This taking from I've watched from Stumpy Nubs and adding the power of the Cyclone from Oneida. The one difference is that you leave the dust bag as is where Stumpy Nubs cuts his bag and dumps it into a five gallon pail with a trash bag. Although with the cyclone you are going to get far less debris in the bag requiring less replacements. Just the same, I like his idea as the heavy duty bag will break down over time from removing the metal clamp that keeps it in place. That simple modification to yours would prevent the you from ever needing to replace the heavy duty plastic bag. I am picking up the Harbor Freight Dust Collector next weekend, and I plan to do a combination of what you have here with the modifications Stumpy Nubs did. Thanks for sharing. This was an excellent contribution.
Hey, being a Dutchman myself, I love your sweatshirt. I did something similar with a HarborFreight dust collector. The on/off switch will wear out quickly and more specific to replace. Wire your dust collector through a common wall switch in a more accessible area and leave the motor switch on. A proactive problem elimination.
I haven't done this myself yet but a friend helped a guy put copper wire inside his plastic dust collector system. The claim is static discharge can cause a fire within the pipe. I did notice static in my piping so it's on my radar to add grounding wires. Nice build thanks for posting.
This was a great instructional. I used it to convert my single stage Grizzly dust collector into a two stage system. I made 3 key alterations though. 1. My air filter is mounted on top of the out flow and the bag below the outflow. I also used a paddle air filter that you can hand crank the paddle which flaps internal paddles against the air filter knocking dust out. 2. When I used a rubber trash can the air suction was so great it crumpled the can causing the upper seal to be breached. I upgraded to a metal can for a more rigid structure to with stand against suction implosion. 3. Once I upgraded to a metal can the wood feet used to hold up the can no longer worked well because the rubber can could flex a bit into its upper lid - the metal can wouldn't and kept falling when trying to put the feet in place. As well, the upper lip of the metal can being much more rigid caused some air gaps. To make it mount with a good seal I used toggle/pull latch clamps - the latch/levers attached to the can and the catch/clamp part is attached to the outer edge of the upper wood lid. I use 4 of them equal distance around the lid and it pulls the can up nice and tight.
I really like this setup. I talked to +MattCremona 6 months ago and he advised me not to waste money on a single stage dust collector unless I was going to convert to 2 stage collection. Best tip yet and I like your setup here.
+Bill Hantzopoulos Yea, single stage systems are not good for a multitude of reasons. But, single stage is better than nothing! Thanks for watching Bill.
One of the best videos I have yet to come across...unless you're dropping $5K on an Oneida system!. I plan on venting directly to the outside. Great job, my friend!!!!
The Harbor Freight 2 HP unit already separates dust. That is why the bag is in on the top - so dust falls into the bottom after the integrated cyclone separator. There is even a divider between the two halves and it spins the air under the separator.
Thanks for this. You were the initial inspiration to make my own cyclone setup. I went with a 2hp Shop Fox blower, Oneida SDD, and Wynn filter. But Dick Wynn recommended the Gamma seal lid approach to make a threaded filter attachment, and I did that. Mounted to a custom plenum out of Baltic birch. I kept hesitating, drowning in dust, because the space is so restricted. Garage door and track on one side, lumber rack on the other, and the electrical panel right in the middle.
Great build and well produced. High praise all around. And...YOU USED A TRIPOD!!!! Yeah!! The ONLY suggestion in would make is to use T-nuts on the back of the plywood used to mount the motor. I think it would make installation easier and, in the event that you need to service the motor, easier to disassemble for service.
I Love the safety (PPE) you are using, especially for the Little Dude!! Protect his hearing for years to come. Because he will learn to use the PPE later in life!! AWESOME!!AWESOME!!
+Ben Brubaker This is certainly a bit less expensive but your system is probably more powerful.....I suppose it really depends on what kind of performance you are after! Thanks for watching Ben.
I have never seen a video of yours before. I am very impressed with your work. I really love the HIGH QUALITY work yet geared for an average budget. Great job. I just bought the same Harbor Freight unit. I'm waiting on my new planer to arrive. Can't wait to try them out.
Thanks for taking the time to document your dust collector build. I've checked out other designs but I will be basing my build on your design. I like how you stack the cartridge filter and plastic debris bag to minimize the over-all height of the assembly. Well done and much appreciated.
Great build. I have HP's DC, and I know if using a cartridge you have to get more of the large dust/chips out of air stream (than a typical single stage can) to keep them from clogging it. This is a really nice solution to that problem. Best one I've seen yet.
Dang, dude's got a wife, 2 kids and cat walking around him while he's working on his project.. Can definitely tell you love what you do haha. Certainly earned my sub.
Great build. Suggest you put a foot levered wheeled platform below the trash can. This way it can be wheeled to empty and can be stepped up to raise it up and keep it in place.
Nice build. Gonna have to give a setup like that a try. Next time if you don’t have help hanging something heavy like that motor you can throw a fence cleat and it can hold the board for you while you drive the screws. 👍🏽👍🏽great video
That's awesome! Almost exactly what I want to do.. thanks for doing the planning work! Also.. you're a good dad, letting your kids play in the shop with you!
Been fighting a DC3300 for a couple of months. It doesn't have enough suds. Just bought this one today for 170$. Thanks for the info Boba Fett. Heading down this road I'm sure. Great video!
This is timely as I am adding dust collection to my shop in a few weeks. I was going to go with single stage, but two stage would be more economical and effective in the long run. Thanks for doing the grunt work for me Tyler.
2 stage is without question the way to go and making it yourself will be, at most, about half the cost of getting a ready made one. Glad I could help, and good luck!
Tyler, nice video and a great help. I made a couple of tweaks due to space issues in my shop. At 12:40 when you were pushing your wedges in to raise your collector can, I have a 2x3 block against the wall to allow more clearance. I also glued a 3/8" plywood disc on the bottom of my can to add strength and act as a bit of a skid plate. Again thanks for the great idea and explanation. Love the family helpers too!
Like your idea - I did some what the same except I left the Plywood square for the bag and filter, this way I could use all threaded rod to make it easier to remove the filter.
Cool I must build this, Also after owning Milwaukee,Makita and Craftsman cordless drills and dis satisfied with all of them I bought the Ridgid Drills and for the past 3 years have had much better battery life than the 3 mentioned .
+boatbuilder1 Awesome! Have been really pleased with my RIDGID tools. You really need to check out their new stealth force impact....it is incredible. Thanks for watching!
i have a single stage 2hp Jet DC, but after watching this video, i have a feeling i will soon have a 2 stage 2hp Jet. :) thanks so much for taking the time to make this video. i am inspired. -JD
+Tyler G , thanks. Any ideas or tips would be very welcome. As soon as it gets a bit warmer i'm adding a 8'x8' extension on the back of my shop to house the dust system. it will have a return into the shop itself so the ac/heat wont be lost. improving my dust system, as well as running more permanent duct work is the next step. Your DC upgrade is exactly what i want to do.
+konaok1 I have several switches around the shop but I think I still may go with a remote that I can have on my person all the time. Thanks for watching man!
Personally, to collect the finner particules I would make a spiral with pipe elbows at the end of the sucking pipe so that a second centrifugal filtering would happen at high flow velocity with a tight radius ( Gforce= V/Rsquare) . This way the dust would go down the spiral back in the bucket and the air would go up. This spiral would be inside the bigger bucket so a lot of space would be saved.
Love this idea. I want to do this with my Penn State dust collector. Same design as the HF pretty much. Only thing I might want to do differently is a flexible coupling between the cyclone and the bin to be able to lift the lid for emptying.
Want to thank you for this unique set up. I’m so glad I found this. It should serve to solve my space limitation problem. I also took a look at Jeremy's set up on Guy's Woodshop who is also inspiring me. I'm surprised we don't see the filter installed like you did, more often, since in your configuration the filter does not have to be above a standard ceiling height and there's a straight connection between the blower and the Dust Deputy and the blower and the impeller. This seems like a more efficiently designed set up. I’ll hang the impeller by turning the support legs upwards and mounting them on the ceiling, but I’ll have to have someone shorten the legs and weld the mounting plates back on. I’ll mount the blower and impeller as high as possible so the run from the Dust Deputy can be as high to the ceiling as possible also. What I’d like to know is, can’t the lid on top of the impeller be a simple thin piece of plywood just caulked in place if I’m supporting the impeller with the included legs? And would you have designed the attachment of the filter to the impeller any other way, now that you have been using the system? Thanks for your ingenuity and expertise. - Jake
Jake, thanks for watching out stuff. After making this video Wynn (company that makes the filter) has come up with a few clever clips that allow easier removal of the filter, if you ever needed to....I haven't, if I was do build this again that is the only thing I would change. This system works excellent.
You can clean installed bag filters by holding them up and blowing compressed air into the bag , in the reverse of the normal flow. Dust falls to the bottom.
Tyler I loved your video. I want to make a set up just like yours except using the bucket instead of the bag at the bottom of the filter. I also like the other companion video you made to this with all the links. Great set up and a very thorough explanation! You took your time and made everything very easy to understand. Thanks again.
Just had an idea.....you could cut a rectangular slot, top to bottom, in the black can and add plexiglass; this way you could see how full it is and when you need to empty.
Good job Tyler. Thanks for sharing. One future tip your viewers might want to consider... using french cleats to hang the motor unit, instead of permanently attaching it to the wall. It's a solid but temporary way to secure heavy items to a wall, with the flexibility to move easily later.
I do like the price on this collector, that said after buying the SDD, and canister filter you could have just purchased a little better system. Price went from $200 range to $500 range pretty quick
I was running my harbor freight dust collector with only flex hose on the floor, but ijust picked of 3 carpet tubes for free. the diameter is 4 inches so I plan to use then for my dust collection system. now I only need to buy fittings
Looks like a good system but you might want to look into reducing the number of 90 degree elbows and flex duct that you are using as they are some of the biggest reducers of airflow.
+Miter Mike's Woodshop I think you will find it to be a good improvement, in separation but more in the increased airflow. Thanks for watching man and thanks for the shirt!!
Great Video. One thing I noticed is you did not talk about grounding your dust collection. Airflow through the ducting produces static electricity which can ignite dust.
I cheated on mine, I just exhausted it to the outside of my shop and clean the pile up when it starts to get big. Great build as always Tyler. A share on Face Book for sure.
Great set up Tyler, dust collector is on my wish list. right now i have a 3rd hand record power system which works but needs improvement. Previous owner never even used it.
Like your videos Tyler! I did a similar thing a year ago but wasn't happy with the air being recirculated even with a 1 micron pleated cartridge filter so vented it outside, works a treat!
+David Stanton If I wasn't in the basement I may have vented outside as well but many people can't so this appeals to a larger group of woodworkers! Thanks for watching!
David Stanton - I'm thinking of doing the same thing - venting to the outside. But, what did you do to provide a safe inbound air flow that would support the impeller driven venting? I'm in the basement with oil-burning furnace (common in New England, USA).
Dave, take care. Some express concern that venting a basement shop outside may result in pulling furnace gases such as carbon monoxide into your shop. I am not an engineer so I can not confirm with authority, but I would investigate.
This is really awesome man. Thank you for showing how you converted this dust collector into a much better system. I really want to improve the dust collection in my shop and this shows how I could make it happen. 🙂
A pipe coming out the top of the lid you have on the final stage and piped outside through that window you have boarded off would save your filter a lot and keep your airflow less restricted. you would still catch the big stuff, but the super small dust particles would just get shot outside.
In my opinion, your system is pretty good. except 2 things can be improved. 1. The angle of the first elbow to the cyclone is too tight. it creates a big air flow lost. 2. The canister filter should be placed at the top to let the fine dust drop to the bag. right now the fine dust will likely attached to the wall of the filter and blocked the air from coming back to the shop. What do you think?
I have the small dust deputy attached to my Shop vac, which works great, but really want to step up to your dust collection rig, Harbor Freight and Oneida here I come. I guess I can figure out how to make your setup, but if you could post a drawing or two it would be a big help to this neophyte retiree woodworker.
+Jim Challender Jim, if you would send me an email (DIYTyler@gmail.com) I can send you the very basic drawing I made to build off. No measurments or anything since I measured and cut based off the collector and cyclone. You will LOVE having a big system, so nice. Thanks for watching Jim!
I rec'd 2nd degree burns on my arms and scalp from a dust collector fire in June at work, it was connected to a CNC router, and yes, it was grounded. The entire facility- 4 buildings burned to the ground because of this dust collector which was made out of PLASTIC and installed inside the building with the CNC. Ive been recovering at home now the last 8 weeks. No dust collector should EVER be installed inside a building!
Great job Tyler! That looks like a very nice set up indeed. Those filters are a PITA to clean, so that vortex unit essentially eliminates that job. I have a similar set up & love it. Steve
The original dust collector, if modified, would be a better choice. The trick is to get a better top bag. If you get the right felt upper, it will shed the dust layer at any change in pressure (blip in pressure causes bag to shake, dust to fall into bottom). The right upper is then also rated for 1 micron dust, which is the particle size you really want to focus on. Most standard bags from mfr are rated 3--5 micron; I prefer better because I like my lungs.
Thanks for sharing, Tyler! This is exactly the kind of mod I was looking for. I have the same dust collector and recently bought the Oneida SDD Cyclone. My original thought was simply to connect the SDD inline and later find a way to install a better filter. Your modifications have given me some ideas to make that happen sooner rather than later.Billy B.
I was watching another channel wherein he mentioned that the manufacturer had specced a five foot horizontal minimum before going vertical on the cyclone. He had a six inch main run pipe (PVC) with four inch drops. Have you heard of that requirement? I plan to put my collector in a corner much like yours so it is of interest if that is necessary. He was using a clear cyclone more of a horizontal design, the name of which I do not recall. They also made clear blast gates and accessories. Take care. Doug
