Harbor Freight Dust Collector...

[Brian Fulkerson]

I am interested in buying a dust collector for my shop and I wanted to hear from anyone who has used the unit sold at Harbor Freight. It is on sale right now and very attractive based on its specifications.

See it here:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=45378

I will be using the collector primarilly on my Table Saw, Planner, Bandsaw, and soon to be Jointer.

I will also be getting a air purifier soon. Seems to be a good deal on the Jet right now.

THanks,

Brian

[keith ouellette]

I just read this thread from someone else. It was pointed out that the bag is 35 microns. That is fine for wood chips and large dust particles. As far as the unit goes its a fan and a housing. It may not get the cfm its rated at but if you are going to use it one machine at a time it should work fine.

You may want to check into the price of a better filter bag.

[Monte Milanuk]

If you look around over on WoodNet there is almost a (not so) small cult of HF 2hp Dust Collectors over there. Biggest thing that seems to need replaced ASAP is the filter bag - allows fine dust through too easily. Do a search there, or on google, and you'll probably find more information than you want on these beasties ;)

[Lee Koepke]

I am leaning towards the same size one from Grizzly. Granted, its about $60 more, but it has both 4" and 6" collection ports, and in the 2008 catalog, I think they throw in a trash can cyclone lid ....

[keith ouellette]

Out of curiosity I looked for a bag on amazon. They have a 5 micron bag on sale till the 24th for $68 dollars. I would ad that to the price.

[Jim Podsedly]

I have the HF dust collector and the 35 micron bags are a little better than cheese cloth!!!

I changed them out with 1 micron bags and it is 100% better now.

The dust collector has been a pleasant surprise being it is from HF.

Jim

[Jim Mims]

I am interested in buying a dust collector for my shop and I wanted to hear from anyone who has used the unit sold at Harbor Freight. It is on sale right now and very attractive based on its specifications.
See it here:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=45378
I will be using the collector primarilly on my Table Saw, Planner, Bandsaw, and soon to be Jointer.
I will also be getting a air purifier soon. Seems to be a good deal on the Jet right now.
THanks,
Brian
It's on my list when I get ready to pull the plug.
There's a previous thread from a month ago:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=729701#poststop

And here are some links I found when researching a canister filter:
http://www.msu.edu/user/olsonbr2/HFDC/HF-DC.htm
http://www.wynnenv.com/9e300bl_conversion.htm

- Jim

[Monte Milanuk]

FWIW, the popularity of the HF 2hp DC (and other similarly sized units) prompted Wynn to bring out a filter sized to fit a little better than the 9e300 linked to above...

http://www.wynnenv.com/35A_series_cartridge_kit.htm

[Richard M. Wolfe]

For our shop until it got a proper ducted dust collection we used a HF unit on individual machines. I couldn't comment on passing fines but for sawdust collection from saws, planers, etc it worked well. I doubt we would have gotten a HF usit but one in good shape came up used.

[Tim Marks]

If you do a search here for "HFDC", you will find quite a bit written about the HF DC. It is definitely very controversial. I have one with the Wynn filter, and it works fine for one tool at a time. Try to hook a long run of 4" tubing on it, and you are asking a bit too much. Consider $170 + $130 (canister) = $300, and you are getting close in price to something a bit more substantial (If I had to do it again, I would have dropped another $200, and got the Grizzly 2 Hp canister unit).

It is really only 1.5 Hp, and has a small impellor relative to some of the competitors. The stock bag is also garbage; hence the $130 wynn canister filter upgrade.

Here is a recent informative arguement... er... thread...
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=72049&highlight=HFDC

Also, please read this thread before you try to assemble it. The instructions that come with it are inadequate.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=73370

You can also find step by step assembly directions here:
http://www.cianperez.com/Wood/WoodDocs/Tools/HFDC%20Docs/Cian%27s%20HFDC.htm

[Jason Scott]

I have the smaller roll around portable HF system, the red one...It does a great job, but like everyone said you need a new bag for fine dust, although since I have a PM 64A saw I have a lot of airborne dust anyway I suppose, but that is why I also have a Delta air filtration unit and wear a respirator when sawing. I have been pleased with the quality so far of the small HF unit. I wish I had gotten a bigger one b/c the bag fills so quickly on the planer. I am going to upgrade to a delta soon.

[Bill White]

I have the HF dust collector and the 35 micron bags are a little better than cheese cloth!!!

I changed them out with 1 micron bags and it is 100% better now.

The dust collector has been a pleasant surprise being it is from HF.

Jim

I got the good filter bags (1 micron) and have been well pleased.
Bill

[Bill White]

I have the HF dust collector and the 35 micron bags are a little better than cheese cloth!!!

I changed them out with 1 micron bags and it is 100% better now.

The dust collector has been a pleasant surprise being it is from HF.

Jim

I was pleasantly surprised, and it sure is a pleasure to be able to work INSIDE the shop.
Bill

[Scott Pearson]

I have one with the 35A filter on it. I got the unit a while back for something like $129 when it was on sale with a coupon and I think I paid about $99 for the 35A. So for $230 it is a fair unit.

I have it hooked up to a straight length of 4 inch pipe about 20 feet long with blast gates and wye's along it for equipment. I have no way of telling you how well it sucks, but by the end of the 20 feet the level is down, my bandsaw is last in line and it really could use a bit more suction.

I am thinking about making the pipe bigger and longer. My plan is to bump up to a 5 inch and then get one of their (HF) small DC units that dump straight to a bag. I am hoping that I can use that as a booster unit in the middle of the length of pipe. I do not know if it will work but it is pretty cheap to try.

The Wynn canister does not have a flapper for cleaning. This is a problem as it is not easy to get the dust out, banging on it does get a little bit but not lots of the dust out. It also has another problem, at least on my filter. The bottom of the filter is a metal ring that extends in and up towards the center of the filter. This creates a problem when cleaning the dust from the pleats, the dust falls from the pleats and gets caught on that metal rim. The V shape of the rim can hold maybe a gallon of fine dust partials. So you bang out the dust it lands in the V only to be sucked right back into the pleats the next time you turn on the unit. I think that this is a big design flaw with this canister. To get mine clean I have to take of the bag, then remove the filter I run my hands around the pleats to loosen the dust and then shack the filter to empty the dust out. Its a big pain.


If you do not mind messing around it can be a cheaper unit, if you value your time, more then it would appear that I do, I would suggest something else.


Scott