Dust collector gloat/question

[Glen Smith]

A neighbor buddy of mine runs his own business. The two of us hang out together a lot and help each other out on most every home improvement project that either of us do. I occasionally help him get a business thing done, or think up a new way for him to do a tedious task for the business.

The other day he knocked on my door and told me he needed help unloading something from his truck that he needed to keep in my shop (not unusual). We go out and cary a new Jet DC-1100 in. Which I find strange 'cause he has a Jet DC-1200 in his shop already. Once we put it down, he sticks out his hand and says - " Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the help you gave me and my business over the last year." I was floored.

I've been reading all of the info I can (here, Bill and Terry's web sites ...) on dust collection for a while now. I'm concerned that the DC-1100 won't be quite enough for me. I have a 400 ft2 shop with a Table saw, router table, 6" jointer, 12" lunchbox planer, a drillpress and the usual collection of hand tools (powered and quiet). I use my buddies CMS when I need it. I would like to add a BS eventually.

My question is, do you the collective dust collection experts think that I can make the DC1100 meet my needs (I know I have to upgrade the bags)? Should I trade up to the DC1200? Should I try for the DC1200 Canister (I hear there are delivery problems)?

And how do you properly thank someone for a thank you gift of this magnitude? I obviously did say thank you (several times) before he left.

Glen:)

[Jason Roehl]

Well, Glen, a traditional and thoughtful way of saying thankyou for a tool gift would be to give the giver something produced with the new tool. In this case that might be a little odd, though. :D :cool:

For the remainder of your questions, I step aside in the hopes that those more knowledgeable than I would answer (hint, hint, Mr. Pentz and Mr. Hatfield).

[Mike Evertsen]

should be big enough even adding tools,,,I have a pennstate DC3XL5 which is alot smaller hooked up to more machines and have no problems,,,,, just remember looking a gift horse in the mouth you'll get bit,,,,,

[Steve Clardy]

on the thanks back to your friend.
However, I will also set aside on the dust collection issues as I have my own to contend with and keep busy reading all these collector posts. Steve

[JayStPeter]

the DC 1100 is very nice. I have one and use two 10' sections of 4" flex tube with plastic blast gates. That way, I can get a tube to all the machines in my shop without moving the DC. I think the 1100 is adequate for this.
When I plumb in DC in my new shop, I'll get a bigger badder unit. I do wish I had gotten the 1200 though.

Jay St. Peter

[Bill Pentz]

Glen,

With Terry off doing some kind of Badger Pond party for the weekend, I guess this one falls to me.

First, congratulations! The Jet DC-1100 is one of the best built dust collectors I've checked out. In fact, I liked it so much I bought one and still own it.

Second, I upgraded mine to a DC-1200 12" impeller and tried it on a cyclone. Would work well for say a 1 car garage sized shop with minimal ducting, but not more.

Without the cyclone, that is plenty of dust collector without the impeller upgrade to do a great job for you. You might want to do the same filter changeover I just did to mine before you fire it up. You can sell your unused bags on EBAY for quite a bit more than even slightly used ones. I recently added a www.wynnenv.com 110 square foot filter on top of mine and replaced the bottom with a plastic bag to turn it into a cartridge filtered unit. Although I could have gone with the $48 paper blend cartridge to make the conversion, I instead opted for the all spun poly as that should last for years and is washable. I think there is a web site that tells you how to do that conversion http://cnets.net/~eclectic/woodworking/cyclone and look for the what's new...

Finally, take the splitter off the front of that unit and let the kids use it for a Frisbee. Replace it with a good length of smooth walled 6" flex with a 6" to 4" adapter that you can use right at your machines. I bought mine from Oneida-Air. You will be astounded at how much air that unit can move.

And I agree with the others, make something really nice as appreciation. I would hint at nice laminated wooden mirrors with beveled glass for the ladies in your friend's world. I make these out of scrap with free form angled handles (unique looking and can be right or left handed), use a round hole and my router to hog out about 3/16" of material, and glue in a mirror that I pick up from Wishing Well. They look like a million bucks and are really special.

bill

[Stan Smith]

Hey Glenn.

I have the 1100 and it works great. I use it on my jointer, planer, ts, router table, bs and I made a sanding dust catcher for the dp out of a heating duct register housing with wire over it. I use a quick disconnect directly to my tools. I also made a drop box but never got around to using it. I changed the bags on mine but have ordered the cartridge upgrade. My wife modifiec the bottom bag and sewed the retainer ring on the new bag. The new bags are bigger and better, but don't wait to empty them until the bag gets full or its hard to get the bag out between the support braces.

Bill Pentz made his own modification and I recommend that you check his previous posts with pics. You can save yourself some $$ by following his example and instructions. I got an adapter and attach the 2.5" hose from my shopvac to the larger 4" dc hose and use it to vacuum the shop. Does a great job.