Should I upgrade my Dust Collector?

[Bill Dindner]

Hi,
Im a little unsure if it’s worth it for me to upgrade my Dust collection setup. I am currently using a Rockler Dust Right Wall Collector with the 1 Micron filter, attached to it is an Oneida 4” Cyclone.

I have a pretty small shop, about 10x20ft and all my tools are mobile to give me the ability to work on larger projects. Using flex hose with the Rockler quick Connect fittings, and just drag the hose to the tool that I need. I don’t have the ability in my shop to accommodate fixed ducting.

Recently, I upgraded to the Hammer A3-31 Jointer Planer and It made quite clear to me something I already knew, that my DC setup was not strong enough to pull all the chips, it get most of them, but plenty wind up all over.

Im pretty tight for space (and height), but some of the smaller mobile units like the Laguna CFlux 1.5 HP would fit. I’m running 110v, and don’t have much space for a bigger unit.

will one of these smaller DC units flgive me much more actual suction to justify the upgrade, or should I just stick with my current setup.

[Jim Becker]

Bill, if it wasn't for your new J/P, I'd probably say that what you have and the way you've been using it is pretty fine for your stated shop conditions. Unfortunately, a J/P is a different animal and it will not perform at its best without excellent chip and dust extraction. I see two solutions...either putting in a stronger mobile unit like you mention for the "whole shop", or putting a dedicated 1.5-2hp collector directly connected to your J/P. The downside to the latter is space, but the cost factor may be lower. "Me" would probably buy the larger, more capable unit for the whole shop because it will certainly improve dust collection from your other tools, too.

[Charlie Hinton]

On YouTube ToolMetrix did a pretty good test review of the cflux 1.
It's worth checking out.

[Bill Dindner]

Bill, if it wasn't for your new J/P, I'd probably say that what you have and the way you've been using it is pretty fine for your stated shop conditions. Unfortunately, a J/P is a different animal and it will not perform at its best without excellent chip and dust extraction. I see two solutions...either putting in a stronger mobile unit like you mention for the "whole shop", or putting a dedicated 1.5-2hp collector directly connected to your J/P. The downside to the latter is space, but the cost factor may be lower. "Me" would probably buy the larger, more capable unit for the whole shop because it will certainly improve dust collection from your other tools, too.

Thanks, leaning towards the upgrade, just need to recover a bit from the Hammer purchase


On YouTube ToolMetrix did a pretty good test review of the cflux 1.
It's worth checking out.

Thanks, I will check it out

[Mark Carlson]

I have the same machine, and a 1 1/2 hp delta dust collector with a oneida super dust deputy, and a 5 in hose barely keeps up. So I vote for a larger system for you and myself:)

[Jim Becker]

For the record, when I bought my J/P back in about 2004 or so, I also was forced to do a DC upgrade because of the increased demands of that one tool. It really needs to be taken into consideration when buying tools like planers, jointer and combo J/Ps because without adequate extraction, quality of output suffers.