Howdy,
I am a hybrid hobby woodworker and am building a garage with a section for a woodshop. The shop size is 14 x 32 feet with a plywood floor on 5″ floor joists. My hope was to run piping for the dust collector under the floor to a wall mounted unit on the outside of the shop (under the stairs). I have a lot of the usual tools: cabinet table saw, planer, jointer, bandsaw, etc.
I think I might need to have access to the in-floor piping. Any thoughts or concerns I need to be aware of with an in-floor dust collector?
Thanks,
Chris
Replies
It's not a big deal.
I have never needed to access inside my dust collection system. I'd be happy to install under the floor - beats my overhead system by far.
I suppose if you have a long run it might not do any harm to have access in the middle, but usually you will have a machine every 3m or so and it would be unwise to have more than 10m of 4" pipe in a run - not that a line so long would actually fit in your shop!
As long as you get the pipe sizing correct you should be ok. I don't know anything about your collector or your machines. You need to consider both the volume of air and the velocity of the air at each machine to move sawdust from each machine. Often the manufacturer of the dust collector will have some help available through their customer service.
Each of your machine connections should be a sweep or a wye. Each one can serve as an access point in the unlikely case you need to clear a clog. Your "cleanouts" are already there, don't overthink it.
i built my shop a couple years ago, a little biggger than your, but did exactly what you are planning - all dc piping under floor, dc in closet and vented to outside. i splurged on the the machine (oneida super cell), and took oneida at their word that the super cell would be functional even at end of a 100 foot, 4 in flex tubing. i have no elbows, no sweep, just flex tubing, approx 80 feet, 8 separate machines each with electronic blast gates, and at end of run last machine (24in bandsaw) has plenty of suck. re access, as tubing all flex, makes very easy to pull out and alter as necessary - hard piping would be a different story.
Two comments:
Put your plywood down with screws, not nails. That will make future access easier, tho there may be things sitting on the plywood.
You may never change the layout of your shop. My experience has been quite different. No way to know the future need for adaptability.
Under the floor should be better for several reasons. My concrete slab floor sent me up instead of down.
Recommend you see if some minor additional excavation would allow for 6 inch pvc dust vac piping. The air flow would be much improved, and Onida may offer consulting services if you ask them. My construction was new, and allowed me to place my 6 inch pcv runs under my concrete floor slab. So much nicer than going overhead, it you can make it work. Run electrical power service to your large tools and bench locations at the same time. Pat.