Question:
Here's my question: I am planning to locate my dust collector up on the
collar ties in my garage/shop. Floorspace is too valuable for a mere vacuum
cleaner. But, I don't wanna lug the chips back down all the time. So my
plan is to install a seperator for the big chips under the table saw off cut
extension table. The result would be a short run of 4" flex from the saw,
jointer and planer into the separator, then a vertical run up to the dust
collector humming away up there above me. About 8' vertical. It sucks.
So, whacha tink? Will this work? The set ups I've seen usually have
the chip seperator close to the DC inlet. But mine will be on the other
end, close to the machines making the chips. It seems to me that it
shouldn't make any difference, provided the pipes don't leak air.
This will serve the new TS and Jointer I think I've got SWMBO ("She
Who Must Be Obeyed") convinced I need under my Christmas tree (and the soon
to get Planer still in the negotiation phase). I'd share my secrets for an
answer to this question.
Answer:
I built a "loft" for my dust collector - Grizzly G1029 - same model as
yours, I think. I've got the trash-can first stage up there with the collector;
it is pretty leaky, and I voted for "close by". If you put the first stage on
the floor, you've just added another 16 feet or so of duct run, if your main
line is 8 feet high. Lugging the chips is more-or-less reasonable, because I'm
toteing a can instead of a filthy, leaky bag down the ladder. I may rig up a
permanent block and tackle to make the job less dramatic, but so far, so simple.
The loft is 3' wide by 6' long, with the long dimension perpendicular to my
garage long wall. I've got the loft floor at 7 feet, and barely have enough
vertical clearance to get the top bag blown open. I took the collector off the
wheels (I don't want it going anywhere up there!) and replaced the top bag
support bracket with a hook in the garage's 13 (or so) foot high ceiling.
There's enough extra room up there for a small compressor, eventually, though I
don't have one now. The loft was sized with the compressor in mind.
I liked the loft idea for three reasons. First, like you, I wanted to floor
space back. Second, the free end of the loft is a couple of 10 foot long 4 X 4s
anchored to a 2 X 6 floor plate, using standard framing hardware, and I was able
to use both sides for new wall space. I've got a new 8' high X 3' wide wall on
the outside, and 4' high X 3' wide one on the inside for hanging junk up. Third,
the total system duct length is shorter, because I just go up to collector
level, instead of up from the machines to the main line, then back down to a
floor-mounted collector. Also, the collector is now in a more central position
in the shop, and the duct runs overall are shorter.
I've got my jointer under the loft parallel to the garage long wall. There's
enough room to get good infeed and outfeed, and about 6 1/2 feet of clearance
vertically (from the floor), which is OK after the initial feeling of
claustrophobia.
Better build that baby strong! The collector weighs 210 pounds, and there's
quite a bit of vibration. I'd make damn sure that the existing framing was going
to support the extra weight. You can bet that load wasn't in the original
engineering for the garage framing. Slapping a hunk of plywood over the ceiling
joists may not be good enough...
One thing I found is that a lot more vibration was fed into the main house
structure when the collector went from the garage floor to the loft. (Is yours a
detached garage? If so, this may be a non-issue for you.) The concrete floor is
a much more massive damper than the joists and flooring of my loft, and the
fixed end of the loft is hanging on a ledger plate nailed to the original wall
studs. To keep the noise and vibration down, I got some neoprene anti-vibration
pads from Grainger's, which quieted things down considerably. The collector just
"dances" on the anti-vibe pads, and the house walls don't get driven as much.
Have fun, and remember the basic design considerations for the project: 1. Short
duct runs - good. 2. 210 pounds of dust collector falling on your head - bad.
