This is part 2 of a 3-part post. It was broken into 3 parts to meet the requirements of the forum.
Motor Relay
Technically it is not necessary to use a 110V relay to start your dust collector. You could start it by simply toggling the power at the circuit breaker. In my humble opinion that would quickly become a bothersome way to operate your unit but it is possible. Assuming you wish to use a relay to start your unit you have some choices including:
Option 2) is much better than throwing the power at the circuit breaker but 1) you get no remote start capability which I’m sure is going to be wonderful and 2) there is no capability to delay the starting/stopping of the relay when you press the button. The iVAC in particular allows you to program how long the remote start unit will wait before it actually turns on and turns off the relay once you press the button. This allows you to let the DC run a few seconds to clear out the pipes and also prevents you from restarting the DC immediately after turning it off, which can wear out the start capacitors (or so I’m told).
I chose option 3) because: 1) I am comfortable doing the wiring and 2) the combined cost was much less than option 1). The parts I used from iVAC were:
If you are doing option 2) or 3), you will need a very large box in which to install the relay and the associated wires. The issue is you have a good size relay unit plus lots of wires and they are thick and stiff so it’s a challenge to find something that will hold all that. At Home Depot, I was able to find a “large” metal square electrical box (4.75” X 4.75”) that was usable. Note: the “normal” size square electrical boxes are about 4” X 4” and that’s not big enough. Alternatively you could build a wooden box and make it as big as you wanted.
One final wiring note: the vendor-supplied relay has square “spades” onto which you can attach your wires; there are 2 for the 110 circuit, 2 for the incoming 220 power and 2 for the leads to the motor. In the case of the 220 leads, remove the “spades” and instead screw the #10 wire directly into the screw-in slots and tighten them down. That makes for a more solid connection which you’ll need once you start cramming all the wires into the box. A photo of the electrical box and its connection to the iVac is attached.
Filter Box
I contacted ClearVue and they were willing to sell me an extra metal band like what is used to secure the 2 filter cartridges together. I used that extra band to secure the top cartridge to the filter transition “elbow” at the top. The manual says to simply join them with silicone caulk but I wanted something more secure.
Collection Bin
I determined, and the folks at ClearVue confirmed, that, while the installation manual says you have 27” of clearance at the bottom of the unit into which you can install your collection bin, that’s such a tight fit that you really need to go with a 24” tall collection bin. Do not use a heavy duty plastic “Brute” style garbage can. It will fairly collapse once you fire up your unit. I wound up getting a 20 gallon metal garbage can made by Behrens. It’s about 24” tall and gives me enough wiggle room to easily get it in and out of position.
Since I’m a weekend warrior and not a pro, I can’t afford to buy a dust bin sensor to tell me when you dust bin is getting full. So, I simply cut a medium size square opening in the top of the garbage can lid that I can use to check the dust level. I took extra effort to size and position the opening so that I can cover the opening with a piece of wood, screwed down with wingnuts. There is a thick section of weatherstripping around the square opening that gets compressed when I tighten the wingnuts to keep air from leaking. A photo of the top of my trash can is attached.
Fashioning a connection to attach the 6” flex hose to the top of the garbage can lid was actually easier than I thought. The instructions in the manual seemed way too complicated and difficult for me to execute. By the way, this is how I build dust ports for my big machines like the table saw and miter saw. First, find a plastic piece that will snugly fit over a 6” pipe. This can be either the “bell end” of your 6” pipe or you can cut off just the “coupling” part of an elbow or just cut off half of a 6” coupling fitting. Next purchase from ClearVue one of their 6” flex to PVC couplers. They sell them in “inside” and “outside” versions. You want the version that will fit inside a coupling, not one that will fit outside of the 6” pipe.
Cut your piece that will serve as the female end to the proper length. It should be just a little longer than the length needed to completely cover the flex-to-PVC coupler end that will slip inside PLUS about 2.5”. We will use that extra length to secure the pipe to the trash can lid.
Use the cut piece to trace out a circle on the top of your trash can lid. Cut out the circle. Place the cut piece inside the hole to check for snugness and trim as needed. Use 2-inch “corner braces”, which are L-shaped metal brackets with holes in them, to securely mount the cut piece to the trash can lid. Each corner brace is bolted in 2 places to the trash can with one leg “pointing” to the outer edge of the lid and the other leg “pointing” down and bolted to the cut piece of pipe with a single bolt. Because of the angle of the trash can lid, it’s only possible to attach the corner brace to the pipe with a single bolt but that’s enough. Also, I call them bolts but they are simply 1/4-20 ½"screws with nuts. I used 4 braces to make sure there would be no movement. So, now you have the trash can lid with the cut piece of pipe/coupling mounted in its center. Seal the edges and screw holes with silicone.
Use the 6” flex hose clamps from ClearVue to secure the vendor-supplied section of flex hose to the bottom of the tapered chute. Use another clamp to secure the other end of the flex hose to the 6” flex-to-PVC coupler that you got from ClearVue. Lastly, slip the flex-to-PVC coupler into the coupler that you just mounted on the trash can lid. Screw and seal the 2 pieces.
It is highly recommended that you perform a smoke test to confirm all you connections are air tight. Instructions are on page 1 of the manual. I can speak from experience that this is definitely a must. In my initial runs, I saw that material was circling down to the collection bin but not falling inside. I learned that any gaps that allow outside air to enter the collection bin will cause this issue. Once I sealed everything nicely, the material dropped like I expected.
Manometer
While I can easily fashion something to check the dust bin level, I was concerned about how to know when my filters needed cleaning. I used the info from this video to build a manometer to tell me when filters needed cleaning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws2FbU0nNS8
Motor Relay
Technically it is not necessary to use a 110V relay to start your dust collector. You could start it by simply toggling the power at the circuit breaker. In my humble opinion that would quickly become a bothersome way to operate your unit but it is possible. Assuming you wish to use a relay to start your unit you have some choices including:
- Purchase the “Electrical Box with Remote” from Clear Vue
- Don’t buy the above and use the vendor-supplied relay to build your own relay box using a simple light switch.
- Don’t buy the above and use the vendor-supplied relay and parts from iVAC to build your own remote control relay box.
Option 2) is much better than throwing the power at the circuit breaker but 1) you get no remote start capability which I’m sure is going to be wonderful and 2) there is no capability to delay the starting/stopping of the relay when you press the button. The iVAC in particular allows you to program how long the remote start unit will wait before it actually turns on and turns off the relay once you press the button. This allows you to let the DC run a few seconds to clear out the pipes and also prevents you from restarting the DC immediately after turning it off, which can wear out the start capacitors (or so I’m told).
I chose option 3) because: 1) I am comfortable doing the wiring and 2) the combined cost was much less than option 1). The parts I used from iVAC were:
- iVAC Pro Switch
- iVAC Pro Remote
If you are doing option 2) or 3), you will need a very large box in which to install the relay and the associated wires. The issue is you have a good size relay unit plus lots of wires and they are thick and stiff so it’s a challenge to find something that will hold all that. At Home Depot, I was able to find a “large” metal square electrical box (4.75” X 4.75”) that was usable. Note: the “normal” size square electrical boxes are about 4” X 4” and that’s not big enough. Alternatively you could build a wooden box and make it as big as you wanted.
One final wiring note: the vendor-supplied relay has square “spades” onto which you can attach your wires; there are 2 for the 110 circuit, 2 for the incoming 220 power and 2 for the leads to the motor. In the case of the 220 leads, remove the “spades” and instead screw the #10 wire directly into the screw-in slots and tighten them down. That makes for a more solid connection which you’ll need once you start cramming all the wires into the box. A photo of the electrical box and its connection to the iVac is attached.
Filter Box
I contacted ClearVue and they were willing to sell me an extra metal band like what is used to secure the 2 filter cartridges together. I used that extra band to secure the top cartridge to the filter transition “elbow” at the top. The manual says to simply join them with silicone caulk but I wanted something more secure.
Collection Bin
I determined, and the folks at ClearVue confirmed, that, while the installation manual says you have 27” of clearance at the bottom of the unit into which you can install your collection bin, that’s such a tight fit that you really need to go with a 24” tall collection bin. Do not use a heavy duty plastic “Brute” style garbage can. It will fairly collapse once you fire up your unit. I wound up getting a 20 gallon metal garbage can made by Behrens. It’s about 24” tall and gives me enough wiggle room to easily get it in and out of position.
Since I’m a weekend warrior and not a pro, I can’t afford to buy a dust bin sensor to tell me when you dust bin is getting full. So, I simply cut a medium size square opening in the top of the garbage can lid that I can use to check the dust level. I took extra effort to size and position the opening so that I can cover the opening with a piece of wood, screwed down with wingnuts. There is a thick section of weatherstripping around the square opening that gets compressed when I tighten the wingnuts to keep air from leaking. A photo of the top of my trash can is attached.
Fashioning a connection to attach the 6” flex hose to the top of the garbage can lid was actually easier than I thought. The instructions in the manual seemed way too complicated and difficult for me to execute. By the way, this is how I build dust ports for my big machines like the table saw and miter saw. First, find a plastic piece that will snugly fit over a 6” pipe. This can be either the “bell end” of your 6” pipe or you can cut off just the “coupling” part of an elbow or just cut off half of a 6” coupling fitting. Next purchase from ClearVue one of their 6” flex to PVC couplers. They sell them in “inside” and “outside” versions. You want the version that will fit inside a coupling, not one that will fit outside of the 6” pipe.
Cut your piece that will serve as the female end to the proper length. It should be just a little longer than the length needed to completely cover the flex-to-PVC coupler end that will slip inside PLUS about 2.5”. We will use that extra length to secure the pipe to the trash can lid.
Use the cut piece to trace out a circle on the top of your trash can lid. Cut out the circle. Place the cut piece inside the hole to check for snugness and trim as needed. Use 2-inch “corner braces”, which are L-shaped metal brackets with holes in them, to securely mount the cut piece to the trash can lid. Each corner brace is bolted in 2 places to the trash can with one leg “pointing” to the outer edge of the lid and the other leg “pointing” down and bolted to the cut piece of pipe with a single bolt. Because of the angle of the trash can lid, it’s only possible to attach the corner brace to the pipe with a single bolt but that’s enough. Also, I call them bolts but they are simply 1/4-20 ½"screws with nuts. I used 4 braces to make sure there would be no movement. So, now you have the trash can lid with the cut piece of pipe/coupling mounted in its center. Seal the edges and screw holes with silicone.
Use the 6” flex hose clamps from ClearVue to secure the vendor-supplied section of flex hose to the bottom of the tapered chute. Use another clamp to secure the other end of the flex hose to the 6” flex-to-PVC coupler that you got from ClearVue. Lastly, slip the flex-to-PVC coupler into the coupler that you just mounted on the trash can lid. Screw and seal the 2 pieces.
It is highly recommended that you perform a smoke test to confirm all you connections are air tight. Instructions are on page 1 of the manual. I can speak from experience that this is definitely a must. In my initial runs, I saw that material was circling down to the collection bin but not falling inside. I learned that any gaps that allow outside air to enter the collection bin will cause this issue. Once I sealed everything nicely, the material dropped like I expected.
Manometer
While I can easily fashion something to check the dust bin level, I was concerned about how to know when my filters needed cleaning. I used the info from this video to build a manometer to tell me when filters needed cleaning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws2FbU0nNS8
