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Like many of you I have a Taiwanese dust collector. I never really placed a great deal of thought into dust collection, I just got a really good deal on it when I picked up a bunch of tools at my local supplier. For over a decade this 2 hp noise maker has been sucking up chips and making a real positive difference in my shop. However, from day one, I knew the fitting that connected the blower to the bag unit was going to be a problem.
This fitting, a specialty item that connected the odd sized rectangular hole at the top of the blower casing to the 5" hose that feeds the bag, was made of cheap plastic. Now, Taiwanese machines are not necessarily known for their over-engineering, but the rest of the unit is really solid. That is why I was so surprised when I pulled the darn fitting out of the box and it was such a piece of garbage. Within a couple of months it was already wrapped in an ever growing layer of duct tape but it did last that way until a couple of years ago.
When I moved into my present shop, the deterioration through age of both the cheap plastic and the 3 inch thick wad of duct tape had finally given way to fate. The whole thing came apart in an impressive slumping fashion while the unit was being moved - at least it wasn't turned on.
A few years ago I tried to have a replacement made by what I was told was a reputable sheet metal shop. Either I was misinformed, or my tool salesman had a different definition of competence. Although I gave very detailed drawings and instructions, and the tool guy had the part in his store - which was next door to the sheet metal shop, the resulting replacement came back looking more like a hat for the tin man. If I had needed a funnel for BS I would have asked for one. So I lived with what I had until I could wait no more. It seems important to add here that I have been sans dust collection ever since!
Tired of living in a cloud of dust I decided to do something about this. First I needed a pattern. I found some software on the internet for creating sheet metal patterns that had a free trial version. The only problem with the trial version is that you could not print out the patterns. However, it gave you the coordinates and size of sheet required so if you wrote it down, you could still make use of it. Yea, I know. That is pretty cheap but buying the software wasn't an option for 15 minutes of use at the price they wanted. If this is a project you are in need of trying yourself I am very sorry but I have checked all over my computer and can find no trace of the software. Since I downloaded it have had a computer crash so I have no record of it nor do I remember what it was called. However, a search on Google should provide you with a number of different packages to choose from.
The next step was to take a large piece of paper and cut it to the size indicated by the software. Then I laid out all of the coordinates and drew up the piece. What the software gave me was the reducer from the proper sized rectangle to the 5 inch circle. It was basically an odd shaped cone. I had to add extra for a seam to hold it together and I had to dream up the portion that attaches to the blower and a collar to clamp the hose to myself. The blower attachment was a simple rectangle. I added tabs to the edges that could be bent down so that, when placed on the blower, they would line up the holes. I used the center of the rectangle to make four large tabs that I eventually inserted in the base of the cone and riveted. I started out with a sheet of copier paper and laid it in place on the blower and used that to mark out where the mounting holes, edges, opening, and other points of interest were. Then I just connected the dots and removed any waste. The collar was just a strip that I seamed into a circle. Then I cut tabs in the bottom to be riveted to the top of the cone.
The next stop was Home Depot where, for around $5, I picked up what looks like a 4 foot section of HVAC ducting that runs through a framed wall. I am not an HVAC expert so I am not really sure what the thing does. All I know was it was galvanized, 26 gauge, and a large rectangle out of which all of the pieces could be cut with some to spare. I should point out that I already had a ball peen hammer, a small hand seamer, some tin snips and a rivet gun so I didn’t add those into the price. Even if you bought all of those together you probably would not have paid too much more than I was going to be charged for the professionally built one they tried to sell me before - and you would have the tools to use the next time.
I used a scratch awl to punch holes in the tin at the important intersections for each piece. Then I connected the dots with a fine point permanent marker. Wearing some thick leather gloves, I cut out all of the pieces with my tin snips. First I drilled out the mounting holes in the blower attachment using the drill press. Then I used the hand seamer to make the required bends in the blower attachment and the collar. The folds required to take the cone from a rectangle to a circle were made by clamping the fold line in my Black and Decker Workmate and bending. I pounded out an S-seam in the cone and the collar to hold them together. Then I riveted through the tabs on the blower attachment and the collar to connect all the pieces. I followed this with a good application of caulking on the inside and outside of all the joints. I even decided to try some duct tape just in case, but so far it has not been necessary. I am very happy with the finished fitting and its performance. The whole job took me only a couple of hours and I gained valuable skills I can use maintaining my dust collection system in the future.
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