IMPORTANT: In the video I show an image of a workshop with an excessively long length of flex hose. I found the image on Google and thought it was a humorous example of a big piece of hose. I neglected to provide context for the image. The gentleman in the photo was attaching that hose to a much more powerful system than is found in most small workshops. He could afford to lose some airflow from the long flex hose, and it works well for him. By not providing that context I made it appear that HE was making a mistake rather than my intended point, which is that most OTHER folks should not do that with their single-stage systems. I am sorry I didn't make that clear, which is why I have removed the image from the video thumbnail and I am pinning this comment to the top so everyone can see it.

The most-effective dust collector I have is my NordicTrack.

I always turn to your videos to sanity check anything else I watch. No b/s, no over-the-top distracting behaviour, even your promo material is handled professionally. Thank you for being so much help to a budding woodworker.

You are a natural narrator! I didn't notice a single "uh" or "um" and your flow of information was smooth as a planed plank of pine, not to mention mighty handy to have in my brain pan! Well done and I've subscribed and punched the like button too!

I went back today and re-worked my dust collector system today and moved the gates near the main feeds and the air flow really changed for the better. Great tip!

Been researching dust collection systems for a while now. This is by far the best advice I have seen when it comes to dust collection. Thanks, you’ve earned my subscription to your channel.

I am just becoming a fan of your instructional and review videos. They are the best in terms of detail and underlying rationale. You are also a naturally good presenter, using clear language, concise points, linear-logical progression. You are a very good teacher. The reliance that you have on your own experiences (both good and bad results) is a perfect exclamation mark to the points being made.

Once again, you've come up with a ton of valuable info without wasting time on useless info. You really have a way of communicating great ideas!

Thanks for this. I "inherited" my school shop about 4 years ago when our previous shop teacher retired and it has always had dust issues in the 16 years I've been working at the school, including failed filtration that had allowed everything from dust to wood chips bypassing the filtration on one collector. Shop was built sometime in the late '60's early '70's and a second collection system added (with equipment expansions) in the late '70's. You've given me a LOT to look at and bring up to speed. Thank you, again, for this.

After reviewing the video, I started looking through my dust collection system to determine any leaks that could be occurring on 6 blast gates... It hadn't dawned on me that the metal gates were installed the wrong way (tightner needing to be on the back side facing the intake hose to secure the seal when gate is closed). Wow.. closely inspecting the blast gates, I could see the small thin spacing between the closed gate and the intake. Reinstalled and did see significant improvement with the air-flow coming through now .. thanks Stub

You just saved me from a lot of mistakes! Clear and dust free tips as always. Thanks a lot!!!

Stumpy, your presentation is clear, concise, and well supported by your visual aids and explanations. Thank you for sharing your hard-won wisdom. I have watched about a dozen videos so far on dust collection systems and yours was by far the most objective and comprehensive. Based on what I have gleaned from your video I will be using a shop vac with a cyclone separator and 2.5" hoses for all my small power tools. For all the large power tools I will use a single-stage vortex dust collector, with rigid 4" PVC pipe, minimal bends, clean-outs at the end of every straight run, limited 4" flex tubing, and blast gates at the Y-fittings off the main line rigid pipe. I haven't decided on what HEPA system yet. Again, thank you! I was seeing plenty of flex pipe product online and not a lot about the pros and cons. I am certain you have already saved me a lot of grieve and wasted money.

I'm a silversmith, and you have provided outstanding information for this type of workshop. Many thanks!

Nice tip on the fire hazards of sweeping up nails hitting the impeller. Thank you for taking the time to make this video, it will save me lots of time and money.

I can't thank you enough for this. I finally get it! You rock James!

Thanks for the more detailed explanation. I put a 4" ducted soil pipe system in which works quite well, I was going to purchase a a better cloth filter bag but now after seeing this I am going for the cannister filter. Your explanation of not losing so much of the airflow using one of these has saved me the pain of a lot of trial and error, not to mention the money saved. So its a thumbs up from me.

A great post. After a lot of trial and error I have the Oneida after market black cyclone, a 2HP collector with filter bags top and bottom in a closet venting outside and 6” hose on the top of the cyclone and 1 shrinking 5” hose to whatever machine I am using. Also a box air filter hanging from the ceiling. This is finally doing the trick.

As always you have a way of boiling it down to the essentials in such a clear and concise way. Love your way of teaching!

This is one of the best guides to shop dust collection. In my nearly 50 years of furniture making, I have made most of the mistakes with my systems.If only I could have had this guidance many years ago! I now have mostly short runs, blast gates on all machinery, a single stage collector, and a cyclone. I hardly have any flexible ductwork. When I built my current house, I laid 4” pvc pipe in trenches before the basement slab was poured, coming up at each (planned) piece of equipment. It took a bit of planning and was a leap of faith, but the system has worked well over the last 28 years. Thanks for your great presentation.

One of the best vids in quite some time. Very valuable. Very clear. I recently made the jump to a DE from a shopvac set up myself and had to do a TON of research over a week to get about 1/2 of the information here. My shop is tiny (1/4 of a two car garage), so fortunately I had a simple job to do. Single stage DE, connected to a chip separator with a remote control ON/OFF. 10' of flex hose reaches everywhere in my tiny space, and I only connect to one tool or attachment at a time, so no need for ductwork. I noticed an immediate difference - far less uncaptured dust on every tool. For a couple tools, I will reduce down to 2-1/2, but I do this with rigid adapters at the tool so it expands to 4" right away, and with the remote control, the DE is only running when I'm using the tool, never more than a minute or so at a time. It still does a bit better than the shop vac.

This video saved me hundreds of dollars. Thank you so much. I was in the process of ordering plumbing for a new system. You made many great points.

Thank you for this video, you've just saved me a lot of money and time. I'll stick with my shopvac for the time being rather than buying all the pipes and fittings and a dust collector as I was about to do.

Perfect timing James, I have been using shop-Vac for years and I am thinking of upgrading to a single-stage because I just bought a new table saw and the Shop-Vac just doesn't cut it. I have a very small shop in my garage and the tips that you have just given me will really help me make an educated decision. Thanks as always your videos Rock!!!

I’ve watched a LOT of videos on shop dust collection. This one is by far the most comprehensive and understandable!! THANKS!

I’m a beginning woodworker, after completing a project I realized that I needed some kind of dust collection system in my garage workshop. I started designing a system around my shopvac. Thank you for this posting. I’m now re-thinking dust collection and my shop layout.

Matthias Wandel recently posted a number of dust collection related videos, including one with hard numbers comparing a shop vac and a homemade induction motor impeller, and different sizes of hose. A good companion video to this one

Great video with a lot of information packed into it. I was very glad that you made the statement that assuming you set your expectations properly, a single stage system may be fine for a small shop woodworker. With all due respect to Bill Pentz, the ability to install a semi-industrial 5HP+ cyclone system with 8" ducts and custom hoods on all machines is simply far beyond the reach of average weekend woodworker. While it would be absolutely necessary for someone exposed on a daily basis, for someone who might make a half a dozen cuts on a table saw every other week, such a setup is simply impractical. Too many internet dust collection pundits insist that your are just wasting your time unless you are going all the way to the extreme, leaving many to give up in frustration and go for nothing.

This should be an example for all KZfaq to follow imho; straight forward, easy to understand, well organized and informative! Well done, I'll be back.

Volumes of content in a concise to-the-point format. THANK YOU!!!

This is gold, I was just getting ready to try and figure out what I wanted to do for my first ever dust collection system

Thanks for being so honest and thorough. Your tutorial videos come highly recommended and I have watched a few. My good friend, neighbour and relative told me about your site and as an avid woodworker he was my woodworking mentor. Unfortunately he passed away two days ago. I thought it only fitting to revisit one of your videos in his honour. Thanks again for your guidance.

One of THE BEST dust collection explanation videos I've came across! Well done!

Once again, Stumpy shares verbal gold. I'll be setting up my first real dust collection soon, so this dropped at the perfect time.

Another great video. I am getting back in to wood working now that the kids are grown and out of the house. Thanks for all the insight. Making and figuring out your mistakes is by far the best (albeit painful at times) education!

Thank you for sharing your expertise with simplicity and clarity. It is a rare treat!

This is actually the best overview of shop Vacuums, chip separators, Cyclones vacuums that I’ve ever seen. And great info on the types of tubing that can be used. I even talked to fire departments that didn’t catch the fact I do more welding than woodworking. I knew I would need separate systems. Good job on the narration.

I got a single stage Jet and didn't like the expense of the cartridge filters not to mention what it might take to clean them. I ended up attaching a round piece of plywood (routed underneath with a round nose bit for a tighter fit) to the top the the collector using the existing spring clips to hold it down that came with the machine. I made a hole in the top to accommodate the 4" PVC that comes out of the top and with an elbow attaches to a dryer vent about 1" away on the wall. The large chips fall in to the bag while the fine dust goes outside of my shop via a dryer vent.

I can picture myself making every single one of these mistakes. Thanks for the tip stumpy

Like everything you produce, it’s an excellent and informative video. I have a harbor freight dust collector with a canister filter (that you recommended in a previous video) with a garbage can separator. I’ve been using too much 4” flex hose. I’ve been reducing it to a 2-1/2” shop vac hose to suck up the dust from my table saw. Now I know why it hasn’t been working well. Thanks so much for all of your excellent videos. I’ll watch this more than once.

This is an absolutely fantastic video. After watching three others that didn't even touch on the conceptual aspects of dust collection I found and devoured this vid, which walks is through the key precepts involved in putting together effective dust collection systems. All I needed (as he did the research for us) to move ahead with my planning...

Let me be the first to say this was a "sucky" video with lots of useful tips. I'm heading out to my shop and shorten a couple of runs and tape up some leaky seams.

Great info. Thank you. I would highly encourage you to try/review Oneida’s supercell system to add to your video series. It’s beyond incredible!

Extremely informative video. Usually don't have the patience for any videos longer that 10mins, but I will actually be watching this again to take in the points better. Thanks alot!!

Looking to get into woodworking on a more regular basis and shopping for dust collector. This is by far the best video I’ve seen on the subject. Because of that, I’ve subscribed. Fantastic layout and description of topics. Can’t say enough about it.... absolutely top notch. Thank you

I have nothing to say really, but I appreciate your content, and wish to help with the yt-algorithms.

As an operator of multiple large industrial dust collections systems I would say this is an excellent collection of wisdom. We have a strict policy against “floor sweeps”, they are bad and very unsafe for large systems. If you need a floor sweep your system is not designed right. The only advice I would add is to look at the collection right at the source, are you trying to catch the dust or capture as it fly’s by the opening. Many machines are not designed well for efficient dust capture at the source. Thanks for the video.

I've been eyeballing and trying to figure out a dust collection system for over a year now and this is been the best video out there to help me figure out what I need for my shop thanks a lot

You are so right. I’ve made every single mistake you talked about. Wish I would have found your channel about 15 years ago.

As an Architectural Technologist, I have a fair understanding of air flow and resistance from a time when we thought warm air heating was good idea. Nevertheless, you have taught me stuff I did not know and made me more aware of the stuff I should know. It just goes to show; "You are never to old to learn". Thanks, Stumpy.

Excellent video, extremely well-presented with all the important tips anyone thinking about building a system would need :-) One niggle though: You repeated a common misconception about dust collectors, namely that running them with insufficient air flow will cause them to overheat. The opposite is actually true: When an impeller system is running with no airflow, the motor is actually under the *least* load. This is counterintuitive until you think about it in terms of what work it is that the motor is doing, namely moving air. The more it’s moving per unit time, the more power it’s consuming; the less air the less power. It’s important to note though, that most shop vacuums *will* overheat if you restrict airflow. This is because inexpensive models use the vacuum’s exhaust to cool the motor. When you block the airflow, the motor does less work, the same as in a big system, but the motor can’t get any cooling air, so it overheats. High-end shop vacs use a separate air stream to cool the motor, so there’s no problem if their intake is blocked. (My Fein Turbo II is built that way, and I assume other high-end brands like Festool are designed the same.) Oh - another little tip: Shop vac filters are generally pretty bad, in that they don’t filter very finely. Gore-Tex makes a filter that matches Craftsman “red band” filters, which fit not only Craftsman vacs but many others besides. I don’t think they’re true HEPA filters, but they filter much more fine,y than the stock paper ones. They’re expensive but last a very long time if you brush them off well whenever you empty your vac. You can easily find these on Amazon and elsewhere, just be sure to check their dimensions against the filters your vac uses. Once again, a fantastic piece; any woodworker looking at dust collection should see it!

Excellent, clear and thorough presentation. Thanks so much.I hope this presentation doesn't disappear, because there's an awful lot to remember and put into practice, when it comes to setting up my shop.

Hi Stumpy, great information clearly enunciated. I have reverse engineered ( well done things in an obverse way) my dust extraction. I have put all smaller machines (thicknesser, jointer etc) on trolleys so they can be moved to the center of the room where they can connect directly to my single phase dust extractor unit, wheel them out when needed, then put them away for cleanup. I had not properly considered flow rate and power, where collection of chips and dust is directly adjacent to the source, so have now bought a ShopVac to get that high power high speed flow from router etc. Love your channel, Geoff

80% of my dust collection system is my broom. Love to upgrade some day.

I guess I’ll stick to blowing my garage out with my leaf blower. 😏

Thank you so much for this video. I've been considering upgrading my shop vac to a single stage, and this has cleared up a lot of questions I had, and some I hadn't considered.

These fundamentals keep my growing shop running efficiently. Thank you!

I liked everything about your video except the part about starving the air flow thus causing the motor to overheat. As a retired HVAC tech, I've found that starving the air flow results in a lower load on the motor with a corresponding reduction in amp draw. Granted that the efficiency of dust collection suffers, but it doesn't cause the motor to overheat.

A bunch of good tips. At approx. 6:00 you said a duct that is too large will cause resistance. That is not true but what it does do is decrease the velocity. A minimum velocity (3500-4000 FPM) is required to keep the dust/shavings suspended; otherwise they will collect on the bottom and eventually cause an obstruction. You should also note that when using PVC duct (or most any plastic), you should run a ground wire inside. The chips flowing past a plastic surface will create static electricity which in turn can create a spark. Dust can actually be explosive under the right conditions so you wouldn't want to encourage that.

Excellent video. It helped make sense of a number of issues I have encountered trying, unsucessfully, to manage dust in my small DIY workshop. Thank you.

Very helpful video. I am putting together my shop now and this information helped me realize my dust collection ideas would have taken me in the wrong direction. Essentially you helped me realize that I would have wasted money. I now know I should keep the system much simpler than I thought. Thank you.

Collecting "Dust" as opposed to "Chips" is a quite different thing. A relatively slow air flow does a good job at collecting dust because the particles are small and they are quickly slowed to where they are floating in air. Chips, on the other hand, have a lot more mass to surface area and will travel much farther and escape many dust collection systems. But these are usually few and are easily collected by other means. It is the dust that I want to get rid of because it settles on everything given enough time.

Just go the Matthias Wandel approach... and have a dust collector for every machine 😂🤣

Great Video. After dragging 4 inch hose on the floor for 25 years, I finally put in a 25 foot straight run of 4 inch PVC overhead with minimal connections to tools. I wish i had found this video first, but I actually did well with minimal bends and blast gates. thanks!

Excellent video! You just made me rethink my entire dust collection design and probably saved me at least $500. I'm going to keep things simple and as you said, use the right dust collection tool for the right situation. Thanks again!

I solved the filter problem by venting my system directly outside. I live in the country and my nearest neighbor is a 1/4 mile away so no danger to others.

Woot my hands at 6:06

This is the best video I have found that provides a full explanation of dust collection. Great job!!

Love all your videos. Thank you for the all of them. This is perfect timing personally as I was wondering which route I should go as far as dust collection is concerned. Thanks again!

I havre a perfect dust collector. I just hand my son a broom.

Stumpy: You mention using PVC pipe however, I didn't see any grounding wire in the photos. Do you ground your PVC piping ?

Brilliant! Thanks for saving me a lot of trouble and time wasted. I was getting ready to get some practice with most of the mistakes. Back to the drawing board I go.

You are spot on about using the right type of steel pipe and joints for dust collection systems. I worked in a very nice woodworking shop that had a large dust collection system. Problem was the airflow was so low. Since I was a metal fabricator as well as a woodworker I examined the duct work. As you observed, the seams leaked like a sieve. So, I took on the job of sealing every joint with high quality heat activated tape. It took me several days to do it. Afterwards it was like night and day. It became so powerful the floor sweeps would pull the sawdust and small pieces vertically through a six inch pipe 12 feet high! The shop stayed so much cleaner after that. Good video as usual.

Two things: Install your filter and motor just outside your shop in a protected area; eliminate the fine particle passing through the filter bag into the shop. DON'T grind metal on sanders in a wood shop, sparks will cause a smoldering fire.

Hey James, You should know I've learned a number of useful things from you and your videos and appreciate the example you represent to the woodworking community. Believing you're a reasonable guy I do hope, since you've snipped a screenshot from my dust collection system: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/p9B5aM9l06ydcYE.html to post in your video as an example of what NOT to do in some, maybe even most, ductwork systems, that you'll do me the courtesy of explaining to your viewers the context of my system compared to yours. Regardless of your response to my hopeful comment I'm not going to point out things from your shop and/or workflow to my audience that are woefully lacking from my frame of reference... that would be both cowardly and disrespectful. Best regards, Matt Jackson Next Level Carpentry on KZfaq

Always the best source for balanced and thoughtful advice. Thanks!

I am putting together my first dust collection system now and this is pure gold! Thanks!

Thank You James for bringing science and common sense to an oft disinformed subject. You're always refreshing and insightful to view. Well done!

This is the best video on the internet on the subject. Well done sir!

You're right Stumpy, in my small basement shop, I use a Harbor Freight single stage dust collector (originally used with its bag filter) and got AMAZING improvement after I replaced the bag with a Wynn Environmental cannister. I also used a Thein baffle that I made from their website. So the dirty air hits my Thein baffle first, then the Wynn filter, then the overflow falls into a gamma lid pail. My overflow pail sees next to nothing. I use the system a couple times a week. The huge pressure loss from the Wynn filter must be just what the Thein baffle needs to perform as well or better than my 7.5 hp commercial Delta cyclone system at the shop. Great video, thanks.

Thank you for the informative videos you post! I find myself saving and referring to many of them quite often. I am headed out to make some adjustments to the lengths of my hoses this morning to hopefully correct a problem I have been having (hose too long). I have a very tiny 10X20 shop and rely on my shop vac dust collector set up. I have to change from machine to machine as I use them and have had this argument with my partner who wants to install manifolds and gates etc... While it may be a little inconvenient to swap the hose as I change machines I argue I can only use one at a time anyway! LOL Anyhow this video confirms what I have been trying to explain to him about losing suction by installing all this other stuff. Thanks again for putting this info out for beginners like myself!

I bought 2 of the Harbor Freight dust collectors about 7 years ago, I have large PVC pipes with some Y's and 90's, but I have to say these are the best machines I've ever bought from them, I bought some gates to go along with them, but when I ran out of gates and they didn't have any in stock at the time, I built my own out of wood. I haven't had a problem with these ever, I've made sure to seal all the joints tightly and YES I have also added grounding wire, very important I think. I do use vac's for smaller tools, just makes sense to me. great video by the way, as usual very instructional.

This was the most helpful bit of information I have seen on this subject. Thank you very much. For a hobbyist I believe the divide and conquer strategy would be best. Shop vac for the hand tools. And a small single stage system for 1 or 2 machines putting them as close to the source of the dust as possible. No elaborate duct work systems and smart decentralized system will reduce single points of failure and remove all the barriers to air flow you described. The type of system is still much cheaper than the very expensive centralized systems. You can buy 2 Wen single stage systems for 220 retail or 2 gizzly single stage for 400 retail and no elaborate duct work. You can mount them on the wall near the dust source. I love this channel. I have learned so much from you.

Here I was thinking my 2.5 gallon shop vac was so awesome. Thanks so much for putting this video together, super helpful!

Haha, man! This video is like a review of my fluid-dynamics class in college. Everything here is a very solid real-world demonstration of closed-channel fluid dynamics. And yes, air is a "fluid". "Surface roughness", or how "smooth" the pipe is, has a huge impact on how stuff flows through pipes. Joints all also have different flow-sapping coefficients associated with them. It's been a few years and I haven't had the opportunity to review this material since, but man oh man, listen to what he's saying, folks.

I don't do woodwork but KZfaq decided to suggest your video to me. I was not disappointed! Awesome tips very well explained and logical. Thanks for the video

Thanks Again for sharing your journey. The knowledge you have gathered and shared from you experiences will save a great many people many years, dollars, frustration, and disappointment. Very well Done !

Thank you. A lot of good information here and things I will apply to my system. I particularly appreciated the caution about inadvertently introducing metal objects from a floor sweep collector and the potential for a fire in the dust container. TJ

Thank you for all the informative tips. I'm in the process of setting up dust collection for my shop including my new router lift. This was extremely helpful!

Thanks so much for taking the time to make this video. I learned a ton from it. I have a very small shop and primarily am a scroller. But, I also do some regular woodworking. I have a Fein vac with a Dust Deputy for my scroll saws and a 16 gallon Ridgid shop vac with a Dustopper for my table saw and bandsaw. They seem to work ok for what I do but if I had a larger shop, I'd have to incorporate a system similar to yours.

This was maybe the most informative video I've watched on you tube!!! Thank you!!!

This should be required viewing for anyone adding or replacing a dust collection system. Thank you!

You have opened my mind to the options and limitations of each. Thank you for sharing and explaining too, hopefully many of us will learn from this Thank you

Absolutely the best explanation of a dust collection system on KZfaq. Thx

After Bill Pentz (sorry 😔, no harm intended) I consider your explanations to be the most comprehensive ones out there on the subjects you discuss. You are absolutely thorough and all inclusive in every thing you discuss. I have read literally every thing Mr. Pentz wrote plus and a lot more on the topic of dust collection and can only agree with everything you said in this video (and every other ones of your videos I watched). Thank you for the high professional level of your productions. Paul

Best information on dust collection I have found, very clear and easy to understand. Thank you.

Great Job! I do a lot of airflow calculations in my business. You've simplified it to help the layman understand the nuances of air flow. I just switched my shop system to an Oneida Supercell which is working great. My previous system just didn't have the pressure to do a good job. Your tips should help a lot of people from wasting a lot of money.

I was struggling the past few days to make dust collection for an old school combo machine I got recently because I couldn't find 2 1/2" flexible hose to suck dust from the jointer and planer. this was very informative, thank you.

Every one of these tips are spot on. I've also made most of the mistakes mentioned. Installing all my HVAC metal ductwork only to find continuos clogs really sucked (in the wrong way..) Great video.

I just thought I had my ducts in a row. I’ve been contemplating add one blast gate in one of the two main 4” pvc lines to create more draw on whichever side of the shop I’m working in. Great summarization of dust collection systems. Thanks!

I wish I'd just watched your video first, it's more comprehensive than the 15 or so videos I've previously spent time watching on KZfaq all combined. New Subscriber here.