i have been following this forum for sometime and decided to build something for my shop. i have a Penn State single stage collector with two bags. since I plane a lot of rough lumber I have been using an enlarged version of a trash can separator Of course a lot ends up in the bags because of scrubbing. Here is my plan. I thought I would use Stubby Nubbys idea of mounting my collector on the wall ,replace the top bag with a filter, and use something around 30 gallons for the bottom. I plan to use the Thien separator next to the planer, the rest of the dust or sawdust comes from my miter saw. I don't have my table saw hooked to my system. Would this setup work if I put a second Thien separator just before my collector? My collector is in a small room off my shop. Thats the plan, will it work? any suggestions? Shorthanded
adding seperater will reduce airflow and pressure by a suprising amount. . adding in 2 will cripple the system unless you have crazy air flow before. unless you are using the chop saw continuesly it will take weeks or months to fill the drum but you will fill is from the planer in less than an hour. you wont notice the chop saw dust in the drum compared to the planer.
i would do one goo seperater rather than 2
Thanks Alan I forgot to say that the planer separator would have the blast gate closed when using the rest of the system. My reason for wanting A separator next to the planner is ease of emptying the drum. Its a real pain to empty the bag on my present system.
if you have a seperater on each line of the ducting that are parralel to each other then it should b fine. but put them in series and you will lose .
not sure its worth doing parralel but if it makes sense in the space then go for it
Thanks Alan, last night after I made my post I started reading all the posts from the beginning ,and found a post by RBOETTCHER who has the same old Penn State DC 2 system I have. If i can figure out how to squeeze everything into my small room and still be able to empty the separator can with ease I will forget the separator for the planer. Again thanks for your reply. shorthanded