Saving Money With DIY Ducting For The Wood Shop...
One of the bigger expenses with dust collectors that use over 4" ducting is the ducting itself. In fact, it can often cost more for the ducting than the dust collector. For the home shop, that can price many people right out of the market. In order to bring the price down to something you can afford you need to understand where the money goes and where you can save money.
For our examples we will use an 8" ducting system and a 3 HP Grizzly Cyclone dust collector. Like any large woodworking machine you put in the shop, a duct collector is an investment. For some the investment is in breathing cleaner air and saving their lungs and for others "time is money" and having a dust collector helps save time on cleaning up plus some machines do not perform well without dust collection.
Let's say our 3 HP example costs $1350.00 and has an 8" inlet (IN) for you to connect your ducting to. You will still need an 8" (main line) duct and all the parts than reduce that down to the size your machines need. To make those parts easier to think about let's divide them into three categories of UPPER, MIDDLE and LOWER. The UPPER is the 8" ducting or main line. This will include 8" fittings, ducting, blast gates, flex ducting/tubing or anything else that travels across the UPPER part of ducting making up the main line. Next is the MIDDLE and that includes any fittings, ducting, blast gates, tubing or anything else that makes up the drops. Then we have the LOWER and that includes the fittings, blast gates, tubing and all the other parts (usually 4") that go from the drops to the machines themselves.
THE UPPER: The parts required to build 8" metal ducting are quite expensive. For example, branches can cost over $100 each and a section of ducting 5 feet long can cost $40 with elbows and blast gates running $70-120 for elbows and $75 for a blast gate plus shipping and oversize shipping. Then there are all the clamps, and special fittings like machine adapters, nipples, and hangers which can also really add up. The UPPER is where the bulk of the money will go in ducting.
THE MIDDLE: The parts required to build 4-6" metal ducting drops are also quite expensive. For example, branches can cost over $80-95 each and a section of ducting 5 feet long can cost $25-30 with elbows and blast gates running $38-53 for elbows and $39-49 for a blast gate plus shipping and oversize shipping. Then there are all the clamps, and special fittings like nipples, floor sweeps and hangers which can also really add up. Even though these parts are cheaper than the 8" you need a lot of them. The MIDDLE is also where the bulk of the money will go in ducting.
THE LOWER: The parts required to build 4" ducting from the drops to the machines quite inexpensive. For example a branches can cost only $4-10 each and a section of ducting 20 feet long can cost $25-35 with elbows and blast gates running $4-8 for elbows and $5-15 for blast gate plus shipping. Then there are all the clamps, and special fittings like machine adapters and hangers which also really affordable. The LOWER is is quite affordable in terms of ducting especially if you standardize on 4", buy in bulk and shop sales. Even still, you end up with quite a pile of fittings if you have very many machines.
"We figured we saved $1300 to $2000!"
