In this post Brent will show how to paint a cloud mural like this sky mural he painted in our daughter’s nursery. Give this tutorial a try if you are looking for an expensive wallpaper look on a sample paint budget.
This DIY Photo holder made from a hula hoop is an inexpensive way to show off photos at a party or display Christmas cards.
See our plans and DIY projects for designing a neutral nursery for our nephew.
To get ready for the holiday season we created a set of DIY marble dipped mason jars to serve decadent dessert drinks.
We’re sharing all of our plans for our son’s spaceship themed playroom!
In this tutorial we will show how we upgraded a Harbor Freight Dust Collector with the Super Dust Deputy XL from Oneida Air Systems.
My latest undertaking helped our garage look and function more like a woodworking shop.
There comes a time when you work on enough DIY woodworking projects that a shop vacuum just won’t cut it anymore.
I was finding it was inconvenient because I was constantly having to unhook it from my table saw and then wheel it across the room to hook it up to my miter saw and then unhook it from my miter saw and wheel it back across the garage to the table saw.
It was also fairly ineffective because quite often the filter on the shop vacuum got clogged because the bin filled up so fast.
Well, that might be on me because I never cleaned it out, but when you are in the middle of a project, who wants to stop the fun part to clean out a vacuum after every few cuts? Obviously not me. So much sawdust would end up on the ground that Courtney joked she could make sawdust angels.
I would procrastinate cleaning the floor until I started a new project which meant if I ran out into the garage to get something, I most likely definitely tracked in a good amount of sawdust on my socks.
It became clear to me that I needed to build a dust collector so I finally built one for the Gray House Studio shop by taking a Harbor Freight dust collector and upgrading it to a 2 stage cyclone dust collector.
I did this with the Super Dust Deputy XL Cyclone Separator.
My goal for my dust collector was to have it service multiple tools at the same time. Since the tools are separated by 10 to 20 feet I needed more power than the Harbor Freight dust collector could provide. It just wasn’t cutting it so I modified it with a larger impeller so that I could use a six inch duct.
Also, the filter bag that came with the Harbor Freight dust collector didn’t filter out the tiniest particles. What I really like about the Super Dust Deputy XL Cyclone Separator is it separates the wood chips and the dust so only air and very fine particles pass through the blower to the filter. This prevents any microscopic particles from entering back into the air in the shop.
Alright, enough talk, here is how I upgraded my Harbor Freight Dust Collector.
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1. The dust collector build started with a stock 2hp single phase Harbor Freight dust collector.
To seamlessly connect to the Super Dust Deputy XL I’m going to upgrade the impeller. The stock blower can’t push enough air to support a 6″ opening. I removed the impeller using a puller tool.
2. The stock harbor freight blower has a 10″ impeller so the new 12″ impeller should boost performance significantly.
Plus, the stock Harbor Freight impeller as a forward-inclined fans whereas the larger Rikon impeller has a backward inclined.
Forward inclines provide more flow but lose power when pressure increases. The backward incline provides more consistent performance as the pressure increases.
3. Using a jigsaw and sheet metal blade the intake port was widened from 5″ to 6″.
A 6″ duct collar was then attached to the intake faceplate with rivets.
4. To hold the blower to the wall we made a mounting bracket with 2x4s anchored to the wall studs.
5. After mounting the blower on the 2×4 bracket the outlet port was converted to a 6″ outlet by attaching a duct transition with 1/2″ sheet metal screws
and liquid nails.
6. Before mounting the filter to the blower I used a jigsaw to open the closed side of the filter.
Then, cut a donut shaped mounting plate out of sheet metal to mount the 6″ collar and secured the mounting plate to the filter with 1/2″ sheet metal screws.
7. I made a U bracket out of 2x4s to hold the filter in place against the wall. The filter attached to the bracket with screws from the top.
8. The Super Dust Deputy XL cyclone is designed to mount directly to the lid of the barrel.
The opening at the bottom of the cyclone is roughly 6″, so I cut out another 6″ hole with a jigsaw in the top of the barrel lid.
The cyclone comes with hardware to mount the cyclone and a gasket. Since I misplaced the hardware I used construction adhesive and large rivets.
9. Once connected to the barrel lid the cyclone was attached to the inlet of the blower with 1/2″ screws.
10. To seal the bottom of the filter I attached two latches to the filter allowing me to secure and remove a plywood donut and plastic bag.
11. The bag will catch any particles that makes it though the blower to the filter. Once particles accumulate they can be easily cleaned by emptying the bag.
12. Before turning on the dust collector I taped all the joints with foil duct tape.
I tested it out and it was nice to have it work just how I wanted and not be near as loud as my old shop vacuum.
I am looking forward to the connivence and having a cleaner shop.
The Cyclone Separator made a huge difference in taking my dust collector to the next level and making it more powerful and effective. I was also excited to attach the ONEIDA Dust Sentry Level Sensor.
I can’t wait to work on my first woodworking project with my new upgraded dust collector.
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