Dust collector help...PLEASE

[John Willoughby]

OK I started on my cabinets for my shop this weekend and now I am wondering if I am about to screw up. Let me explain.
I was planing out some wood with my bench top surface planner. I was doing this out in the garage and had my Grizzley duct collector hooked up to the planner via a 8ft piece of flex hose (4"). Several times the dust collector would stop up right where the hose joined the metal fitting on the collector. The problem is that on the Grizzley dust collector, there is a metal slotted insert that covers the opening of the attachment point. I can cut this out with no problem.

Here is my question, I am working to set up my shop and was going to use this dust collector. I have been reading on here and see that several people are using a 6" system. Mine is a 4" system, is it big enough? I don't want to buy all the pipe and fittings for a 4" system only to find out that it is not big enough. On the other hand, I already have a 4" dust collector.

Here is a post with my shop layout and a list of my equipment.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=93433

Thank you for your help.
John

[Rod Sheridan]

John, the finger guard on the collector is to prevent your fingers, or other large foreign objects from entering the impeller.

Yes you could remove it, however then you will have no protection for the impeller, (or your fingers).

Regards, Rod.

[Dave Bender]

Running 4" pipe everywhere is never the right solution.

[Anthony Whitesell]

If you can't simply unbolt it and you must cut it out; how about cutting out every other piece first. The worry is sucking up something you really don't want to by accident.

I have already made the mistake of buying lots of 4" stuff and I'm living with it for now because a larger DC just isn't in the cards or a priority right now. If you're think you may upgrade later, minimize your 4" purchases now. If you are installing a dust port on a machine, install a 6" port now and buy a reducer to get to the current 4" lines. The reducer is easier to remove than buying/fabing and installing a new port down the line.

[James Williams 007]

check this out it helped me! http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/Index.cfm

[Charles Seehuetter Panama City]

John,

Instead of cutting out the fitting, try adding a trash can separator with a Phil Thein baffel in line. You can build it yourself. This will separate the big chips and keep them from clogging the intake. It works great on my Dewalt 733 planer and Delta 50-760 collector with longer runs of only 4".

Here is a link to a few picures of my seperator

http://picasaweb.google.com/chuckinp...60609906003538

and here is a link to Phil's site.

http://www.cgallery.com/jpthien/cy.htm

You'll find a link on that page to his discussion forum with more pictures and info too.

Hope this helps