Hi, I'm Engineer Bill.
Today we're going to talk about vacuum systems.
Now I don't have the fancy drop down from the ceiling automation that a lot of
what people might describe as better shops have. And actually I don't want
that, I just don't like things, tubing and ducting hanging around on the ceiling . . .
I have the old-fashioned just a couple tubes.
Now what I do have is one access
point I have a couple hoses and I can reach everything in the shop from there.
I do have some machinery that really requires direct connection to the vacuum
system and so I'm going to show you the gate valves that I have. You can make
them at home, you don't have to buy them, that's what I did.
I do have some level of automation for my shop vac system and I'll show you what that's all about to.
- so stick around.
Before I show you what I have in the shop as far as homemade gate valves.
I just want to point out that these tubes that I use for the vacuum system,
( you buy with any other vacuums), are not really the greatest in the world.
They tend to crack. let me show you this crack over here.
So, how do we resolve these issues. You'll notice this one has a hoop or a flange
on the top that is bigger than what it normally would be. That's because I
just went to my 3d printer and print it out. A little sleeve that goes on top
and then I press it on and these will be good for another 20 years in case you
have similar situation. But I didn't really come here to talk about the
little flanges that I do on my 3d printer I'm here to talk about a couple things.
One is this hose. Some of your shop vacs will have these tiny little hoses.
Do not get this tiny hose or shop vac. These are just terrible, maybe good for
the house little dust particles, but . . . no. What you want is the bigger size and I
have two of these hoses connected to each other. And that's all I use, even for
this I don't have an automated system to suck up the dust I really don't need it
for the amount that I do right here. But I will show you what I have over here.
So here's my gate valves and it just consists of
a little plug and a little attachment to keep it from getting drawn in.
I have, from the vacuum system tubing coming out. This one goes to the shop vac hose where
I reach everything and the second one in here is a little harder to see, goes
into the bandsaw. And in order for one to work and the other one to be shut off, I
have to have a cut off out that's what this does when I need this section to be
cut off I turn this little mechanism here, I pull it all the way in and it
stops the air from coming over here. And I do the opposite over here I open this
valve up on the back side and then the vacuum only draws from this area.
If I need to open this up of course I just turn this and let it go in here.
And this little flange stops it from being drawn in with the suction of the
vacuum any further and it keeps this wide open. These are just regular PVC.
Okay that's all I have for the shop as far as the vacuum system is concerned I
don't like overhead ducting for the vacuum systems and I don't do enough
volume to need it, sometimes I could use it. But really, what I have here with the
gate valves serves me just fine. The only other tip I can give you, as far as vacuum
systems are concerned, . . . there's no reason why your vacuum needs to the inside the
shop. It takes up too much floor space and it's
noisy. Keep it outside. That's where I keep mine, it's under a lean-to so it
doesn't get wet. Now since I leave my vacuum cleaner outside, I'm not going to
go outside to turn on the switch top of the vacuum system every time I
need to use it.
I have remote control.
you don't want to shop without one of these things. Especially the way I have
mine set up. It's a luxury, but it's well worth it.
Thanks a lot for watching