Aussie Newby with a plan

[Greg Milton]

Gooday from Downunder!
I'm loving this site.
I'm setting up my woodshop dust system right now and am very impressed with Phil's idea and the great input everyone has to the projcts people are working on. Keep up the good work everyone, especially you Phil.
I'm running Jet table saw, Planer, Drum Sander and Jointer, DeWalt radial arm, Triton Router in Home made Table, Bandsaw and foor sweep all through 4" ducting with individual blast gates on each machine so only one or two can be used at any one time which is fine. They are built into an island at one end of my three car garage based on an idea I saw in Fine Woodworking Magazine.
I have a Jet DC 1200 Dust collecor with a 240 volt (That's standard here, no 110 at all) 2 Hp Motor and 6" inlet and 5" outlet.
My Idea, after reading all the posts on the forum that are relevant (I think) is to remote mount the DC Pump section and plumb through about 20 feet of pvc 6" pipe to close to the separator cyclone. The top of the 20 Gallon Steel Trash Drum would have a centred 6" outlet connected to the piping via flex hose. The inlet would be 4" with the Thien baffle as per standard designs.
Alternatively I have a newish 50 gallon steel drum with a steel lid and clamp ring and that would certainly take 6" outlet as well as 6" inlet.
Would any of you kind folks care to suggest which way to go?
Ideally, I'd like to ditch the filter base and bag and opt for one or two HEPA filters direct from the blower outlet with a cleanout at the bottom. Any thoughts on this or am I dreaming?
Kind regards from chilly Melbourne.

[phil (admin)]

Hi!

I think if I had the room I'd use the 50-gallon drum.  Remote-mounting the blower is still a good idea, and may even remove some of the noise from the shop.  If you can tangentially mount the inlet to the 50-gallon drum (it has been done, look around on these pages) you'll reduce resistance the separator can add.  But that 50-gallon drum would be nice for those times when you're preparing rough lumber, which can really overwhelm even a 20-gallon can.

[Greg Milton]

Thanks very much Phil, I think I will go that way. I'm now thinking of doing the side entry as you suggest, but using two 4 inch inlets one above the other made using the stacked MDF method boisejim used and two PVC pipe leadins.
Does anyone see any issues with that?
Cheers