Hello all. I am new to the forum so forgive me if I ask a redundant question. I am finalizing plans for a Shapeoko 5 Pro w 48” X 48” table. My current shop has a Harbor Freight DC with Super Dust Deputy and Wynn cartridge filter. My question is should I have a stand-alone DC for the CNC or piggyback off the existing one. I want to be able to multi task while the CNC is running eventually. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
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I recommend to have a separate DC for the CNC, as long as there is no sophisticated remote control for the vacuum and the blast gates. IvacPro has a nice affordable system, I use the remote vacuum switch for the CNC.
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depends on the size of the dust collector and ducting. I have a older shop fox 2hp 220V dc, super dust deputy, wynn filter with a 6" main trunk line running down the shop and 4" feeds to the main tools. i have no issues having the cnc and another 4" open at the same time and getting enough suction at either tool. having 3 open is iffy.
I have a large Clear Vue cyclone as my main dust collector. It has piping all over the shop and I originally used that for the CNC as well. I did not like leaving it on for jobs that ran multiple hours though, it’s loud.
I switched to a a 12 gallon Stealthsonic with Dust Deputy for the CNC and much prefer that. On consideration though is the size of the receptacle at the cyclone. I have a simple 5 gallon bucket which is fine for my purposes most of the time. If you run hours per day though you may want something larger there or the capacity of your existing dust collector.
I too like the 12 gal Stealthsonic with a dust deputy and 5 gallon bucket. Much quieter and lower power consumption than my big DC.
I think the higher velocity provided by the shop vac does a better job of clearing the chips than the DC can; the dust boot has only so much capacity and the vacuum is more than capable of maxing it out. The lower velocity stream from the DC moves less air and doesn’t work quite as well.
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For my setup/use case I will leave the S5 Pro on a single vacuum, I recently upgraded to the12 gallon Stealthsonic with a small cyclone assembly that easily does the job. It’s job is to remove dust particles so I don’t breath them in, the woods chips it also picks up is a bonus. I’m used to cleaning up after wood projects, even the best DC systems leave some clean up.
The other dust collectors I have are designed to operates at a much higher flow rate to carry larger chips away from the machines due to much larger volume of wood dust/chips. If these systems were used with a drop to 2.5” from the sweepy it would choke the flow even if immediately adapted up to a 4” into the DC system.
There are places for both and my experience is to stick with a separate vacuum (which I can also use in my shop for other smaller tools/cleanup) and leave the larger DC for the larger tool they are really designed for. As @CullenS mentions above, the larger DC’s definitely are noisier and are more costly to run due to higher amp draw especially if you were running the cnc for an extended carve.
It’s good timing seeing this post as I’ve had my 5 Pro for about a month now and just this afternoon finally got my dedicated dust collection installed. I went with a 12 gallon StealthSonic vac with a Harbor Freight separator and Rockler hoses as shown. For the vac/separator connection and the clear hose/90 connection I used the Fernco style 2x2 rubber unions. I put a layer of duct tape around the slicker parts so the clamps would grab a little better. I went with a Rockler 12’ flex hose for the main hose to the CNC. Man, it sure is nice having the quiet vac! Now I can actually talk to my wife when she pops in the shop. LOL I built a bucket/separator hanger for my wall cleat and used a super high tech way to support the drooping hose over the machine–two screws and scrap Romex! Yeah, follow me for more tips! LOL
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Nice setup you have there.
That bucket doesn’t collapse?
No, the bucket is fine. The power of the vac is not nearly that of a cyclone type vac. But plenty for the fine chips and dust of a CNC. I haven’t actually tested it on a live piece yet for chip collection. But I did turn it on and jogged the spindle around to make sure the movement looked good. No collapsing hoses either. Both ends of the blue hose come with swivel fittings which works really well for the CNC application. Depending on my volume I may need a larger collection bucket but for now this should work well to get started.
I have the same vac and had the same cyclone separator but now have the Oneida.
It sucked my lowes and tractor supply buckets in.
The Oneida one is stronger.
I just checked it again and the bucket is solid. Farm and Fleet must make a sturdy one. Although it would be handy to have a translucent one to keep an eye on the contents.
Yeah, that clear one was nice for a while. Then the inside got lined with dust along the side and it’s still hard to tell.
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My Stealthsonic would suck those Lowes buckets pretty easily. I even tried putting one bucket in another, that helped a little. When my old Stanley shop vac finally burned up I repurposed the metal can for a dust collector, been great since.
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Vevor sells a dust seperator with a metal tank. The tank has a window for checking how full it us. The lid is clipped on and us much easier to remove for emptying that having to pry the lid off of plastic buckets.
It also has adapters for 4" hoses and I use it with my planer to keep the chip protector from plugging up the guard on my dust collector.
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