Cheapest way to go for proper dust collection?

[cody michael]

I bought my dust collector used on craigslist, 2hp grizzly 220 motor, seems to work great, I have only used it a little, tested it out on my grizzly planer and it got everything I could see. I paid 125$ for it.

[John Donhowe]

++++ on using a good respirator mask- your lungs and loved ones will thank you. Check out Wood Whisperer for recs.

[Kurt Vilary]

Against my better judgement I purchased the HF DC on sale. The bag is so cheap (5 microns) and It is so poorly constructed that it compounded the dust situation in my shop by dispersing the fine (dangerous) all over the shop. After 1 week my dust collector was covered with fine dust from sanding on the lathe.You could see where the leaks were by the dust trails. After 2 tubes of lexan silicon and a .5 micron canister filter ($180) and much aggrivation the situation has improved dramatically.

[glenn bradley]

I spent more on dust collection than any other tool in the shop (Counting the cyclone, duct system and all the other accessories).

I think I remember a very popular thread a few years back about where did you spend the money in your shop? It was pretty interesting. As I recall several creekers stated they spent more on dust collection than any other tool in their shop (counting all the accessories associated with each tool).

Just my $.02 but to me dust collection is not the item to go cheap on.

Of course it depends on a lot of things like the size of your shop, how long you plan to be in it and the tools you have (and might buy in the future).

PHM

I'm in this camp after doing too little too late and developing medical problems. Whenever anyone asks which tool to buy first, I say dust collector. If you spend more than a few hours a week in the shop making dust, your DC is not the place to cheap out. As I found out, there is no upgrade or retrofit for your respiratory system.

[Greg Peterson]

DC is the single most challenging aspect of setting up a shop. Choosing a unit is just the beginning. Regardless of the unit, you will quickly discover most power tools have very poor DC design. Hooking a 4" or 6" duct to the tool doesn't mean your DC problems are solved. I've spent more time and effort on devising DC solutions than on any other aspect of setting up or maintaining my shop. Every cutting operation, regardless of tool, will require a singularly unique configuration to capture the fine particles. Saw dust is easy to capture, the fines are a lot more problematic.

DC for the drill press confounded me for some time. And even though I have come up with a pretty good DC solution for it, it's still not quite where I would like it to be. But it's far better than anything I've seen.

[Mark Inmon]

I got a wild idea, this is not a cheap way but maybe a way to get a lot more airflow. Buy an impeller from Grizzly "18.5 inch" from Model: G0638HEP and make a custom housing for it and add that to the HF collector. The part is 231.00. The Grizzly G0638HEP collector is over 6000.00 to give you some reference.

[Matt Mattingley]

I got a wild idea, this is not a cheap way but maybe a way to get a lot more airflow. Buy an impeller from Grizzly "18.5 inch" from Model: G0638HEP and make a custom housing for it and add that to the HF collector. The part is 231.00. The Grizzly G0638HEP collector is over 6000.00 to give you some reference.

Mark great idea, but wouldn’t it be even better... if you just took your machine out to the middle of a field, With wind beneficial ???

[Brice Rogers]

I don't plan to duct, especially because the shop I'm working out of now is a joke, and I literally have to move a machine to the middle just to use it, and put it away and place another one in the middle to use that. If I can truely get away without the cyclones and upgraded filters, which I don't even fully understand yet, I may do that. I definetely will keep an eye out on CL, but I probably got to research what the heck I want first. I was just afraid to look there because 6 months of tool searching and only bringing in one used tool was painful. I went to the Muncy showroom to buy my Grizzly tools, and I probably should have just picked up a collector when I was there. Too late now...

I bought a 1 HP HF dust collector for $10 because the owner didn't think that it worked. When I got it home, it had minimal suction. When I pulled off the hose going into the DC, I saw why it didn't work. The last 2 feet of hose going into the suction unit was totally plugged. All of the shavings were caught on the input "screen". I cleaned it out and tried it again. Great suction. But within a minute, I had plugged it myself with big shavings.

Planers and joiners generate a TON of big chips and shavings that don't want to go through the input screen or the impeller.

So, I heartily recommend that you put in some sort of pre-filter or separator. Otherwise with a planer or joiner, you'll plug up the input in no time at all. There are tons of plans for Thien baffles. All of them work - - some better than others. But most will collect 99% or more of the big shavings. There are also dirt-simple separators that are basically a sealed trash can with an input and an outlet pipe - - the big things fall to the bottom.

[Derek Cohen]

I bought a 1 HP HF dust collector for $10 because the owner didn't think that it worked. When I got it home, it had minimal suction. When I pulled off the hose going into the DC, I saw why it didn't work. The last 2 feet of hose going into the suction unit was totally plugged. All of the shavings were caught on the input "screen". I cleaned it out and tried it again. Great suction. But within a minute, I had plugged it myself with big shavings.

Planers and joiners generate a TON of big chips and shavings that don't want to go through the input screen or the impeller.

So, I heartily recommend that you put in some sort of pre-filter or separator. Otherwise with a planer or joiner, you'll plug up the input in no time at all. There are tons of plans for Thien baffles. All of them work - - some better than others. But most will collect 99% or more of the big shavings. There are also dirt-simple separators that are basically a sealed trash can with an input and an outlet pipe - - the big things fall to the bottom.

Brice

It is the sub-0.3 micron dust that is the dangerous dust. Ideally, you have to get this at the source. The appearance of "clean" is a dangerous misunderstanding about what dust control really is all about. My view is that unless one can afford to install high quality equipment (3+ hp as well as 6" ducting), then one might as well just consider dust collection to be a broom and use what is adequate for the time being. That means, until you can afford the real thing. And until then, wear a mask and ventilate the shop.

I have a double garage (half for machines; the other half has to park a car at night), only a 2 hp DC plus Super Dust Deputy plus 5" hoses, all kept as short as possible. This is lower efficiency overall by way of dust collection ... and still far better than most here. However I have double garage doors and a back door. These are opened and the workshop is ventilated. Plus I do much of my work with hand tools. My next purchase is going to be a ClearVue set up.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Dwight]

I've been thinking about this and looking at prices. I had a 1hp DC but I did not think the amount of suction was sufficient. I believe the "2hp" HF is thus the minimum. It can easily be purchased for $200 - less if you catch it on sale and use a 20% off coupon. It either has to be exhausted outside or you need at least better bags. Bags would be $35 or so. If you put on a cartridge filter, it is another $200. Unless you like cleaning the filter a lot (I do not), you need a cyclone. Often a Thien filter is recommended, I've built one, but it does much worse with fine dust which is what clogs up your filter. A super dust deputy is on the order of another $200. So if you exhaust outside, you can maybe get a drum to collect waste and still have a decent system for $500. But you will spend another 100-200 minimum on piping, gates, and hoses. With a cartridge filter, you are going to be around $700 without piping etc.

So what about just buying a decent 1.5-2hp unit? It looks to me like those start around $1,000. So even with all the upgrades, the HF is cheaper. Even with a Rikon impeller its cheaper. An Oneida mini-Gorilla is about $1,300. A CV1800 (5hp) is about $2,000. You'd also have to be careful to get a cartridge equivalent to the Wynn I'm thinking of.

Then there is the question of what you need. On one side of the camp is the dust allergic Bill Pentz who says nothing less than the CV1800 is adequate (that may be a slight exageration). If you believe that, you should real Matthias Wandel's thoughts, backed up by a doctor. He measured dust levels in his shop and a friends. He uses a "good bag" single stage and has dust levels lower than outside or inside his house (most of the time). I am not in the Pentz camp but I can also see how people go there. It isn't that much more than a much smaller system you don't have to put together yourself.

Last thought, you want a pretty good cyclone and those seem to be tall. If you get a short one, you risk having something functionally equivalent to an expensive Thein baffle. I think a HF with a Super Dust Deputy XL will work better than a lot of systems near $1,000. If you don't want to put it together yourself, maybe a Clearview isn't that bad of an idea. A mini Gorilla is less but can't move nearly as much air.

[Jim Andrew]

I started with a 2hp cyclone after years of doing woodworking with nothing. It seemed ok for a while, but acquired a 3hp cyclone, and now figure that a 3hp cyclone system is the minimum if you are serious about woodworking. Some machines work better than others, but sanders are horrible to collect from. My edge sander is really bad, and I went to the trouble of converting it to a 6"hood. And I exhaust outside, when using the filter on very cold days, seems like the dc is hardly turned on.

[Bill Jobe]

My set up. 2 HP Craftex CX400 (Cannister and 12 3/4" impeller). Super Dust Deputy on 32 Gallon Brute garbage can. 6" hose from DC unit to SDD, 5" from SDD to Junction. Junction connects to 20" planer, reduces to 4" to Table saw and jointer. Ridgid 6.5hp vacuum with Dust Deputy to over head dust collection on Table saw. Also used for Rotor table, Ridgid Oscillating edge/spindle sander, and general clean up. Shop Vac 2.5hp with Dust Deputy for Radial arm Saw. Also connects direct with Ridgid hose to Dewalt Ransom Orbital and finishing sanders. I have fans set up to circulate air around the shop to the overhead air cleaner unit. End result is a shop that shows very little accumulation of dust. No sense of dust in the air, no evidence of dust in my nose, throat etc (mucus buildup). In addition to the equipment, I seldom leave the shop without cleaning it up. I usually do a clean up at a tools once done, router table for example. It does not meet Pentz's standard (almost nothing does, unless you spend $5K plus), but I am confident that I have very good dust control and little health risk.

This seems a bit misleading regarding Bill Pentz's units.
For LESS than $1500 he can provide you with very good dust "removal". Isn't that what you really want to accomplish?
Why collect it in the shop when you can use his 5hp unit with no filters and blow all of the fines outside. With the money you'd save on filters you could run exhaust ductwork a long way away from your shop.
Seems like a better way to me.
But, I barely graduated HS, so.....

[Matt Mattingley]

I built a Pentz’s cyclone from scratch, I built the impeller using my own design from scratch, stainless steel impeller with an aluminum hub . I bought the 5hp SP motor for $325us. I built the whole cyclone from stainless steel. I got a 60 gallon semi transparent barrel for free. I bought 2 Peterbilt transport truck filters for $40us’ish apiece. All In, with out ducting well I can honestly say I spent less than US$750. But I spent the journey...And... I made some mistakes (positive and negative).

After five years, my only regret... is not putting this on a three phase motor with a Vfd.

I started out with a 1.5 hp with bag and bag filter. (I have a basement shop.) I found when I was cutting MDF my smoke detectors would go off. I also found my furnace filters filled with sawdust. Usually I only use a Merv 7. The wife was giving me grief that the dining room table had a visual dust sitting on it when I was a floor away.

Personally, I wanted and needed more power. I wanted and needed a two stage as I hated cleaning the filter bag. I still clean the truck filters using an airline in my back 40, but... I only do this every 7 to 10 barrel fills. It takes me about 5-8 minutes apiece. The filters aren’t working quite as good as they used to be. It has been five years. And at least 10 cleanings. My simple guess would be about 2000 gallons of the dust/savings. But… My smoke detectors have not gone off in five years and neither has the wife! Soon I will need to replace these filters. My filter box never has more than a few chips in it ever... And a little bit of dust. I use my rigid shop vac with just the blue filter (I think this is for drywall dust) to suck out the dust out of the box.

Before my cyclone, I used to be able to turn out the lights in the shop and turn on the flashlight and see what was really floating around. I rarely see this anymore... unless i’m getting a lot of end grain burning from a cutter.

In the end, I think it could’ve bought 4-5 RIDGID 6hp shopvacs(manufacturer ratings, not mine) and put in HEPA filters, all attached to a main trunk.

Maybe there is some food for thought?

This is just my opinion, three-six shop vacs tied together will give you plenty of CFM and water column to boot. The small HEPA filters won’t be cheap. I believe they are about $35 apiece.

Picking/choosing is catered to a situation.

[Larry Frank]

I have my doubts that you can tie the shop vac together and have them work. People have tried putting two dust collectors together and found problems getting it to work. Of course, if you can make it work, it would be interesting.

[Ben Rivel]

Gotta agree with those that said dust collection is the last thing you should go cheap on. I paid about as much for my dust collection as I did for each of my major tools, so to me it made sense. And I must say I have been nothing but impressed and pleased with the investment. My shop is always clean and it makes using each tool that much more enjoyable. And thats not even commenting on the health benefits of better dust collection.