Rockler Dust Right® Wall Mount Dust Collector with Canister Filter

I have a air filtration unit and am happy with it.

I want to supplement it with a dust collector that will be totally dedicated to collecting sanding dust off my lathe. I like Powermatic's PMDCV-C 20" 2 micron canister kit. I don't like the price!

In my research I find a Rockler Dust Right® Wall Mount Dust Collector with Canister Filter that collects down to 1 micron. It's price is about half that of the Powermatic. The other obvious big difference is horsepower and a flow rate of 650 cfm. The Rockler, if purchased, would be mounted within 5 feet of where it would be positioned to collect dust off my lathe.

Does anyone have this unit connected to your lathe and what has been your experience?

Thanks in advance.

I don't have that unit, however, I do have a 1200 CFM Delta, and I don't use it. Even a foot away, it's barely adequate to collect sanding dust. A 650 CFM unit 5 feet away, I would think you not even going to notice it. Except for it making noise. Just my $0.02. I do use a $20 box fan to suck (not blow) dust away. It's cheap and better than the DC.

I’ve got the small HF Dust collector (similar to the DR) with the dust right canister filter and it does everything i want it to do. It’s fine dust and I found it to be perfectly adequate for the job

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Originally Posted by Kyle Iwamoto

I don't have that unit, however, I do have a 1200 CFM Delta, and I don't use it. Even a foot away, it's barely adequate to collect sanding dust. A 650 CFM unit 5 feet away, I would think you not even going to notice it. Except for it making noise. Just my $0.02. I do use a $20 box fan to suck (not blow) dust away. It's cheap and better than the DC.

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I have a Delta 1200 cfm dust collector with a pleated filter cannister on it, and a 31 gallon vortex separator on it, and I can collect sanding dust off my lathe with a flexible hose on one port, and from the other port, I have pvc ducting all the way to the far end of my shop where I have a router table with connectors to collect dust there. My 1200 cfm collector will pull all that way across the shop even with most of that 4" run overhead of the truss collar ties.

Your system should do way better than you describe, Kyle! I wonder if you are losing suction somewhere along your system?

i just upgraded my delta 50-760 with a canister filter and dust deputy separator and the improvement was significant! It’s probably a 15’ run to the lathe and it works great for dust. My next step will be to convert to 6” main trunks but this is working for now.

As as I was researching the canisters it does seem like they can get clogged up quickly with sanding dust so I added the separator to help cut down on filter cleaning and to maintain air flow for longer.

To to answer the OP I think a dedicated DC close to the machine would work just fine.

When I’m sanding off the lathe I do setup a box fan with a 20” pleated filter on it pulling dust away from me. Works pretty well. My lathe is up against a wall, no where to put a box fan but they do move some air. It can be very effective.

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Originally Posted by Roger Chandler

Your system should do way better than you describe, Kyle! I wonder if you are losing suction somewhere along your system?

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Not losing suction. It does an adequate job of collecting dust, but it has to be a foot away to get all of it. My point was if his vac is half the CFM and 5 times the distance, it probably won't be any use. My DC was very close to me and noisy. It is a good system. The box fans are quiet, do just as good a job, blows the dust out the window. Just an option, and a cheap one.

I have the Grizzly dust collector blower that is the same as on the Grizzly G0785 which looks very close to the Rockler unit. (Notice the price difference.) It is right behind the lathe, a PM 3520, and pulls through a Super Dust Deputy and 5' of hose to the lathe. I wear a Trend Air Shield Pro and frequently find dust on top of the Trend unit when power sanding using a drill motor. I find that the inlet must be positioned less that 8" from the sanding source to be effective with this size blower when power sanding. When sanding w/o a drill motor, it is a lot easier to aim the dust stream to the inlet. I feel that noise could be a issue and keep the garage door closed when it is operating. Neighbors have not complained. I have a Delta 3/4 HP and Pen State 1 1/2 HP unit, mounted differently, that I perceive as quieter in operation.

I have a 2 HP Harbor Fright DC. I put a smaller "gulp" hood on it and it works good at pulling in 90 -95 plus percent of the fine sanding dust. But I need to put the hood close to the work. It is not that hard to position the hood to be close to the work piece. It has only a fraction of the CFM as the Delta units mentioned above (drool) and doesn't work as well, but then again, I paid under $200 for it.

BTW, I bought my first DC for $10. It was a Harbor Fright 1 HP. The reason why I got it so cheaply is the hose and screen on the unit was totally plugged. Input and output was close to zero. I suspect that the previous owner wasn't aware that the curly shavings really clog the input screen quickly. I would recommend putting some sort of separator (cyclone, Thien baffle, etc.) in front.

Just wanted to clear up some self-inflicted confusion. The unit that I am interested in would be mounted to a wall 5 feet or less from my lathe. The dust collection point would be as close as possible to the piece I am sanding. My question was if people thought that a unit with 650 CFM would adequately "catch" all (most) of the dust. The length of my hose would be 5 feet or less. Thanks.

Yes it will

If your dust collection desire has anything to do with potential health concerns, i suggest you spend some time with billpentz.com and his dust collection research and form your own opinion. There is good general information there. This is not a simple subject, both in expressing desires and evaluating products quantitively. Most of the CFM performance data quoted on small blowers is about as valid as shop vacuum HP ratings. Also, CFM ratings w/o corresponding static pressure values are merely talking points.

As I expressed above, that blower in a different color and from a different US supplier with a cyclone separator does not collect most - my definition - of the dust in my application.

From Bill Pentz: If there are dust particles that are visible from sanding, there are many more times the quantity of dust particles that are not visible and these are harmful to the lungs.

There is a relatively small range of harmful sized particles. Too big and they are caught in the bronchial airway and will not reach the lungs. Too small and they are typically either exhaled or are moved via mucus from the airways. The small size range in the bad sweet spot will easily be removed by a dust collection system. The most dangerous have a specific geometry. A one micron filter will prevent that dust from being exhausted back into the shop. It doesn't take a lot of pull to grab the most dangerous sized particles.

An inserting thing about dust this size is that will not settle out of the air.

One simple thing you can do to greatly increase the efficiency at the inlet port is to put a round flange on the inlet port. Think of a toilet flange with the end that goes into the drain as the hose and the part you bolt to the floor as the flange. In fact you can actually use the toilet flage as part of your flange. You will need to bolt a wood donut disk onto the flange
I had several courses in dust control of hazardous dusts as part of my industrial hygiene course work . Of course, that was about 150 years ago, but the physics of the flange on a dust collection port will still be the same.

I mention the flange since it is impressive how much it increases the efficiency of the collection port.

The reason for this is that it prevents the port from drawing in air from behind the port. If anyone is interested I could supply more info. Exact fiber size and geometry and an illustration of the flange concept.

Since i have thrown my ventilation books out, it may take a little time digging up some of the details.

Many Kind Regards . . . Allen

Mostly what you are collecting off lathe work would be fine dust which doesn’t take a lot to suck into a hood mounted on the lathe over the area where you are turning. If the filter you are considering is a HEPA filter I would guess the the collector being 5’ away at 650 cfm wouldnt be a problem. Keep the hose to the hood to the 5’ length and make or buy a bracket to mount the hose opening or hood close to the area you are turning. With the HEPA filter I think it will work.

While my Oneida collector pulls about 900 cfm I think the key to its effectiveness is the proximity of the hood connected to the collector to the work piece and my HEPA filter.

RON - for what its worth, I think your system will work just fine. Would a bigger dc do a better job? Probably, but at what cost.

Allen - I’d be very interested in seeing the drawings of your inlet design. Several years ago Fine Woodworking did a tool test on dust collectors - mostly mid-sized for smaller shops. One of their discoveries was that a round inlet that flared gently to a bell shape (if I remember correctly) significantly increased the air flow. since making round objects isn’t much of a problem here I’ve been meaning to make one for years...now’s the time.

By the way, I’ve been using a HF 2hp dust collector for 7 or 8 years now. The machine is no slouch - HF claims 1550 cfm (I’d guess in reality that may be a little optimistic, but it will certainly keep up with the Jets, Deltas and Powermatics in its hp class. I think its probably one of the best things they sell at HF - not that I’m impressed with most of their tools, but this one is a gem.
I put a Wynn Environmental cannister on it that gets 99% of everything .3 microns or bigger. With a 35 gallon cyclone separator in line it pulls just fine from the back of the shop (24 feet to the lathe) and works fine for everything else in the shop - table saw, band saw, sanders, drill press, planer and jointer (not that any of them see the same use the lathe does.