50-760 myth busted

[bagger don]

I would first like to thank Phil for sharing his separator design with all of us fellow woodworkers. I have now made 3 of them and would not use a single stage DC or shop vac without one and will probably not waste my money on a cyclone. I have just completed my newest seperator and ductwork for my 50-760 and believe busted the myth that it will not support 6? ducting or be useful as a stationary machine. I know it was designed to be a portable but with 35 yrs in the design and fabrication field I can not depend completely on spreadsheets or hearsay. Actually building and testing is the way I need to do it. My setup is the 50-760 with 5? to 6? going from the top of the separator to DC. A 6? side inlet with 24? of 6? main trunk going into 4? drops and dual 4? drops on 3 machines. My 1st try was with the 30 gal silver trash can and 4? in and out of the lid. The separator worked fine but was not pleased with the suction. My current setup is totally amazing. It has seems to have twice the suction and that is still with a stock bag.  

Don Z.

[juicegoose]

Now that my friend is a great setup. I'm really not wanting to cut the lid off my blue barrel but seeing that setup really makes me think it would be easier then trying retrofit the existing lid. Have you been able to locate any 6"-5" reducing fitting that would allow a hookup to 5" flex hose? I've found websites that state that 5" pvc pipe and fittings are made but none that sell or have a link to somewhere that sells 5" pvc. I've thought about going the way of 5" HVAC ducting but the sheetmetal used in the fittings isn't the strongest. Any ideas.

And again great job man.

[juicegoose]

Another question for you Bag. How have you felt the epoxy has held up on the inlet connection to your barrel? I was going to use epoxy and fiberglass and possibly make a simple support box either out of sheet metal or some 1/2" ply.

[bagger don]

As for the 5" PVC, they don't make it except for some big $$$$ clear stuff. before I made this I used various types of PVC fittings and turned them on the lathe to make what I needed. My DC has a 5" also, That's why I went with the 6". I did have to use HVAC duct to go from the separator to the DC though. For the inlet on the drum it is to early to tell as the system has only been up and running for about a  week. I did use  West systems epoxy instead of polyester resin with 2 layers of glass and it seems to have a good bond. I cost more but I had never had a failure.  I also prepared the surfaces with 60 grit and  had a hairline fit up with no gaps.

Don Z.

[juicegoose]

Regarding the fitting between the DC and seperator. I was thinking of picking up a 6" PVC flange fitting and enlarging the inlet on the bottom of the 50-760 from the 5" to a 6" opening. This would allow me to buy some 6" flex hose for the upper connection.

On the fit of the 6" inlet. do you mind describing the process you took to get such a good fit? My thoughts were to create some sort of templete to create the cutout. Interested in your process as Like you said it's a very good fit.

I also like using the west maine epoxy system. It's very good quality epoxy. and the pump system can't be beat.

[bagger don]

I thought of plasma cutting my DC and tig welding a 6" flange to make the fit up better but I still have 1-1/2 yrs on the warranty. Besides it works great now plus I just received my Wynn filter yesterday and have notice a significant difference.

Steps For coping the pipe.
#1 If you don't have a circle cutting jig for your BS make one

#2 Cut a circle the same diameter as the drum at the CL of the inlet. It can bet trimmed down later to fit snug against the I.D  at the top of the drum. I made a 2 pc lid

#3 Mount a 1"x 6" perpendicular to  the circle and parallel to the CL.

#4 Clamp the pipe  to  the vertical board and allow enough material to overhang the circle.

#5 Put assembly on your BS circle cutter and it will give you a perfect cope.

#6 Locate coped pipe on your drum and transfer your cut line slightly smaller than the outline

#7 trim to fit and epoxy.

[juicegoose]

Bag I would have never thought to have used my circle cutting jig like that. Great idea

[dbhost]

That is just too sweet. My side inlet is WAY rougher than that, bad enough I want to redo it... I am going to copy your method for sure when I step up to 6"!

[painterman]

I was wondering what kind of blast gates you were using.  Would love to know.
John

[bagger don]

John,

I had some 1/2" acrylic from an old display case that was used for the gate body. The holes were bored 1/16 over for the SR 35 PVC which is held in with clear silicon. 1/4-20 holes were drilled and taped to hold the halves together. The gate is 1/8 lexan. I bolted the lexan between the 2 halves and bored the holes through all 3 pcs at once to maintain perfect alignment.

Don Z.

[JTJ]

Don, absolutely stellar job on the shop and on the side input.  Another good use of a bandsaw circle cutting jig.  I've been overthinking the whole 5" / 6" for too long for my 50-760, and as you say 5" fittings are way too hard to come by and pricey to boot.

Once again, terrific job.

JT 

[coloradotrout]

I like 6" ducting to the tools -- per Bill Pentz.   It really makes a big, big, difference.   It takes time to replace the std 4" fittings on the tools, but it's not too bad.   Bandaw, Jointer, and Table saw were relatively painless.   I'm still procrastinating on 12" planer and miter saw.  The gates take some time also.   6" just moves so much more air -- the small stuff is getting drawn in.   4" is probably a good chip collector -- 6" starts to get the smaller stuff.  With my 6" runs -- and now the Thein baffle, I need to get the Wynn filter instead of stock Jet.

I've not tried a seperator container yet, but did make the thein baffle for my Jet 1100C.  Suction seems to be very good -- hard to say if it's as good as an empty bag/clean filter, but with none of the chips and probably much less of the fines getting to the filter, it has to be superior to what it was before.  I tried to clean the filter well before I installed the baffle, but it was so caked full, after 30 mins I relented.