# DC enclosure project



## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

On another thread, Stick suggested enclosing the dust collection unit with an air return so that heated or cooled air is returned to the shop. Since we regularly have 30 degree winters and 105 degree summers, this idea seemed pretty good to me.

This thread will be about how I go about doing what Stick suggested, and the installation of a Super Dust Deputy.

This may take a couple of weeks to complete, so join in with any suggestions. Being an old guy, I take my time and only do a few hours a day. The project takes place in a breezeway between two sheds, a 12x25 shop shed and a 10x12 office shed. Both are wired from a shared 60 amp sub panel near the rear of the breezeway.

I put a roof over the breezeway, which is roughly 4 ft wide. The sheds are side by side, but not parallel or plumb. I used 1x6 pine to make a good floor between the two sheds. The office shed has a half door leading out to the breezeway. (At the rear of one shed is a simple stand up urinal-I'm an old guy and nearby plumbing is my friend.) Last week I extended the floor 3 feet so I can walk out the half door into the breezeway without stepping down to the dirt. 

Very convenient. The sheds sit on crushed rock, contained by 2x10 planks and held in place by 24 inch long steel spikes on one side, and by 24 inch rebar driven into the ground. Redwood is used for contact to the ground. The rock is why the sheds are not quite parallel, and why the shop shed is not plumb. 

The picture is of the DC unit as it was at the start. Sagging hose and all.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I ordered a Super Dust Deputy (SDD) to replace my existing Rockler chip collector, which has aged and is now leaky. I will re-use the 30 gallon fiber drum, but have to cover the existing two holes in the steel lid with a 14 inch ply. Made a quick circle cutting jig by gluing a stop piece on one edge to hold it square to the band saw table. Cut a slot for the blade so I can adjust it for diameter up to 22 inches. Just used a 1/4 inch bit around which the circular piece rotates. See pix. Took very little time to make it.

I will cut a hole in the middle to mount the SDD, and seal the ply to the metal lid, then cut an additional opening in the steel lid to fit.

Sure enough, the 5 and 6 inch SDD ports are odd sizes, so had to come up with a way to fit Rocker fittings--which were slightly too large. Guy at HD used to do duct work and came up with a couple of adjustable diameter connectors that fit inside the Rockler connectors and taper down about 1/8th inch to fit the SDD. I'll bolt the metal connector to the Rockler connectors and use aluminum duct tape to seal the connections, and probably inside to smooth the air flow.

Did a little work on framing the ends of the breezeway. Very challenging since nothing, and I mean nothing, is square, parallel or plumb. Started the back opening, but it got too cold and windy to work there. The picture also shows the added deck. You can see the half door on the left, and in the foreground is a redwood box to cover part of the drip irrigation system. Yes, the door opening itself is square, plumb and parallel. The camera angle is deceiving. Need the door to seal off the enclosure properly. It will be weatherproof. Sorry for the turned picture, Maybe someone can remove it.

And for Rick, it will be insulated as well.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Got busy doing stuff, off to HD for some 1x4 to frame the doorways and also to make the doors themselves. Everything's odd sized.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Great setup Tom, I’m really liking the idea of having it outside and saving valuable room in the shop . I never thought of recycling the air back into the shop , kudos to Stick.
As for insulation,I’m not sure what that is and will Google


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

RainMan 2.0 said:


> Great setup Tom, I’m really liking the idea of having it outside and saving valuable room in the shop . I never thought of recycling the air back into the shop , kudos to Stick.
> _As for insulation,I’m not sure what that is and will Google_


_I am amused._ :laugh:

Actually it was Stick's suggestion about recirculating AC/heated air that spurred this project. My shop is really well insulated, has good heat and AC, but putting the DC outside really does affect temperature. The air pass through back into the shop will have filters on both the outside and inside, so the recirculated air will be very clean. I'm having to do a door on each end only because there a pee place behind the sheds and at my age, that's a priority.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Finished framing the end walls, tiny as they are. Very cold out there, about to have some rain (always an iffy proposition out here on the edge of the Mojave). Getting the framing square and parallel has been a chore, but they have to be to put doors on the breezeway. I'm making the doors myself with 1x4 pine assembled as if it were a face frame, then covered with ply. It will have some foam insulation inside, but I don't expect it to do much. Have to seal off one side of the floor that opens into the space under the shed. The idea is to trap the filtered, heated or AC air output from the DC, so there can't be any air leaks. 

Once the doors are on and the leaks sealed, I'll open up the wall for the air return, and will use a couple of existing 20x20 filter holder grilles over them. Air will return through filters on both sides of the wall. For now, not a lot to see. Hard to do much in my present health. A little each day will do.

At that point, I'll finish mounting the Super Dust Deputy on the ply, cut a new opening on the fiber drum top, drill the fittings and bolt them into the connectors and tape it all tight. Then I can connect the flex hose, nice and short to avoid airflow loss. For that, I'll take lots of pictures in case someone else wants to do it. 

Remembered doing the door framing that when I was a kid, I spent some summers helping a family friend, a good finish carpenter, hang doors. I think that's why I kind of like doing that.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Rained some the last couple of days, but got the breezeway ends in place, Got the ply in place. Cut the odd shape with my Triton track saw. Nice for slightly odd sized shapes to fit the shed walls' slight angles.

Had a devil of a time getting the door casings in just right. A little off, but I can't figure out exactly what's out. The casings are pretty near right and I'm thinking maybe I'll just adjust the size and shape of the door to fit. It's off about 3/16ths. I'm going to put some gaskets in the door casings to hold in the cleaned air. I think part of the problem is that the 2x6 floor isn't quite level either. Only the top of the casing is reliably level

Cut out the opening in the plywood SDD mount (pix), and marked the six holes for mounting the SDD on to it. If you're going to do this, you need a really short pencil stub to mark the location of the holes accurately because the slanted body won't let you mark straight down with a longer one. Believe me, you want those to be placed just right.

Drilled out the holes 5/16ths, but will use quarte inch bolts with fender washers to minimize the stress on the plastic material. Will use lock nuts too. 

I'm taking the top off the fiber drum this weekend and re cutting it to attach the ply ring. There won't be a lot of metal left on those tops since they were drilled for the two Rockler connectors, so I'm going to really cinch down and use some good adhesive/sealer to prevent air leaks and to help hold the lid and ply ring nice and tightly together. Also will drill and bolt the 5" to 4" and 6" to 4" connectors to the metal adapters. so they're ready to install. Now, where did I put those rolls of aluminum duct tape?

Thinking about the return for clean air. Not quite sure how I'm going to do that. Don't think I want to cut out a huge opening, so I may just cut a smaller one and attach the existing 20x20 filter holders/vent covers over them. Don't want to spend money on smaller vent covers when I have nice (expensive) ones I can reuse. They'll make it really easy to change filters now and again. 

Little by little, it's coming together, and I think I'll really appreciate it when summer arrives.


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## tulowd (Jan 24, 2019)

Interested in your project and how you like the end result. I have to laugh when you southern gents refer to winter in the 30s LMAO; we occasionally get to -15 here, with summer swings occasionally up to 100, but not quite as humid as you Rebs. 

My similar setup is mostly completed, other than the initial connections to the D/C in the shed. The second 2.5" duct is for a three electrical circuits and compressed air. 
The big difference is I will not be re-circulating the air back into the garage, in part because of the fine dust that will get thru the filters, unless you go full HEPA. I also am curious about the noise component - it is nice and quiet with the shop vac connected sitting outside, but ducting the air back in will likely bring quite a bit of the sound back inside.

For the circle cutting, I use a jig saw or router with guide, as my pre-teen sized 10" Rikon B/S is not capable of big cuts.

Nice to see you slaving away, pls carry on good sir. :smile:


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Moved things along today on the DC itself. First, added second row of mounting holes to the ply ring so I could position it on the lid. Pulled the lid apart, removed the connectors you see in pix 1. Will re-use the elbows with built in plumbers boots. Nice smooth curve.

Put the lid together with the ring for a trial fit and to drill the outer ring of holes to attach to the metal ring. You can see the double holes in the lid, but then jig sawed out the center hole using the ply opening as a guide. Greatly weakened the lid, but the ply will pick up the slack. See pictures of lid's process.

Next, fixing the metal adapters to the 5 to 4 and 6 to 4 Rockler connectors. A single 1/4 bolt holds it in place, but allows the metal parts to expand a bit to fit into the SDD. Pix of drilling the hole, pix of the assembled connectors, and pix of SDD with the connectors in place, but not yet taped. Will be using aluminum duct tape to seal the connectors in place, and inside to smooth out the inside airflow. 

Next step is to add a layer of calk between metal top and ply ring to prevent air leaks. Need to buy a fresh tube first, something with an adhesive quality. The outer ring of six holes will get 3/4 inch, quarter inch bolts with large fender washers. Will use fender washers top and bottom to attach the SDD. Again, the idea is to reduce the stress on the plastic SDD, it's pretty sturdy, but the washers will help it along. The bottom will get a nice coat of adhesive calk as well.

My wife has an appointment tomorrow down the hill, near the Rockler. In taking the old system apart, I realized that their non-adhesive "tape" for sealing joints was good as new after about a decade. I don't like tape adhesive much, so I think I'll get some more of that tape, that is, if my wife is patient enough to wait for the store to open.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Got the SDD attached to the 30 gallon drum. Have to pull everything out of the enclosure this weekend to lay in the linoleum and seal off the air leaks. Once that's done, I'll make the doors. Need to do a little fine tuning on the door framing, then finish and install the doors, and the seals around them. Going to keep the latches simple. 

Happy to finally get back to this project--had a big political bru ha ha in the senior club that distracted me last week. Ended with the unpopular candidate resigning. Got a kiss from the other candidate. I do enjoy politics.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Worked on the doors today, but had to clean up the shop and clear off the workbench first. Got the outside edges done and ply on top. Then put the hinges on the doors. Forgot how much I enjoy using hand tools. Couldn't find my mortising bit, so I cut it out with a chisel. Took some extra time, but really a pleasure. Hinges are perfect! I'll get the doors hung on Tuesday, have to head to San Diego tomorrow. 

I haven't connected the DC yet, have to move everything out of that breezeway to get the linoleum down first. Last bit will be cutting the return air port and installing the grilles. Going slow, lots of distractions, but at least I got the tools back in place.

Pix of SDD mounted on drum in breezeway and pix of the door frame before covering with 1/4 ply, assembled with pocket screws.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Got a door up today. Found out just how far out the door jamb on one side is. Will have to loosen and square it up. Slowly coming along.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Putting on square and plumb doors is showing all the irregularities in the walls, roof and floor of the breezeway. Used up a package of shims already, need to get another pack to do the second door. Ordered a half inch mortising bit (Yonoco) with a quarter inch shank to install hinges. Much easier than chiseling it out. Off to HD yet again.

Need to get some trim too.


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

Looking good Tom. I finally opt for the 4” version with the smaller barrel. Works like a charm. Also spent about an hour cleaning the Wyn canister.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

JFPNCM said:


> Looking good Tom. I finally opt for the 4” version with the smaller barrel. Works like a charm. Also spent about an hour cleaning the Wyn canister.


I can imagine it would. If you wished to have a larger drum, you could probably use some ply to adapt the smaller lid to a larger one.

Managed to get the second door installed. Fiddling with my third pack of wedges to align the jambs. Installing some stops tomorrow, then some decorative trim. Realized I probably need to have some kind of a light in there too, maybe solar LED with motion detection. 

Really tired today. Lots of odd twisting and turning in the confined space today. Have to remove the DC equipment to lay in linoleum and seal off the air leaks. Once that's done, I can install the SDD and Harbor Freight DC unit. My shop is full of sawdust right now, so the DC will get a real workout cleaning all that up.

I think I should work out the air return so I have the option to try again. The vent will come in around the same height as the wiring. My plugs are set at 4 feet. Thinking out loud. 

Time for a :lazy:


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Dang, one of the doors just doesn't line up with the jamb--half an inch gap on top. Something's off. Investigate and fix today before my energy runs out.


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

Good luck with the door and jamb Tom. Those used to drive me crazy.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

JFPNCM said:


> Good luck with the door and jamb Tom. Those used to drive me crazy.


What's funny is that I am really good at putting in doors. Learned in my early teens spending summers with a finish carpenter. But the breezeway has such crazy angles, what I thought was plumb, isn't. That's why we have crowbars. I think the problem is at the top of the frame. Got to get a fairly tight seal. 

This is turning into a busy week and the project is probably going on hold or will inch along this week.


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

DesertRatTom said:


> What's funny is that I am really good at putting in doors. Learned in my early teens spending summers with a finish carpenter. But the breezeway has such crazy angles, what I thought was plumb, isn't. That's why we have crowbars. I think the problem is at the top of the frame. Got to get a fairly tight seal.
> 
> This is turning into a busy week and the project is probably going on hold or will inch along this week.


Tom:

In the process of remodeling a lot of older houses we became very familiar with “ unplumbness and unsquareness “ to coin a couple of words. Like you, I spent time with skilled finish carpenters and soon learned the easier routes to solving those problems. As for “ crowbars” I recall once using a pair of 24” pipe wrenches to take the twist out of a stringer. Problem solving can be fun.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Fun! Well, I am having fun with this project. I really like problem solving. I'm going to adjust the frame to the door. The door IS square. Thus, the crow bar.

Jon, sounds like you have a lot of experience making sawdust and bent nails?


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

As with you and many other member here, basically grew up with the trades. One of my first mentors told me when I was still in grade school, “ regardless of how much formal education you pursue, learn a trade and you will always have opportunities”.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

That was good advice. Have a time crunch on a different project just now, so I've closed off the breezeway without connecting the DC. Have to seal in the floor first. Moving slow these days.


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

Nothing wrong with moving slow. That is the value of being retired.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Finally got back to the DC enclosure project today. Pulled everything out of the space, swept it up then cut two 45 degree cuts on some 1x6 and closed the galp between floor and shed wall. Once that was done, I laid down some linoleum on the floor, which is to keep the ac/heated air from excaping, but also makes cleanup easier. Tentatively hooked up the DC and Super Dust Deputy. Not quite the way I want it, but I'll be finessing it later in the week.

Still working on sealing the space in, and the doors aren't quite fitting on one end. Next major step is cutting an opening to vent the filtered air back into the shop. I made a hanging filter unit that hangs in the shop, has a 20 inch box fan in it, but it has two 20x20 filter holders on it. These will be going over the return opening so I'll have a double filter for the returning air, and a really large area for the return air. I ran out of daylight, so I'll take a picture or two tomorrow. Looks kind of cool in there. Might also install some insulation in the ceiling to hold down the heat a bit. Final bit will be sealing cracks with a fire resistant foam. 

It all worked really well when I gave it a test run. I think I'm going to paint it and try to make it look nice.

Still managed to get in two naps.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Project on hold for a couple of days to get things ready for a seminar in Charlotte. Also hope to get my church theater conversion project underway this week. A 16 x24 foot stage is OK'd and in the works. Just need volunteers with nail guns now.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Wednesday afternoon I'll be done with chores and can get back to the project. Trimming some areas out, sealing all the cracks, shortening the connector between SDD and shed outfeed, cutting the opening for the air return. I think I'm going to add some sheet insulation to the ceiling with radiant barrier to see if I can keep the heat down.

Anyway, it's really coming along. With everything connected again, I can clean up the sawdust that accumulated while the DC was down.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

All Right! Went out this a.m. and cut the vent for the air return into the shop. Also installed the 20 inch filter holding grille. Looks very nice, well sealed/tight fit. The opening is smaller than the grille, but plenty large enough to replenish the air. Have a little more sealing to do, and to shorten the hose into the SDD, but basically it's done except for a little work on trim, plugging air leaks, holding down the linoleum at the entry ways, and eventually, paint.

The picture shows the SDD, top of the chip collector, the HF DC unit and in the upper right, the vent, covered by the white grille. Set the grille up so I can change filters without having to move everything.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Final push on this project this weekend. Something to protect the edge of the linoleum, door seals, trim around the doors, foam in all the small cracks, shorten the connector between SDD and the through the wall DC port. And maybe some insulation under the roof (Fly Rick down from Canada to help?) 

Not quite enough space to install the second filter holder unit, so I may try to figure out an alternative this weekend as well. Doesn't need to be sealed as well as the other side.

It's been interesting to do this project, at least to me. Stretched over several weeks, I don't think it's attracted many followers. But I've learned a lot about how to square up a space which is pretty much an uneven trapezoid using levels, squares and shims. All done on a budget.


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

Definitely worth following Tom. Added a Dust Deputy to mine as a result of the discussion. Added the Wynn filter based on your previous comments. All good points.
Thanks.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

@JFPNCM I've had a passing thought about changing the impeller to the stronger one from Rikon. But I think once the sealing is done, that I'm going to let it rest, make some much needed frames for my wife's art, and move on to my theater conversion project at a church.


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

Good plan.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Final day on this project. Fixed the second (back) door so it closes tight. Shortened the hose from exterior port to the SDD input and straightened out all the connectors as much as possible. Tacked down the edges of the linoleum so I'd stop kicking and tearing it up. Changed the door latches so the close tighter. My wife was impressed. That's it. 10-7, out.


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