatively) small drum down on the floor. There was a longer run to go vertical, though, and the longest run would be about 45 feet. Of course, this was to the biggest chip producer, the 18" Oliver planer. I sketched out my ideas and sent them to Oneida, and the guy there said I could go with 3 or 5 hp. The latter was only a hundred bucks more, so I decided to be safe and go with it.
First up was assembly. My friend Eric, who was used to rigging large machines, came over to help:
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My bandsaw was right below the installation location. It weighs 1200+ lbs, and it was impractical to move it out of the way. Well, on second thought, it might have been worth it, but it did provide a good stepping point at times.
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The chain hoist and finally a come-along provided the necessary lift.
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And, eventually, it was all in place. I think it took about four hours to get it assembled and up there.
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I gradually added various pipes. Not easy that high up.
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After the filter was in place, I started the main branches along the back wall.
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The 10" drop makes the 35 gallon drum look pretty small. But I didn't want to go with the 55 gallon drum because I figured it would get too heavy when full.
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Around the right corner. To put this pipe up, I was standing on my drill press table. No, it's not an ordinary DP table, or even an ordinary Powermatic 1200 table.
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This stuff was done over about a two week period. I went a little further, and got it working minimally, then had to stop then to complete a project--necessary, because the project would pay for about 2/3 of the DC.
Kirk