Thoughts on upsizing / rearranging inlet / outlet on existing Thien setup...

[dbhost]

Okay, so the upgrade bug has bit me in the tail. Mostly because I want to be able to pull through the separator from the Y fitting that my HF DC came with. So the thought is, right or wrong, to go in and out of the separator with 5" HVAC duct. If I bother with the upgrade, I also want to do side inlet, to eliminate the extra elbow and improve airflow. Like I said, I am thinking, either right, or wrong, that I can set up this way to pull from both top, and bottom of my table saw...

So my questions would be...

#1. Is this a stupid idea?
#2. How to best make / set up a side inlet on a 55 gallon plastic drum?
#3. Is 5" HVAC ducting workable in this?
#4. Can I use 5" for my main trunk lines, and somehow get a 5x5x4 wye to branch off to 4" S&D to make my machine drops?

[bruegf]

1) No
2) I don't see why going in and out of a 55 gal plastic drum would be any different than what I did using a galvanized garbage can.   Easy to do and worked very well - used 5" snap-lock duct from Menards.   They were cheaper and had heavier gauge snap-lock than Lowes.
3) Absolutely - I used 5" snap-lock from the blower to the dust collector ring to the separator and then for the main trunk of my system.
4) Yes, www.kencraft.com carries 5x5x4 wyes at a (semi) reasonable price.   I elected to use 5x5x5 wyes and use a reducer so that I have an option of using 4" or 5" to the machines.

Fred

[dbhost]

I am not too terribly worried about losses from lift / drop of the duct. And my shop / runs are actually quite small. 20' for the main trunk line, and only 1 branch that isn't just a drop down the wall, and that is 8' run...

A bit of an update though, I tried following the link to www.kencraft.com and that is a jewelry manufacturer... The right link is http://www.kencraftcompany.com/ (they are who I got my clamps from...)