Dust collection advice from limited selection

[Ryan Leduc]

Just trying to gauge public opinion. I have around $500 in gift cards specific to Home Depot and I've decided I need to change my dust collection. They do have a bunch of options, some are companies I haven't heard of and haven't been able to see reviews of. I plan to use my SawStop contractor saw and Dewalt planer. I will get a joiner in the future as well. I have everything running through a Fein with a non cyclone separator currently. I am not very worried about doing full ducting, I don't mind having a hose to connect to tools each time. The one thing I want though is to be able to wall mount it. I don't have a 220 hook up either, yet. https://www.homedepot.com/b/Tools-Po...n/N-5yc1vZc2d1

[james manutes]

There are many brands online that Home Depot won't have in the store . Verify you can ship to the store if needed to use the git cards . Everybody seems to have a unique policy . $500 really goes fast with dust collection , it's a "rabbit hole" .

[Ryan Leduc]

That’s what my plan is, just buy online and ship to home or store. They have really nothing in store but the gift cards can all be used online without a problem. Can’t beat free shipping either.

[Justin Rapp]

Ae you planning to add more to the budget? The first issue you are going to run into is your wall mount option. Unless you are going for a wall mount cyclone like an Oneida, the out of the box wall mount are single bag, meaning filtering the air and dust collecting in the same bag. This is going to provide very poor performance and clog on you reducing your air flow. So, there goes your first entry level DC device onto craigs list when you go for an upgrade.

The second issue you will run into with a wall mount is unless you roll each machine over to the DC, anything more than 5 to 7 feet of the DC flex hose and your performance will also significantly drop.

So, for roll-to-machine 110v look at something like the JET DC-1100VX-CK. It's a bit over your gift card budget, but gives you a much better air filtration (2micron) than a bag filter, which are usually about 30 microns, which will just through the fine dust all over your shop and into your lungs.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with Justin...the little wall mount units are pretty much a waste of money for most collection needs.

[Ryan Leduc]

I don’t mind going a few hundred over. I’ve seen the jet ones mounted on the wall too from someone’s YouTube. I just want to try and conserve a little floor space if possible.

[Justin Rapp]

I don’t mind going a few hundred over. I’ve seen the jet ones mounted on the wall too from someone’s YouTube. I just want to try and conserve a little floor space if possible.

Well yes, you can just bolt it to the wall, or take it apart and put the parts on the wall, but if you need to run too much flex hose to a machine from the wall mount location, your gonna have very low performance.

[Ryan Leduc]

That makes sense. I think I’m going to end up with the jet suggested above and look into some ducting or something similar.

[Justin Rapp]

That makes sense. I think I’m going to end up with the jet suggested above and look into some ducting or something similar.

if you start getting into ducting, it depends on how far a run you need. you can get by with 1.5 hp for some short runs, if you have any kind of distance or plan on a machine that has high cubic feet per minute requirements your gonna need a bigger DC. I finally got tired of coughing my lungs and cleaning dust on everything so I moved up from a 1hp roll around machine with 30 micron bags to a fully ducted system with a 3hp 1 micron machine.

[Jim Becker]

This is about compromises...with only 120v power available, the best collection performance is going to be roll-around with a short hose. Collection performance is the most important factor. If you want to move to duct work, a larger system is going to be best to maintain the expected performance and that means both more money as well as 240 power.

[Jim Dwight]

I use only 120V power in my shop. My DC is the HF "2hp" unit on its own 20 amp circuit. I run 5 inch metal snap lock pipe to the table saw, CMS, and bandsaw with flex at the end of the run connected to the tool. I also have a long 4 inch flex I hook to my lunchbox planner and jointer, and router table. I exhaust outside. I am OK with this system but I am sure I am not getting the airflow of those with 3-5 hp units. I need to take a blower out and blow the dust off everything now, it has collected on horizontal surfaces. But the DC gets most of it.

I used to have a 1hp Delta DC. I hooked it with a 4 inch flex for awhile but then went to a PVC 4 inch S&D system with several drops. I upgraded the filter to a Wynn. But the airflow was never very good with that system. I will not own another 1hp unit, I think they are just too small to be effective.

I think you can order a WEN DC about the size of my HF, possibly with a bigger impeller. The other WEN tools I have work fine so I would not be afraid of that brand. I do not think it is the equivalent of Jet, closer to HF, but I think it will work OK. That unit has the same issues as my HF. The bag filter is too coarse to actually protect your lungs and it is a 1 stage so the filter will clog relatively quickly. But it is significantly less than $500 so you could add a super dust deputy, like I did to my HF. To solve the filter problem you can discharge outside (like I do) or get a cartridge filter. But that would put you over your budget.

I am OK with the performance of my 2hp HF. It doesn't get everything a 3-5hp presumably would but it gets a lot. It works a LOT better than my old 1 hp unit.

[Matthew Hills]

How many amps of 120V service do you have in your workshop?

I think for $500 and 120V service, you should be able to get decent chip collection but probably challenged to keep the air clean, and will probably want to wear a respirator and either fans/ventilation or ceiling-mount air filtration to help clear the air.

Key pieces:

• dust collection at the tools
  
  • sawstop table saw is probably decent for a table saw. Getting above-table capture is really helpful for reducing dust in the air.
  • planer has a fan to eject chips, so this is probably not too demanding?
  
  
• air movement (fan/ducts)
  
  
  
  • how much air is being moved will depend on the motor+fan working against each piece of teh system (ducts, fittings, cyclones, filters, etc.)
  • Getting enough air movement to really keep the air clean is hard (and noisy)
  
  
• separation
  
  • You want to separate the chips and dust from the air stream going to the filter, otherwise the filter will clog up and you will lose air movement
  • thien baffle, cyclones (super dust deputy), jet vortex, etc.
  
  
• filtration
  
  • venting outside can be good if your neighborhood and climate are cooperative (noise, return air from outside; dust will depend on separation efficiency)
  • cannister filters provide good filtation, but prone to clogging up
  • standard canvas bags are not great -- they tend to recirculate the fine dust
  • i've heard some good things about sintered bags, but don't have any experience

For a ~ $500 budget, I'd probably look at:

• 1.5hp blower (used from craigslist, harbor freight, etc.)
• 5" oneida super dust deputy separator
• waste drum
• vent outside
• (you may still want to use shop vac for above-table dust collection on tablesaw)

If you can't vent outside, something like the Jet DC1100VX-CK may be best choice for slightly more.

I've got a pre-vortex JET DC1100 now, but plan to go larger this next year. (you can see how it normally tucks in to the right of the tablesaw in this old thread)