Container size?

[tvman44]

Thinking about making a small separator for use on my scroll saw to collect the fines.  Would a 5 gal bucket work with 4" pvc fittings?  Anyone try this yet.  I read somewhere on here the 5 gal worked better for fines but I need to use 4" lines.

[alan m]

if you only want it for fines and for the scroll saw then 5 gallons should be ok. if you plan on using it for machines that create larger chip then you would want something larger.
a 5 gllon bucket is about 12-14 " in diameter. thats a bit smallbut should work

[tvman44]

I want this one strictly for the scroll saw but was thinking the diameter of a 5 gal bucket may too small to use 4" connectors.

[alan m]

if you did a side inlet you should get away with it.but it is tight. a 12"dia would have 2" on either  side of the outlet.

why do you need 4" fittings. does the scroll saw have a 4" port
if not you could reduce the dia down

[Bulldog8]

What are you using for a blower? When I think of a scroll saw and a five gallon bucket, I think of a Shopvac. I don't think you will be happy with a Shopvac on a 4" duct.

Steve

[tvman44]

Right now I have a 4" line run to the scroll saw but could easily change it to 2 1/2".  For a blower I have a 4" squirrel cage blower I want to try and if that does not work then I will probably get a small 4" dust collector.  Shop vacs are so noisy, some say the really expensive Fein shop vacs are fairly quiet but I am too cheap to spend that much.

[Bulldog8]

I really don't think that you are going to move enough CFM with a squirrel cage blower to effectively capture the dust. They seem to work fine in shop made air cleaners, but not for dust collection. I use a 5 gallon separator with a shop vac for sanding/routing/hand held power tools. The separator is connected to a QSP Shopvac; don't know if they still make them. But it's quieter than my Porter Cable ROS and 1/4 sheet sander.




Steve