In my woodshop in Dayton, Ohio, space was at a premium, and dollars few. So I had to make due with this makeshift system.  To make the shop vacuum not as noisy, I bought the muffler for it from Sears, and it helped some.  To increase the volume of air the vacuum moves, I installed a Cleanstream filter.  That gave the vacuum enough power to keep up to my 12.5 inch Delta planer taking almost a full width cut, until the filter got loaded with dust.  I utilized the cyclone lid on the 5 gallon pail to increase the capacity of the system, and it is a lot easier to empty.  One thing I found is that lighter chips, like pine chips from the planer will not stay in the  pail.  The vacuum sucks them right in.

I finally gave up on the shop vacuum as my dust collection system, but I need a unit that would run on 110 volts so I bought the Delta 50-850 1200 CFM dust collector.  

I first started out with one 4" PVC pipe running down the wall to my table saw and jointer, with a empty connection so I could hook up my planer and router table.  Didn't take long and I wanted to expand to other tools and needed more suction.  So off to the hardware store I go.  Came home with 6" PVC and the fittings I needed, and with sticker shock! I had bought schedule 40 PVC becaure that is all they had. 

I removed the wye at the blower, and to my surprise there was a restriction that reduced the 6" input down to a 4" input to the blower.  I removed that with a hammer and chisel and installed the 6" PVC runs.  

After I got it all installed I was amazed at the suction I had!  However, I was also alarmed at the amount of static electricity the system had.  At about the same time I had to empty the bag of sawdust.  What a pain!  If I had not had help, I think the sawdust would have been all over the lawn!  I decided that a major system overhaul was in order. 

I returned all the pieces of PVC pipe that I could, then I ordered metal pipe and fittings from Oneida Air.  The price difference between metal and the PVC I had was minimal.  6" Schedule 40 PVC fittings are expensive!

After more research, you can use the thin wall sewer drain pipe and fittings   They are cheaper and will not collapse under the suction.  I still prefer the metal pipe and fittings.  They take more work to seal the joints, but you can get a greater selection of fittings and adjustable elbows. (0-90 degrees)  They say that the static from the plastic pipe will not cause a problem, but grounding wires along the pipe is a necessity.  I have received several nasty shocks from just the short runs of flex I have.

I also built a cyclone using the plans from the Wood Magazine cyclone.

Here you can see my finished system that I had installed while I was in Dayton, Ohio.  There was six 4" drops along one wall in the shop.

I have replaced the filter bags with two 0.2 micron Torit cartridge filters that I bought from www.Buy-Filters.com.  Each filter is 12.75" in diameter and 26" tall. I used some silicone to glue the filters together.  A plywood base with a blast gate for cleanout was constructed and a plywood cap with accommodation for the 6" duct work was placed on top of the column. The larger sliver element just above the filters is the Oneida silencer.  The base and the top mount I built from these plans I got from Saws N' Dust. In addition to the finer filtering size, I have recouped 8 sqft of precious floor and 2 feet of wall space.

I received the Long Ranger DC remote control for Christmas and now I can control the collector from anywhere.

I got tired of all the dust coming off the blade on the table saw at me so I built this shop-made blade guard with integrated dust collection for my Craftsman tablesaw.  It is built out of 1/4" Lexan and is connected to the stock blade guard mount.  It is nice to see the dust coming off the blade and going up to the DC instead of ending up on the table or floor. With the Grizzly 1023 I decided to splurge and bought the Shark Guard System from LeeWay Workshop that has integrated dust collection as well. 

I am building and installing a new blast gate system in the shop. Inspired by a design by Jim Halbert, I have built these gates to be controlled by the start-up of the machine corresponding to the particular DC drop. My gate system is using pneumatic rams to open the gates. The blast gate in the picture on the right is designed for a quick connection. You use a 4" outer diameter pipe and shove it into the PVC pipe on the gate. I use the standard 4" dust hose splice to insert into the PVC. I have six 4", three 5" and two 6" of these automatic gates in the shop.  Construction photos here.  

Here is a gate installed and the air manifold I made for the gate system.

Get the plans here. (low bandwidth)

Get the plans here. (high bandwidth)