DC on 2nd floor, tophat style in middle?

[davidrn]

I have been working with 2 single stage DCs with  a trashcan lid seperator, decided to move up. So after watching CraigsList for the past couple of months, I found a small WW shop closing, I bought his DC system. I will now have a Reliant, with a 17" impeller, and a newer 3HP motor, and the 4 bags are all Oneida, and as much piping and fittings as I will ever need.
My plan is to have the DC and bags upstairs on the second floor of my shop, and drop down to the tool area. I thought a tophat seemed like a good choice vs a cyclone,  however, it would make sense for it to be attached to the wall around 7 to 8' up. So, reading thru all the postings about the container height, if the height of the tophat is critcal, but the trash can is not, can I use a Sonutube as a pipe, with a 50 gal trash can at the bottom? Would there be little/no effect on my CFM ?
I could include more shop/DC details, but I thought I would throw out the idea, and see if anyone has experimented with a seperator at a higher room height.

[phil (admin)]

As long as it is perfectly sealed, go ahead and use the Sonotube.

[davidrn]

Is air like, ' matter ', no matter the height of the container, if no leaks, than the CFMs can not be lost, (or in this case decreased). I hope to discharge outdoors in the summer, but use the Onieda bags during the winter.
Thanks for the answer, I will post pictures after I get started. Right now, I think I need to do a clean up, sell my 2 old DCs, and figure out a more permanent spot
for my tools. I have my drum sander on wheels, but it was just like the planer, I move it and aim out the barn door when I am working with longer boards.

[phil (admin)]

Right, you can make it as tall as you like.  As long as it seals, there is no downside.

[davidrn]

Well I have some photos of my finshed installation of my new DC system. I couldn't find a SonoTube of adequate size, so rethought that idea. Changed the location to the stairwell, and still on the second floor, and the construction of the TopHat. As you can guess from the photos, I glued the cardboard drum top the TopHat, and used the 6" air intake from the DC for the bottom to empty the collector. Used 7" pipe to the intake, and the dust intake is 6", I found a round into square adaptor.. Have used almost all the supplies I got, using 7 blast gates. The TS, RAS and the Drum Sander are hooked up, and have run well, the pickup is great. My original thought was to find a truck oil change type funnel to empty the drum out, but I used what I had. I am including some other angles of the system.

[RCOX]

If I may be so bold as to add a suggestion:

1) With the height off the floor that your container is, it is my opinion that a window cut into your container to show how full it is would be very beneficial.

2) Putting a blast gate on the fitting at the bottom would help in emptying.

I am re-doing the duct work on my system to 6" (almost complete) and had thought about doing a similiar setup as yours except I have some flat 26 gauge sheet and was going to wrap it into a funnel similiar to a cyclone. A tophat thein separator with a cyclone drop. Any thoughts from the readers?

Let us know how your setup works. It may help me decide if it is worth the trouble.

Raymond

[davidrn]

I thought about the cyclone type bottom, which is why I mentioned the large funnel. A truck funnel, at least 18" across would fit nicely if it had a 6"/> bottom.
I have four 4" blast gates left over, but the bottom opening of the drum is 6". I thought I would try emptying it a few times and watch for any problems. I do have some extra 6" pipe, I can make the opening longer, and if I went with a blast gate, a bag could be used over the end pipe for clean up.
I do like the window idea, what type of plastic should be used, that seals well, and can tolerate the suction from the system, but not change color in a month?

[RCOX]

My dc is 3 years old and when I first got it and found out what a pain it was to empty, I replaced the plastic bags with a couple of 30 gallon trash cans. I cut a window in each can and used some 1/8 inch Lexan that I had laying around. After drilling the holes through the Lexan and the cans, I placed a bead of silicone caulk on the can then bolted the Lexan over it and smoothed out the squeeze out. It still looks as good as it did originally. I placed the windows where they will let me see when the cans are about 2/3rds full.

I live in Salt Lake City and a local tool supply house ordered me some 6" plastic blast gates and they were about $10.00 each. They also ordered some 6" flex for $53.00 per 10'. This is the best online price I had found and this store matched it. The plus side, I didn't have to pay shipping. These people have been excellant to work with so I do as much business with them as possible. Some things I may pay a little more for but they stand behind what they sell, so it is worth it.

Hope this helps.

Raymond

[davidrn]

I have a woodworking shop video up on YouTube, since it is showing my TopHat style system, thought I should post it here also.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vud9oJH9w2g&feature=feedu

[galerdude]

Sah-weet! Nice shop, David. Enjoyed the tour. Thanks for sharing.

Gale

[Rick T]

Nice shop and so much space I'd just plain get lost in there.
Interesting idea for cleaning out dust from container.
Thanks for the tour!

[Acadia]

Hi Dave, nice shop!

I have the exact same dust collector as you and I just completed a top had for it.  Only problem is i find that there is too much loss of suction.  Did you notice a big difference in suction with and without the baffle?

Thanks

[davidrn]

I never ran the system without the TopHat in place, so I don't know if there is a loss in suction. As I was building the system, I kept testing the furthest end of piping for suction, and it was pulling all the sawdust I could feed it. Is it possible you have a leak at a blast gate, or at your barrel? By gluing my barrel to the TopHat, I eliminated that as an option, but I can hear some leaking around two blast gates, not enough to have a huge effect, but I will put some silicone caulking around them soon.