I was overdue for a different shop dust collector system.  I had the Harbor Freight system sitting in my basement for 6-1/2 years.  Until recently, the box had never been opened.  With a little ingenuity I designed a two-stage system.

 

I wanted a system that was portable, minimal footprint, less than 80” height, operate on 110/115 volt, and for maximize flow use only one flexible inlet hose and the system had to have minimal bends throughout.

 

The major components are as follows:

Motor/blower:           Harbor Freight Central Machinery 2 Hp

Separator:                Oneida 5” Super Dust Duty

Chip Collector:          Rubber Maid Brute 20-gal trash can

Filtration:                 Wynn Environmental, MERV 15 filter

Dust Collector:          Menards 3-1/2 gal bucket

Hose handle:             Rockler Dust Right Quick-change

Remote control:         Rockler

 

Structure:

Laminated 1” birch plywood

Laminated 2-1/2” x 3” Southern yellow pine

Baltic birch plywood, ¾” UV

 

Pictures 15-18 show how much dust leaked after the initial use.  The system collected 133 cups of fine dust and passed ~ ½ cup of dust into the collector bucket.  Rough math reflects the system is 99.6% effective.

Thanks for looking.   Danl

 

 

 

 

That was really well thought out. Very well done. I have had the HF DC over in the corner for about 4 years and not happy with the whole thing. Thanks for the inspiration !

Paul

 

How did you attach the filter at the top and the bucket at the bottom ?

Paul

Edited February 19, 20215 yr by Masonsailor

One of the better HF conversions I've seen, well done. Just a caution...the dust in the bottom of the bucket isn't what got passed the cyclone. There's much more. It's in the folds of your filter. Over time that filter will clog to the point of needing a cleaning, but it will take a while.

Some fine engineering getting that set up.  Nice work.

Awesome Build!

That is one great design for DC. Now from what I have read in electric motors and the fact that Sears and other companies misstate the HP on motors. The highest true HP for a 110v motor will be 1.5 . This is from reading posts from engineers on other forums. That said I think your system will perform well for you.

Very nice, job well done.  Looks like you used a fine dust for your test.  The larger sawdust from the saws and other machines doesn't make it through.  The Super Dust Deputy works well.   I did the same thing with my Hf collector and added the Oneida to it.  I made a filter box out of smaller filters since I got them for free.  I find that as the bucket fills, more dust makes it to the filters.  I empty mine at 6" from the top.  It has been said that the motor may not last being turned on it's side but mine has a lot of hours on it and is still running fine.  I turn mine on while I'm turning and it may run continuous for hours at times.

 

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

One of the better HF conversions I've seen, well done. Just a caution...the dust in the bottom of the bucket isn't what got passed the cyclone. There's much more. It's in the folds of your filter. Over time that filter will clog to the point of needing a cleaning, but it will take a while.

 

Fred, You are correct.  Also, having a MERV 15 filter will trap a lot of particles which other filters would not of captured.  

 

 

4 hours ago, Masonsailor said:

How did you attach the filter at the top and the bucket at the bottom ?

Paul

 

Paul, 

I used 2 Gamma seal lids.  I cut the center section off of both and attached the inner part with Wynn Environmental 6 flange clamps to the filter, each end. The inner Gamma part hand screws into the outer Gamma part. The upper Gamma Seal attaches to the structure with construction screws.  The lower Gamma seal attachment to the bucket is a press fit.  The upper Gamma seal lid has a seal that has to be removed.  The Wynn filter had  a 1/2" seal on both ends.  Danl

 

Thanks Danl. Use of the gamma seal lids is a nice idea. Thanks again for the post. 
Paul

 Nice job Danl, well thought out.

That's a nice setup Danl, some good idea in there.

On 2/19/2021 at 2:14 PM, Gerald said:

That is one great design for DC. Now from what I have read in electric motors and the fact that Sears and other companies misstate the HP on motors. The highest true HP for a 110v motor will be 1.5 . This is from reading posts from engineers on other forums. That said I think your system will perform well for you.

Yes, that is what I've always called Sears HP.  6.5 "Peak" HP running at 13 amps?!

 

13 amps x 120 volts = 1,560 Watts  = 2.0 HP   (at 100% of energy converted to power, i.e., no friction, no heat loss, etc.)

 

"Peak HP"  Peak horsepower is the maximum output that a motor can produce while the motor has the start windings engaged. Peak HP can be as much as 5-7 times the rated or running HP.

Did you make those clamps from hose clamps ? It looks like the trash can is the widest component. I need to design it to go as flat up against the wall as possible. After the trash can is the cyclone the widest component ? I’m thinking I can make a rectangular plywood bin in place of the trash can to decrease the width of the entire unit. I won’t need it to be portable. 
Paul

10 hours ago, Masonsailor said:

Did you make those clamps from hose clamps ? It looks like the trash can is the widest component. I need to design it to go as flat up against the wall as possible. After the trash can is the cyclone the widest component ? I’m thinking I can make a rectangular plywood bin in place of the trash can to decrease the width of the entire unit. I won’t need it to be portable. 
Paul

For the DD you do not need an enclosure for the barrel like Dan posted. Mine is just sitting on the floor, with DD bolted to top. I turned the adapters to go from 6 on top to 5 and input from 4 up to 5 at DD. Not shown is a window I cut in barrel top so I can see the fill. I had put that off and had it get full . Oh Boy what a mess.

12 hours ago, Masonsailor said:

Did you make those clamps from hose clamps ? It looks like the trash can is the widest component. I need to design it to go as flat up against the wall as possible. After the trash can is the cyclone the widest component ? I’m thinking I can make a rectangular plywood bin in place of the trash can to decrease the width of the entire unit. I won’t need it to be portable. 
Paul

I chose to purchase the clamps from Wynn Environmental.  The clamps are called floating gear latches (link provided).  Then can be made from band clamps, but I wanted to by pass the trial and error effort. 

 

The can was the widest component.  I made sure that the can handle is orientation so that it is in the corner of the box to allow the box to be minimal width and depth.  I have the box inside top 0 - ~1/16" taller than the can.  The next widest component is the HF blower from the centerline of the motor and cyclone.  The blower is asymmetrical.  I had to move the filter ~ 1" off center from the centerline of the blower outlet in order to have every component 1" in-board of the base.  The cyclone is approx. 1/2" off-center from the can to allow minimal bends in the outlet duct.  I wanted the base to be the widest and deepest component. 

 

I now have a trash bag inside of the trash can. This will prevent double handling of the dust and I will have less dust in the air when I remove the dust from the can.  I used the HF 20" band clamp to secure the bag to the can (sorry I do not have pic but can provide one if needed).

Danl