What dust extractor should I buy. + pipework

[nr_franklin]

Good day,
(its been asked before and it will be asked again)
looking for some advice on dust extractors, pretty much down to three...

* low end-ish...Axminster Trade AT60E 1HP Extractor.. (£400) 1000M3/H
*mid range-ish..Axminster Trade AT170E 2HP Extractor.. (£650) 1250M3/H
*all out... don't tell the wife... Laguna P/Flux 1 (£far too much) 1500m3/H

Then onto pipework... ideally 150mm wound steel with drops and gates.

I'm only planning on running my saw, a 30cm planer thicknesser and a bandsaw, the space is a double garage. I would like something thats very hushed.

Is anyone running the Axi ones are are that noisy? will the little Axi AT60 keep up with a 12'' thicknesser?

Regards
Nick

 

[sunnybob]

6" pipe is excessive for a single machine in a small workshop.
(I run 62 mm pipe throughout and its pretty good, even on the 300 mm thicknesser)
I would save money by going with 4" (100 mm) and spend it on the bigger extractor and a cyclone (the cyclone saves the extractor motor by removing dust from the system before it gets to the fan blade, and allows you to run the machines for longer before having to empty everything. Its not compulsory, but it is useful)

 

[SammyQ]

Axminster Trade AT60E 1HP

I've had a second-hand ancestor of this one - c/o Rob Stoakley, aka "Woodbloke" - for about 10 years now. Services my Wadkin AGS 10" saw and my Elektra Beckum 260 planer, no problem at all. It also coped easily with a DeWalt 733 on full chat. It has a cloth bag instead of a nice modern filter. Showing no sign of aging, brushes are original as far as I know.

What it does NOT do well is sander or router dust; because it is an HVLP model, not a HPLV one.

In action, I put it just outside the garage doors, where the wind helps disperse dust emerging through the weave of the bag, and a 4" hose connects me to the machines, 2m inside the door. On the odd occasion - blizzards - that I need heat, the dust emerging is caught up by an overhead bathroom fan venting into a 1 micron filter bag. I keep my 0.3micron 3M face mask on for 10 mins after processing stops too.

HTH, Sam.

 

[mbartlett99]

With that machinery I don't think you should be too stressed. I've an older Axi which is rated at 1250 and it deals with my stuff easily (same sizes as yours). Its pretty quiet and what noise there is isn't the high pitches annoying sort.

I would size your piping to match the extractor/machines - they were designed like that for a reason. IMO 62mm will not go well with a p/t. Dustspares.com seemed to be the cheapest I could find for ductwork etc. Sadly cyclones for this size ductwork are a bit expensive - I bought mine from the states but then again I work there.

Before I bought mine I agonised for ages and did a load of research but in the event it was all pretty simple as long as you use a little commonsense.

 

[Inspector]

The airflow specs of pretty much every DC is exaggerated as much as double of what they can actually move.
Any cyclone or separator before the impeller adds drag and reduces airflow so if you want a cyclone it needs to be bigger to equal another with a smaller motor. IE: 3hp cyclone = 2hp without.
100mm/4" pipe can only flow at most 750M3/H or 450CFM. Flex hose is less.
150mm/6" pipe can flow as much as 2000M3/H or 1200cfm with flex also being less. So stick to your plan of larger pipe and open the ports on the machine wherever you can.
No DC can be described as "hushed". Many are as loud or louder than your planer. If you want to reduce the noise you need to enclose the DC in it's own room or closet that you have taken steps to sound insulate. The return air from it needs to run through a baffle/labyrinth type of duct to keep the noise in the closet.

If you really want to understand dust collection read Bill Pentz's site. http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm It will take days to read everything and much is repeated because many people jump to the bit they want info about and would not otherwise see important information elsewhere on the site.

 

[sunnybob]

I mentioned I use 62 mm, because I cant buy 100 mm blast gates here but I didnt recommend it.
If I could afford to import all the parts I wanted, I would use 100 mm.
BUT... With a canister type dust extractor like the sip 01929 I did run my thicknesser through 62 mm completely successfully.

 

[nr_franklin]

Thanks for the advice guy's.

 

[Mike Jordan]

The Fox F 50 extractor is sold by Charnwood at a good price and with a three year guarantee. Don't use anything but purpose made ducting with 4" as a minimum size. Siting the machine in a separate space is vital for health.

 

[MikeJhn]

For any type of dust/chip extraction you need to overwhelm the need, not just meet it, that way you have future proofed your installation and giving yourself the best chance of not damaging your lungs, I would not buy anything that uses a bag filter they don't filter fine enough for an enclosed workshop, a pleated paper filter is capable of filtering down to a reasonable level and will not leak plumes of dust into the air, personally I would go for 2000m3/hr rather than anything less for Chip HVLP extraction and somewhere in the region of 350m3/hr HPLV for dust extraction and match the ducting to whatever extractor you get.