A Dust Collection Story

Years ago I purchased a Jet DC1100 from my brother when he moved. It sat unused in storage while my hobby was inactive. A year or so ago I decided it was time to get it out of storage and put it to use after having completing multiple projects, creating lots of dust and doing loads of cleanup. The cleanup was getting old....again.

Honestly, I did not truly expect what I experienced. What I was Not Expecting was more overall dust throughout the shop (in fact the whole building), plus daily sinus, respiratory and throat irritations. What I Was Expecting was less cleanup in the shop. I got that!

I am familiar with all the irritations I referenced. I associate them with past days of heavy sanding or heavy miter saw use. On those days I knew to wear some form of dust mask respirator. The difference now was that regardless of what I was doing, when the dust collector was active, it was like a sanding day. Leave it off and no problem.

Fast forward.

The DC1100 I have I believe is one with the 30 micro filter bag, similar to this one. I refer to it as a ‘Chip Collecting Dust Generator’. It became immediately evident that I needed to upgrade the filter.



Since my intent for dust collection has always been installed system rather than portable, I quickly ruled out a direct canister filter replacement for the bag. I wanted external so I could mount it where I wanted, and so that I could reuse the filter when I upgraded to more powerful blower. I opted for a pair of Wynn Environmental 13F230NANO filters.


I knew that I wanted a cyclone separator of some sort. I opted for a Super Dust Deputy XL. I went with the XL over the standard because I know a larger blower is in my future.



I wanted the DC system to occupy little or no floor space in the shop. I knew I would need to install it up high, perhaps even in the loft, if I were going to achieve this.

And finally, before I made a 3HP or greater DC blower purchase, I really wanted to experience just how useful (or ineffective) the existing 1-1/2 HP version would be when hard piped to just a couple of tools. You know, there is nothing like first-hand experience.

With the SDD, filters, and blower in hand, it became my mission to install them. Here is what I came up with.

I removed the blower from the Jet stand and mounted it on a frame within the dead space I have up between the floor joists and rafters as can be seen here. This dead space is high above the bottom of the stairs that lead up to a storage loft.



I mounted the SDD cyclone directly beneath the motor and secured it to a purpose built shelf. Like everyone else, I located a collection can directly beneath the cyclone for chips and dust. I added foam gasket between lid and can. The can ended up being the only thing that occupied floor space.



For the filters, I installed the two flanged filters atop a custom plenum box up in between the joists as well, right near the blower. And as you can see, the filters stand vertical like the Twin Towers. Again, no floor space consumed, but filters easily accessible from the loft.



The bottom of the filter box is itself a box. It is on hinges and is latched in place. It can be opened and dumped as needed. Filters can be cleaned from loft above by rapping on them with the hands or using compressed air like the manufacture says, or, if desired, they can be vacuumed from below using a soft bristle brush attached to the end of a vacuum wand. Filters can be easily removed from above by removing 4 screws. The bottom can be opened when standing on the 3rd step of the stairs.




In its final form, I expect my final DC system will have 6” mains ducting run to major tools in the shop. For now, I opted to use some existing stock of 4” DWV pipe to connect up the table saw and router table so I could get back to work and use it. I just needed to buy some 45s to connect things together.



I purchased and installed an iVac wireless control system with three remotes. One handheld and two current-sensor type. The current-sensor versions were installed on the table saw and router table. The DC now turns on and off automatically. They work so nicely that when I complete my installation, the current sensors will be installed on other fixed position tools.




OK. So how does it work?

I am no longer experiencing the sinus or throat irritation when the DC is running. So I know the filters are doing their job quite well.

The cyclone definitely works. Using a 4” hose connected at the table saw end of the pipe, I completely vacuumed out a 3/4 full trash can of saw dust to see just how well. I was able to empty the can without issues. The pipes did not clog but the filter box ended up with <=1/32” of super fine dust in the bottom. This suggests that the SDD XL is still useful at lower CFMs, just not as good as it would likely be at higher CFMs. I am glad I made the XL decision.

As configured, the DC is collecting all the dust that the table saw and router table throw at it. Saw dust is effectively being extracted from the table saw cabinet and router table dust collection box when only one blast gate is open. Nothing within the airflow path of either remains. I am thrilled with router table DC performance. Down flow DC through the bit opening into box is great. Still need to check DC performance dado glade is being used on TS.

For testing, I disconnected the table saw and added another 20’ of 4” flex to the end of TS pipe and hooked it up to my Delta 12” planer and then ran some 2x4 through it. DC seemed to as effective as it was when I had it hooked up directly to the planer. But I could definitely tell there was not as much air flow as when I previously hooked up directly to portable DC. Maybe collection with wide boards may not be as good.

A larger blower is definitely in my future so I can effectively hard pipe to all stationary tools. But for now I know I am better off than I was before I started the project.

Here are a few photos of the piping.






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