Anyone have a 2HP canister DC?

[Bob Slater]

I'd kinda like something like an Oneida, but I don't think the $$ spent on ductwork and the unit will be cost effective for my application, so I am wondering how you like your 2 HP cannister system? Is it noisy? How long is your run to major tools? Is performance acceptable?. Anyone have a Grizzly, General International, or Jet 2HP? Are they all about the same? I can't buy the Grzzly or Jet in Canada, and the General is a few hundred more for what appears the same grade of DC. I could ship a JET or Grizz to Buffalo and drive it over and save myself $250 or so if they are better. In my shop, I see myself rolling the unit to the tool and having it hooked up to one device at a time. How does this work for you. If you find it a PITA, maybe I should spend the extra on a cyclone and ductwork. The maximum run in my shop is about 30 feet. thanks..I need a push to get this decison made.

[Gary McKown]

I have the Penn State DC2000BCF 2hp w/ 1 micron cannister, which looks pretty much like any of the others. It has a 6" port, although I currently use the wye and have 4" ductwork running at most maybe 30 feet considering the up and down. It is quite loud, IMO, although it seems about the same level as the 1½ hp Delta, Jet, etc., units I have heard. My ducting is not ideal, but it works pretty well at getting most of the dust and chips from TS, jointer, planer, router table, BS, and OSS, and a fair job on the belt sander and SCMS. The cannister with flappers (with occasional blasts of compressed air) means disassembly and thorough cleaning only once or twice a year.

Interestingly, the PSI cannister model actually came with the double bags - they just throw in a cannister and set of plastic lower bags.

I would not want to roll mine around from machine to machine routinely. It comes with a mobile base, but (1) the casters are quite small, (2) it is top heavy, and (3) the framing is rather flimsy. If it needed to be mobile, I would remake the platform to add rigidity and larger wheels. I also might consider a smaller 1-1½ hp unit instead.

[David Romano]

I bought the Jet 2 hp because of it's specs and design and because Bill Pentz said that the fan performance curves that Jet publishes are truthful. The impeller is 12" and curved backward. The 6" inlet is good, necessary even, considering the amount of air the DC moves. I don't believe all DC's are about the same.

It is loud, but they all are. It's not deafening like a planer or a shop vac

The main trouble with any (non-cyclone) DC is the filtration. I'm probably beginning to sound like a broken record to some people, but I love the baffle that Phil Thien invented. You can make it yourself out of a 24x24 piece of MDF. It separates the chips inside the DC so they don't clog up your canister.

Here's the thing about a DC and why the separator is a necessity: If you want good filtration, you have to have a canister. Other wise you have a dust pump. Using a 1 micron bag doesn't cut it because it does not have enough square footage to handle the CFM we want to put through it. So getting the canister is the first step. Go to http://www.wynnenv.com/35A_series_cartridge_kit.htm for the canister. I bought the paper blend with 274 sqft.

Next, if you use a canister without a separator, the canister clogs, killing the airflow and slowly ruining the filter. So then we build a "flapper" or buy an OEM one that is overpriced. The flapper is not very effective on the narrow pleats of the high sqft paper filter, maybe it is better on the spun bond, which has only about 100 sqft. But the the ratio of CFM to sqft filter is too high. You want about 2:1, less is better.

That's when you realize that the only way to properly use a DC, as opposed to a cyclone, is to have Phil Thien's baffle. Sure, the baffle in the DC or in an inline separator is going to cost you some airflow, no argument there. But, this amount is probably much less than a clogged filter would cause, and it would be fairly constant over time, unlike a clogging filter.

I have a Jet DC 1200, with the cartridge from Wynn and Phil's baffle built right into my separator ring. It works like a charm. No chips go into the canister, only some fine dust, which is unavoidable even with a good cyclone.

I think this setup is a better value than a cyclone

David

[scott spencer]

I have a Grizzly g1029 with a cannister and lid separator. The DC unit itself is quite strong and dependable. It's setup with 6" main squeezed to the 5" openings of the separator, 5" outlet, and 4" drops, which doesn't work as well as my friend's cyclone on the same DC unit. I suspect there's untapped potential yet...

[Ken Ganshirt]

Here's the thing about a DC and why the separator is a necessity: If you want good filtration, you have to have a canister. Other wise you have a dust pump.
Hi David,

That's a well-written post and I agree with the majority of it. But this just stopped me cold. I can tell you from my own testing with my Dylos particle counter (0.5 micron) that it's just not so. Testing with my 1HP King and a 1 micron upper bag with a normal cake in it and I can pull the fine particle count down to almost nothing .. single digits on the readout.

Shortly after I got the Dylos and discovered that the dust collector does indeed make a really good air filter I decided to upgrade to the Delta 1½HP unit that has received good reviews for airflow. As you would expect, the brand new 1 micron top bag didn't filter anything finer than 1 micron. But it only took a short while for the natural cake to develop to a point where the Delta, too, will pull the fine particle count down to single digits.

As a result of my testing I'm quite confident to recommend to anyone with a dust collector and minimum 1 micron filtering that they don't waste their money on an ambient air filter. Just leave the dust collector running for a similar period that they would expect the air cleaner to run ... say, an hour or two.

Sorry to have to disagree with an otherwise excellent post, but my dust collectors do not have canisters and they are definitely not dust pumps. Quite the contrary and I have the numbers to back it up (they've already been posted here in another thread a few weeks back).

...ken...

[David Romano]

Thanks Ken,
The numbers from the Dylos work are interesting. In your opinion, how does the noise level of the DC compare to the air cleaner? I have an air cleaner and let it run on low or medium while I work. I wonder how delicate that cake is and how long it takes to form it. The cake makes a very fine filter indeed, to start with, but over time, I wonder if it would maintain this as the pressure of the airflow tries to force the dust through the fabric and at what expense to airflow. I'd also like to see a comparison of the airflow between a caked 1 micron bag and a good canister kept clean by the baffle. The baffle would also be a benefit to the bag.

David



Hi David,

That's a well-written post and I agree with the majority of it. But this just stopped me cold. I can tell you from my own testing with my Dylos particle counter (0.5 micron) that it's just not so. Testing with my 1HP King and a 1 micron upper bag with a normal cake in it and I can pull the fine particle count down to almost nothing .. single digits on the readout.

Shortly after I got the Dylos and discovered that the dust collector does indeed make a really good air filter I decided to upgrade to the Delta 1½HP unit that has received good reviews for airflow. As you would expect, the brand new 1 micron top bag didn't filter anything finer than 1 micron. But it only took a short while for the natural cake to develop to a point where the Delta, too, will pull the fine particle count down to single digits.

As a result of my testing I'm quite confident to recommend to anyone with a dust collector and minimum 1 micron filtering that they don't waste their money on an ambient air filter. Just leave the dust collector running for a similar period that they would expect the air cleaner to run ... say, an hour or two.

Sorry to have to disagree with an otherwise excellent post, but my dust collectors do not have canisters and they are definitely not dust pumps. Quite the contrary and I have the numbers to back it up (they've already been posted here in another thread a few weeks back).

...ken...

[Kip Hudson]

I used a Jet 2HP canister filter in my shop for 2 years before I finally installed a central system. I guess that means it worked well enough that I wasn't too awfully motivated to change it. I had a couple 4" x 10' hoses that I would attach to machines and would roll it around for the ones it didn't reach. It's no louder than the central system that exhasts into the shop now. While it did not collect larger particles as well as the central system, it did well on fine dust and what went in, stayed in. It's a little messy to change the bag in the shop, but it you bang on the sides a few times to get the dust into the plastic bag, less dust gets on the floor.