Dust collection network for the shop (high depression)

[Christophe Mineau]

As you may already know, there are two kinds of vacuuming systems, serving two different purposes.
- The Low depression / High volume for chip collection, typically for wood working machinery.
For this you need minimum 100mm diameter hoses
- The High depression / low volume system, similar to the household vacuum cleaners
For this the hose are generally, at the suction end 32 mm diameter, and when you have a collection network in the house, the PVC hoses are generally 50mm in diameter.

I already have in my shop a Low depression/High volume system with a big cyclone and homemade turbine (never showed that, need time to publish that), with 100mm hose.
But for some applications, like vacuuming the debris from a high speed CNC spindle, of for lifting the metal chips to clean up a conventional mill, this is not really relevant and you need more suction power and so more depression.
For that application I generally use a small shop vacuum, but it always gets on my way and so I decided to install a vacuuming network at the ceiling of my basement shop, and control the shop vacuum with a remote command.

There are lots of benefits doing this, first of it being I reduce a lot the noise in the shop, especially at the CNC (I now use a water cooled spindle which makes much less noise already compared to an air cooled one).
Other big advantage is that It also improves a lot the air quality in the shop, because shop vacuums can be powerfull at sucking the dust, but they are also as much powerful at blowing air in the shop and lifting the dust all over the shop.
The shop vac I use has a blower feature which even allows to connect a hose and blow the air out of the shop if need be.

Here are some photos of my setup :

End connection to the CNC dust shoe (see my other post about this one)



Connection of the CNC hose to the port just above mounted on the ceiling :



View of the PVC hose network, heading towards the shop door, where the remotely activated shop vac is installed.


Here is the port above the conventional mill, closed when not used.


I use it on the mill mainly to cleanup metal chips, but as I don't want metal chips in my network, or in my central vac, I have a small cyclone next to the mill to collect these metal debris.


And here is where the shop vac is installed.
You can see on the wall this connection box, and sockets marked "Télécommande", meaning "remote control".
The box is were is installed the remote controlled relay that is used as a switch to power the socket where the shop vac is plugged in.




Here is the remote control box open.


And here is the remote control itself, it's radio activated and can reach up to 100 meters away from the relay, it works like a charm.

[tonyfoale]

I have a similar system but the pipes are on the wall not ceiling. I gutted a shopvac and removed as much restriction to flow as possible and it sits permanently on top of a cyclone separator which dumps the dust into a container. I have several ports on the main pipe near machine tools that need it. lathe, Mill, bandsaw, linisher etc. I do not have a remote control but the shopvac starts up when I start one of those machines. There is a manual switch as well so that I can use an attachment to clean the floor etc. The shopvac sits in the workshop as far away from my work areas as possible to reduce the noise.

[Christophe Mineau]

Hi Tony,
Yes, I could have used an automatic startup, but in this case with the CNC, it is always on and draining current, I could maybe have triggered it only when the spindle is on, but that's convenient enough with the remote control.
Similarly, for cleaning up the mill, the vac is not working at the same time as the machine.
But it's an option, this could be easily modified.
Thanks !

[tonyfoale]

Hi Tony,
Yes, I could have used an automatic startup, but in this case with the CNC, it is always on and draining current, I could maybe have triggered it only when the spindle is on, but that's convenient enough with the remote control.
Similarly, for cleaning up the mill, the vac is not working at the same time as the machine.
But it's an option, this could be easily modified.
Thanks !

Actually I meant that I switch the vac on when the spindle or blade etc. is moving. Your remote is made and working, no need to change.

[flyfr8rs]

Where did you source the spring closed access ports at the end of the pipe runs? These:

[Christophe Mineau]

I purchased the PVC pipes, the ports and also the grey 50mm soft pipes for the curves at an online store here in France called Atepac.
It's the kind of store that sells household central vacuuming systems and whatever necessary to install them.
These ports have two electric contacts that can be wired to the vac to trigger it and which are closed when you plug in the hose , which has a chromed metal ring at the end.

you can see that on this picture:
The two screws connect the wires, and you can see the metal end of the hose.
Oh I purchased also the 6 meter flexible pipe with the metal end at the same store, I cut it down for more convenient lengths, but it's far better than plumbing flexible pipes, which are way too stiff.

[DIYer]

Thanks Christophe Mineau! We've added your Dust Collection Network to our Dust Collectors category,
as well as to your builder page: Christophe Mineau's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Dust Collection Network by Christophe Mineau

tags: dust collection