Caution - Harbor Freight Dust Collector

[John Adam]

After a long search, i purchased a HF dust collector (small, single bag unit - 94029).

I chose it becuase it was $99 and boasted 914 CFM. Now I know why it was so cheap - 112 dB! That's injury range and certainly not something you can use in the house!

For reference, here's some decibel information:

Painful

150 dB = rock music peak
140 dB = firearms, air raid siren, jet engine
130 dB = jackhammer
120 dB = jet plane take-off, amplified rock music at 4-6 ft., car stereo, band practice
Extremely Loud

110 dB = rock music, model airplane
106 dB = timpani and bass drum rolls
100 dB = snowmobile, chain saw, pneumatic drill
90 dB = lawnmower, shop tools, truck traffic, subway
Very Loud

80 dB = alarm clock, busy street
70 dB = busy traffic, vacuum cleaner
60 dB = conversation, dishwasher
I was planning on installing outside anyway, to keep the fine dust out of the shop (since it has a 35 micron bag) and was going to build a small weatherproof box.

Now I feel obligated to save my neighbors and build in some soundproofing. Does anyone know a good source of sound dampening material? I don't need to make it silent, just need to get it down to lawnmower level.

Thanks!

John

[David Christopher]

sorry to here that your DC is so loud

styrofoam will do the trick. you can buy it in 4X8 sheets

[Jim Becker]

Sadly, it also will never get anywhere close to 914 CFM, either, but that's not unusual in the specs from nearly all the single stage units on the market.

[Sonny Edmonds]

I used this material called sound board from my local Lowe's store. It's a lot like what they used to call Cellotex. The studio set guys use it a lot for sound damping.
Between that, some OSB, and some 2 x 4's, a conversation can be had in the shop with the DC running.
Plants and ground cover also absorb noise. ;)

[John Adam]

Thanks guys... Yeah, I figured 900 cfm was a dream, but even 60% of that won't be too bad for $99.

A follow-up question - The bag's pretty small, and I'm not sure my wife will let me just spew the dust into the yard. What do you think about the 'trash can lid' separators? Would that help lenghten the life of the collector and keep me from emptying the bag so often?

The thought was to run the pipe from the tools to the separator, then to the dc and into the bag.

Thoughts are appreciated...

Thanks,

[Joe Suelter]

DynaMat...can be bought anywhere car stereo's are sold.

[Rick Potter]

If that is the one with the Universal motor (like a Skilsaw motor), return it and wait for the other one with the induction motor to go on sale. HF is very good about returns.

You will never be happy with it.

Rick Potter

[John Adam]

That's an interesting point about the motor. I can't seem to find any specific info about the motor type - can you tell me how I can figure it out?

[Thomas Bank]

The thing is that by the time you put all these other ideas into play - sound board, dynamat, etc - you've reached (or exceeded) the cost of Grizzly's 1hp model... :D

[Jeff Nicol]

If you put any DC in a basement it will be loud, but anyway a separater would help with the bag filling to fast. You could make the mini cyclone that was just posted on this forum also. That way if you are going to put it in an enclosure you could build a muffler for it and have the exhaust dump into 1micron bag after the cyclone and muffler. The muffler I made cut the noise in half but it is still loud but tolerable. It is a 2hp 220 fan from PSI so different than yours. Sometimes inexpensive to start get pricey in the end!

Good luck,

Jeff

[Joel Earl]

IIRC the PSI 2000 is rated at only 68db. Mine is the quietest DC I've ever been around and the main reason initially I bought it.

I'd be somewhat skeptical on boxing in these things to the point we actually cutting way down the sound levels. It works fine on a small compressor and such but they don't run anywhere near as often or long. Just a thought and hate to see you toast a motor.

HF is great on CS and return policy --- I'd be inclined to at least consider alternatives if it's really that loud. Good luck

[Rick Potter]

John,

If the motor is small like a skilsaw motor and has brushes, it is a universal motor (screamer). The induction motor usually has a can on top, and is the size of a TS motor...much heavier.

I recently bought a Jet, and used to have a no name DC. The ones that are about 16" square, and have a small bag out the side. They are surprisingly quiet. There is no comparison.

Rick Potter

EDIT: OK, John, I looked it up on HF website. You do have the universal motor one. I strongly suggest you return it and get the one with the induction motor. It is model 31810, and I have seen it on sale for about the same price. Note that it weighs three times what yours weighs. It say it flows 6 hundred some cfm. I would bet the farm it flows more than the one you have, but neither one will flow anywhere near what they say it will in the real world.

Get the other one, you will be much happier.

[Michael Poller]

I picked up the HF 2HP (probably closer to 1 or 1.5 really) DC (Item 97869-0VGA) off craigslist for cheap and like new.

It is very very quiet, much quieter than the Ridgid shop vac I was using as a form of dust collection. I was surprised by just how quiet it is.

I know it's $150 more, but with sales here and there it's well worth it. Nearly the same as other brand name higher priced 2HP units but much cheaper.

[Jim Becker]

Thanks guys... Yeah, I figured 900 cfm was a dream, but even 60% of that won't be too bad for $99.

A 4" inlet/duct can support a real-life max of about 300-350 CFM--you cannot physically fit any more air in the hose at the given velocity. 6" duct can get you to about 600-800 CFM, depending on the blower pulling the air. And that's a very small impeller, too, with a 1 hp motor, so I'd say you probably can expect about 300-350 CFM. (unscientific observation) Note it also only has 35 micron filtration (.5 micron is recommended for health) with the OEM bag, so be sure to continue using personal protection. The extra load of a separator will likely adversely affect performance with this small unit. Short hose to the tool is the best practice for chip collection.

I'm only saying this to insure it's clear about what the machine is likely capable of.

[John Adam]

To all,

Thanks for all your insight and posts. I'll be returning this to HF and looking for an alternative.

I found a Jet DC 650 (older model) on CL for $125, and although it's a bit more expensive, I'll probably buy it. It has the bag on top and bottom and takes up more space than I'd like, so I'll probably put outside anyway (build a little shack for yard tools and the DC off the back of the house).

Thanks again!

[Phil Thien]

I have one of those HF units. Yes, it is loud. But it also has considerably more static lift than typical DC blowers. It uses an airfoil impeller spinning pretty darn fast.

Some day I'm going to install my unit with some sound absorption and run the exhaust outside.

[Jim Becker]

John, the DC650 will be a much better chip collector than the HFT unit you originally bought. I'll still suggest you'll still be happiest with it if you keep it in the shop with a 10' hose to connect to the tool of the moment. You'll get the best performance that way and the noise is quite manageable with the hearing protection you really should be wearing when using the cutting power tools, anyway. I started out with a DC650 and it was a very good tool for the money within it's capabilities.