I actually did play with a few different options last
night.

I put a straight "flex hose" directly to the saw.

I then made up a line consisting of a piece of flex
dropping to the floor from the DC. I then ran a piece
of 4" S&D pipe as close to the saw as I could get it
and then finished off with flex.

Myself, my wife and a neighbor all attempted to tell
if there was a significant difference in air flow.

Nobody was in total agreement on which was a stronger
flow, but the general agreement was that the pipe did
seem a "wee" bit better in moving sawdust.

I was surprised at the results....

Somebody posted a message yesterday stating that flex
would cause a 8% reduction in flow.. That's not much.

I'm going to try to decide what to do for the final
version over the weekend.

I'm also going to hook up my contractor saw to the mix.

That will make every single major tool in my shop hooked
to a DC. I'm starting to love this.








Pounds on Wood wrote:
"Pat Barber" wrote in message
...

This is a real killer. Due to my layout of equipment,
I'm sort of stuck with flex hose. I rearranged the
shop and put the major machines as close to each
other as practical.

mrcomp_ca wrote:


Sorry, Forgot to mention that flex pipe itself also introduces an 8%
in CFM reduction because of the ridges in the pipe.



Pat, if you only have 12-15' of hose, and a 3HP DC, you do not have a
problem with flow or power. If you are happy using the hose that way, just
stick with it.

You do have gates on the other lines, right?

Here is a thought - if you really want to keep the saw cabinet clean - what
you have is dead air flow in the corners. That is why the dust collects
there. It's not a lack of flow, just the direction of the flow. So, get
some flow into the corners. The easiest way would be some holes in the
cabinet at the very bottom, on the side opposite of the DC connection. You
will create a cross flow situation across the bottom of the cabinet. I
would NOT do that to my cabinet, and you probably won't either, but thinking
about the air flow might give you some other ideas. But believe me,
changing the hose to pipe, or shortening the length, is not going to clean
the cabinet corners. Prove this to yourself. Move the DC right up next to
the saw, temporarily. I predict you will see ZERO difference.

--
********
Bill Pounds
http://www.billpounds.com