Center pipe connection from seperator to Delta 70-560

[Todd]

Hi Everyone. 

I'm building a seperator to fit under the motor section of the Delta 50-760 DC and I'm using a 30 gallon steel trash can.  I would like to place the trash can on the cart without having to remove one of the steel cross members on the dc cart.  In order to do this the pipe coming from the seperator and connecting to the dc inlet either needs to be flex pipe (as the center of the seperator doesnt line up with the center of the 5" dc inlet) or I can cut the hole in the top of the seperator about an 1 or so off center and have the pipe line up with the dc inlet.  The hole in the top of the seperator will be 4" and I will use a rubber clay connector (from HD) to connect to the 5" dc inlet. 

Has anybody cut the hole in the top of the seperator a littlle "off-center" and if so how does this effect the efficiency of the seperator?  Or should i sue a 4" flex pipe from the seperator to the dc.

I could also use a 5" sheet metal adjstable elbow to make the off-set work?

Thanks in advance for your assistance, suggestions, and recommendations.

[Rick T]

Hi Toddd, yes I found it to be slightly off center, but I could easily accommodate that with the flex pipe in my setup, as pictured, so no modifications were required to the cart other than adding some sort of base (plywood) for the collector pail. In order to remove the pail for emptying, I just tip the separator up enough so the 1/2" sealing ring ( between the pail and separator)  is cleared by the pail and then just let the separator hang by it's short flex pipe while I slip the pail out, and then re-insert the emptied pail under the separator. Point being, you need a method to disengage the pail from separator.. either raise separator or lower pail temporarily. The flex hose gives you some flexibility by stretching and contracting.
I used an old rubbermade plastic garbage can.. @ 19 1/2" dia and 22 1/2" high. My separator is 6" high. That left 7" from top deck of separator to bottom deck of impeller housing. There's @ 3-4" of open height between the 2 ports and the flex pipe easily adapts to the off-center situation and provides the wiggle room to get the pail in and out without issue. The inlet port on the 'top hat' is just above the x-member on the end of the cart.
If you find the cart doesn't give you enough height for your pail, you could raise the cart a few inches by inserting dowels or the equivalent in the joins of the 4 vertical pipes that form the corners of the cart to add a few inches of height. If you don't need or want mobility, you could also wall-mount the unit and eliminate the cart altogether.
This setup works very well with 5" piping.. good air flow and velocity. If you use the standard design, the collector pail will capture the vast majority of dust and chips, with almost nothing going to the filter or plastic collector bag. 

[Todd]

Thanks Rick.  What size flex pipe did you use between the seperator and the dc inlet? 

Is that 6" flex pipe running to your tools?

[Rick T]

Thanks Rick.  What size flex pipe did you use between the seperator and the dc inlet? 

Is that 6" flex pipe running to your tools?

5". The port off the bottom of the impeller housing is 5" and I used a piece of 5" HVAC galvanized 26 gauge pipe to make the top port on the separator. The 5" flex hose I used  I bought from Lee Valley Tools, one of the few suppliers of 5" flexible hose here in Canada that I am aware of. It is a snug but perfectly do-able fit. Just used a few 5" dia hose clamps and no problems.
I used the balance of that piece of 5"-26 gauge for the inlet to the top hat. If you are handy with tin work, you might have a look at the round-to-rectangular transition fitting the guys on Phil's site have made. They feel there is merit and value in doing that and I do observe that many better dust collectors having metal piping do use that configuration.
On the overall 5 vs 6" piping out in the 'network.. a few have experimented and tried it, reporting it works OK. What I'm seeing on the video of the 6" lines is lots of volume/flow but little velocity. that doesn't work for me when it comes to small to medium size saw dust, shavings etc that may not stay suspended with such low velocity so they eventually jam up the works. that isn't my experience with 5". I'm thinking about maybe installing a bit of 5" solid (HVAC galvanized) in my smallish basement shop but just haven't gotten there yet.It has a fair amount less loss when compared to ribbed flex hose, but I'll just wait to see whether I get tired of moving the DC around or not.
Air flow at the end of a 10' length of flexible hose is good, both velocity and volume provided you give it access to air via machine ports. I have connected the 5" -10' length to 4"- 10' length and to 4" machine port. works fine but 5" all the way would be some better. I tried the 5" connected to my 2 1/2" port at my spindle sander. That reduced size caused such trauma that the garbage pail tried to collapse itself... good thing it is heavy plastic material so it survived. Be careful if you use the galvanized pail and impose any serious restrictions as it will crumple that pail in seconds.