The dust collection setup at the Denver expo that made me redo my shop

Last month I went to that woodworking show in Denver and watched a demo where they ran a full sheet of ply through a tablesaw with a shop vac setup. The air stayed clear, no haze at all, and I realized my cyclone plus cart filter combo is leaving a film on everything within an hour. I spent $680 on a new arm and a better filter bag, but the real kicker was seeing their duct sizing chart posted on the wall. My 4 inch lines were way too small for the length I ran, so I'm pulling them all out this weekend. Has anyone else torn out their whole system after seeing one of those live demos, or am I just chasing a clean shop that doesn't exist?

2 comments

2 Comments

sean482d ago

That 680 bucks stings, but the real kicker is nobody talks about the static pressure drop over time. I clean my filter after every big session, but the duct walls themselves collect a sticky layer of fine dust that shrinks the effective diameter by like a quarter inch after a year. That can drop your airflow way more than going from 4 inch to 5 inch pipe ever fixes. I measured my system with a cheap anemometer before and after cleaning the inside of the runs with a leaf blower hose, and it was a huge difference, something like 30 percent more flow. So before you rip out all that 4 inch, try running a stiff brush through the lines or even a long pole with a rag on it. You might get back most of what you're missing without the weekend of swearing.

milalewis2d ago

Fair point @sean48, but I've seen clean 4 inch pipe still choke where 5 inch never would.