Dust Collector Duct Help

[Steven Toomey]

We got our 2hp Oneida Super Dust Gorilla wired up and are now getting ready to order the ducting. The DC has a 7" port on it, so I was thinking of running 7" for the main and then branching off to 6" wye's. Are the 6" wye branch's overkill? Total run length of the 7" main would be around 20-25 ft straight. I've attached a rough sketch of the layout of equipment. The panel saw has a 2.5" hose hooked up and I want to setup a hood at the bottom to collect the dust that falls to the ground. For the router, I was planning on having one hose to the top of the fence and another below. For the miter saw, I'm not sure what to do. Was thinking to have a 2.5" hose connect to the dust port on the back of the saw. Should I go with 5" or 4" branches for the panel saw and table top router?

Also, any advice on where to purchase the sheetmetal? Home depot/Lowes don't carry a lot of the sizes I need. I was planning on going through Oneida, but there prices seem high. Does anyone know what guage sheetmetal the straight runs are at home depot? It doesn't say anywhere, but they are about 1/3 of the price compared to Oneida? Just wondering if the guage is too thin.

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[Wade Lippman]

I am sure you can find lots of threads about necessary gauge. Some people say they use the thin stuff and it works fine; others say it sucks down flat. Personally I bought heavier stuff at a HVAC supply house. Costs a bit more, but considering the amount of work involved in putting up the ducting, it would be a shame to have it fail. I bought most of my fittings at Lowes (all fitting are heavier gauge), but had to buy a few odd pieces for more at the HVAC house.

I use a vacuum on my Kapex because the dust collection is pretty good. If it wasn't, I would large take up behind the miter saw.
I have 8" off my cyclone and the main line, and 6" as far as it will go, and 4" to the machines. I am sure 5" to the machines would be better, but it just isn't practical.

[William C Rogers]

Steve, check and see if you have a Furgesons near you. They carry 26ga and it should work fine and will have the best price for 26ga. Sometimes you can find 26ga at the Borg, but not offen. 26ga is the recommendation you will get on this fourm. Having said that, I am using 30 ga (thinner) from Menards. 30ga would be more likely to collapse. I ran a test on it and posted on this fourm. But I am using a 6" main. 7" will be more likely to collapse as there is more pressure per section. If I had done more research I would have bought 26ga in the first place, but now the engineer in me is going to make the 30ga work. I will save money using 30ga.

[Jim Andrew]

My Ace hardware has 26 gauge snaplock pipe elbows, Y's and a few other parts in stock, best prices I see around town.

[Ole Anderson]

26 gauge snap lock is the minimum you want to get. Stop at your local HVAC supply house, or look in the YP for sheet metal fabricators, they will stock common sizes, and you can bet it won't be 30 gauge. Your plan to go with a 7" main and 6" drops is spot on for your 2 hp SDG.

[Bill Adamsen]

+1 on plan to use 7" main and 6" drops. Put the Y to the side on the drop and run into it with a 90 elbow. That way dust doesn't "drop" into a Y on its way to the cyclone. Spiral pipe (6" and 7") is 24 gauge - typically 10' sections - and runs about $3/foot ... little more for 7" and a bit less for 6".

[William A Johnston]

I purchased all my snap lock pipe at a local HVAC supplier, it came in 5' sections and was 26 gauge. For all my fittings I purchased them off the internet from a company called KenCraft Company. There fittings are 20 gauge. They have a large assortment of fittings and reducers.

Hope this helps give you another option and it does not go against Sawmill Creek about mentioning a company name. I have bought from them on 3 occasions and have been very happy with there service, packing and delivery times.

Bill

[Kent A Bathurst]

Assume you bought the DC from Oneida? Give them the specs, and they will design it for you for free. You don't have to buy everything from them. But - I found their std gauge snap sheet metal pipe to be competitive - and you will go crazy trying to find all the fittings somewhere else. You call, of course.

A few thing I did not see in your OP - this is a critical bit of info in designing the piping and drops:

> What do you machine instruction manuals specify and the dust pipe dia, and required CFM?
> And - the biggie - do you plan on running only one machine at a time [nout counting the DC]? If so, which ones will you be running together? Or - pore precisely - which ones would you like to leave on, with the blast gates open?