Bought 4" PVC Schedule 40 - did I mess up?

[Mike Langford]

Well I guess I did everything wrong! .....But it works fer me!

I used SCH40 PVC and the plastic blastgates from Woodcraft with no problems.....the blastgates fit perfectly inside the 4" PCV.......I had to cut 4" "donut/sleeves" to fit a blastgate into a wye or connector.

I've got it rigged with the blastgates to open only the run to the machine I'm using at the time and it works fine....except.....for that boxed in duplicator (in 3rd pic over by the map!)....but I didn't expect it to be effective at collecting it all, I just wanted to keep the fine dust from circulating (which it does!)

My dust collector is a 1 HP 650 CFM unit which does o.k.......but Bigger would be Better!

Ductwork1.jpg

Ductwork2.jpg

Ductwork3.jpg

[Dean Karavite]

Hey Mike. Funny, but I can't get my Woodcraft stuff to fit that SCH 40! I have the Quick Disconnect Gates. Is that what you have? Maybe I am taking too much cold medicine lately. I think I know what you mean by donuts, but would you mind explaining them a little more?

Also, I see you have an air cleaner on the ceiling. I have one too and my thought all along was that might do a lot of good in keeping the fine dust out of the air. How is yours working for you? I know the object is to have the DC with as massive as tubing as possible and rely on that to collect the dust and keep it out of the air, but like I said in my last post, I would like to try 6", but I can't find a supplier of 6" fittings/adapters... to hook up that size pipe to my various machines that have 4" or even 2.5 dust connectors.

P.S. You know you might catch some for not having any grounding on those pipes.

[Craig Coney]

You could also heat the pipe to stretch it over the fittings if it is too small.

[Mike Langford]

Hello Dean, The blastgates I bought are 4" OD on both ends.....I think the quick disconnect ones have two different size ends and need to be used with another connector?
I bought the #85006 ones.....$5.99
Blastgate.jpg

Since I used all my gates at a wye I needed to make a donut to adapt the gate to the large wye opening (1 1/2" ID)......I just measured the depth of the lip on the wye (1 3/4" deep) and take a piece of 4" PVC pipe and measure off 1 3/4" from a clean, square end and.......using a hacksaw I cut me a donut!
Wye.jpg

Donut1.jpg Donut2.jpg


My ceiling air cleaner works great.....I mostly turn it on when I'm stirring up dust like sanding or sweeping.
I just got the unit the first of this year when the weather was warmer.....I usually have my large garage door open anytime it's warm outside, so I'm anxious to see how it does when all the doors are closed in the shop this winter!......

As for grounding the ductwork........the jury is still out on that one!

[Boyd Gathwright]

Hello Dean,
.... What we have found that works best is (S&D) 2729 6" pipe. It's manageable and reasonable to cut. Here are two Ref. to earlier posts that you may find helpful including making your own 6" BLAST GATES.

Ref. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=8070

Ref. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=7761 6" Blast Gates.

.... Have fun with your project.

P.S. You most likely WON'T be able to buy this pipe at LOWE'S. A large plumbing outfit will most likely carry it.

Hello All,

Sorry for the newbie question. I was practically given a 1.5 HP dust collector (JDS with a 1 micron bag and a cyclone lid/garbage can) and though it is going to be very close to my table saw and router, I need to make a run to my sander, miter saw and a few other things. I bought a selection of gates and adapters at Woodcraft plus adapters that are supposed to fit 4" PVC perfectly.

I went to Lowes today and bought a mess of 4" PVC pipe and Ys... and it turns out the Woodcrafter adapters will not fit. The pipe I bought is SCH 40 and it seems the adapter was made for SCH 20 (duh, noticed that too late). However, I sure didn't seem to see any other selection of 4" PVC laying around Lowes. Quite honestly it will be easier (and more fun) to go back to Woodcraft vs. going back to Lowes to exchange, but are there adapters and options for working with SCH 40? Of course I cut one of my 10' pieces of pipe before realizing all this...

The ID of my SCH 40 pipe is 4" on the nose. Is SCH 20 not 4" ID?

P.S. My friend I got my DC from just got a new Penn Industries 3 HP cyclone and I helped him hang at least 25 feet of very heavy 6" pipe in a 14 foot ceiling. Man was that fun. I think he spent a fortune on the PVC and also got the thicker pipe. However, he is a pro carpenter, I am not. So, should I have some fun and tell him he could have saved $ and effort with the thinner wall pipe?

[Curt Harms]

I found mine at a "if we don't have it you don't need it" type hardware store. Pipe and a good selection of fittings. Real plumbing supply/irrigation stores would be other possibilities. You want drain fittings, not pressure fittings. Drain fittings are curved for less turbulence in the air stream. I've used the PVC blast gates, could never get them to stop leaking. I made my own using cut-in-half 6" couplers, hard board and scraps. Work much better than the black PVC ones.

HTH

Curt