I checked out your dust collector. I have been using a similar unit for
about 20 years. Mine was derived from plans published in two different
magazines years ago, possibly Popular Mechanics and Mechanics Illustrated.
These were the Wood Working magazines as well as other topics of the era.
Mine is belt driven and I sped it up above normal speed. As you said, it
works well. Many have said it is not possible to get enough CFM with a
squirrel cage blower to use as dust collector. Undoubtedly, the newer
impeller models do a much better job. I have considered the build it
yourself version of these from Wood Magazine of 10 years or so ago. When I
built mine, home dust collector units were virtually unheard of. Mine has a
4" Inlet and 4" Outlet. I use 4" plastic thin wall drain pipe for the main
runs, $4 - $5 for 10 Ft. I also use flex dryer hose to connect which lasts a
long time and is cheap to replace. I made my own Blast Gates from scrape
wood with tempered Masonite slides. Dust collector is centrally located and
serves 2 band saws, thickness planer, wood lathe, table saw, radial arm saw,
6" belt sander, 1" belt sander permanently with flex hose for router,
jointer, drill press, hand sanders and whatever else.

Walt Conner

If anyone is interested in looking, I made my own shop dust collector
this year. It was made mainly with surplus materials