Greg L. Brown
04-07-2010, 12:29 PM
I've received so much useful information on this forum, I feel compelled to give what little advice I can offer (I'm still quite new to woodworking... mostly because I get so little time to work on the hobby).
Anyway, at the nudging of several members here, I recently picked up a Harbor Freight 2HP dust collector. Using a coupon in Wood Magazine, I picked it up for $139 (+ tax). My general impression of the store was: “Poor quality knock-off tools.” So I was a bit leery to buy the unit, but I figured for around $150, it wasn’t that big of a commitment.
I was pleasantly surprised. The overall construction of the unit was decent, but the motor, the most important part, seems well made. And overall, it’s relatively quiet and works very well at picking up dust. All the chips from my jointer and planer were picked up. At first, I didn’t think I needed such a big unit (I was looking at that mini Rockler 1hp unit), and just after I put it together my wife walked out and said, “What the hell is that, an inflatable punching bag?” and rolled her eyes. But man did I generate a lot of shavings just getting my planer and jointer tuned up, so the seemingly large size is appropriate. Also, there appears to be plenty of mods for this unit to make it even better.
For a beginning woodworking on a budget, I’d highly recommend this DC unit.
Thanks,
Greg
Anyway, at the nudging of several members here, I recently picked up a Harbor Freight 2HP dust collector. Using a coupon in Wood Magazine, I picked it up for $139 (+ tax). My general impression of the store was: “Poor quality knock-off tools.” So I was a bit leery to buy the unit, but I figured for around $150, it wasn’t that big of a commitment.
I was pleasantly surprised. The overall construction of the unit was decent, but the motor, the most important part, seems well made. And overall, it’s relatively quiet and works very well at picking up dust. All the chips from my jointer and planer were picked up. At first, I didn’t think I needed such a big unit (I was looking at that mini Rockler 1hp unit), and just after I put it together my wife walked out and said, “What the hell is that, an inflatable punching bag?” and rolled her eyes. But man did I generate a lot of shavings just getting my planer and jointer tuned up, so the seemingly large size is appropriate. Also, there appears to be plenty of mods for this unit to make it even better.
For a beginning woodworking on a budget, I’d highly recommend this DC unit.
Thanks,
Greg