Should I buy a Powermatic 75 Dust Collector?

[Randy Figg]

Yesterday my neighbor came over asking if I wanted to buy his never used Powermatic Model 75 1900 CFM dust collector for $400.00. He just bought an Oneida.

This summer I was going to up grade and get the Grizzly collector with the metal filter. This would cost around $550.

Any advice?

He is also going to give me some fittings and sell some 6" pipe.

He also has a 6" Delta jointer for $100. I was going to buy the 8" this fall.

So both would be $500.

Thanks, Randy

[Howard Rosenberg]

equipment, you'd be ahead on a few counts.
1 - the savings are self-evident
2 - you can always add to/modify the DC with a Farr-type cartridge filter a la Bill Pentz - it'll filter finer than the Grizzly version will
3 - try the 6" jointer - if it does what you want/need for your type of projects, you've gotten an exceptional deal
4 - if after a while of using the jointer, you see it won't work for you, sell it. You might get $100 for it meaning free usage after a few projects or you might sell it for more. If so, take the difference and buy the one you prefer.
My opinion is that you win on every count.
My 2C. Howard

[Steven Wilson]

From Powermatic, "Cloth upper collection bags are made of a 5 micron material which aids in the filtration of all but the finest dust particles". 5 micron doesn't go low enough. So besides the $400 in dust collector you'll need to replace all of the bags with felt bag material so figure in $200-300 more, now you're up to $700 for a collector that will get most of the dust but very little of the fine dust (<2 micron), so you should still wear a respirator while working. The electricals (motor, switch) are fine and the impellor size is good (14") so you might be able to use those two and then get an Oneida cyclone kit to make yourself a decent cyclone with real filtration.

[Jim Becker]

I'm with Steve on this...the real value of that PM DC is for the blower. Use that with a cyclone pre-separator and good filters and you have the workings of an excellent dust collection system for your shop. But then again...addiing up the cost of the PM DC, cyclone, filters, etc., puts you really close to just ordering a nice 2hp system from Oneida!

[Randy Figg]

I told my neighbor that I would pass on the dust collector. I'm going to save for a cyclone. I did buy the six inch jointer for $100.00. It is like new.

Thanks for your help.

Randy