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Thread: Help me pick a dust collector please, small suburban shop

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Fairbanks AK
    Posts
    1,566

    Help me pick a dust collector please, small suburban shop

    I have a new to me woodlathe, and I have officially outrun my shopvac with homemade cyclone.

    As soon as I have a DC solution, my next power tool will be a lunch box planer. I do have a 12" radial arm saw, no tablesaw. I currently have a 9" bandsaw but won't be going bigger until I have more shop space. No tablesaw in my future.

    For now I have to run on 110VAC. I am in a typical suburban garage, nominal 20x30 feet and have to make room for my wife's car in the wintertime. I do have a homerun 110V/ 20A circuit I can tap, there is one receptacle on it in the driveway. The house only uses that circuit between 0500 and 0800 for the headbolt heaters on vehicles parked outside in cold weather, so for regular wood working hours the circuit is available.

    It seems like I should fly down to the lower 48, buy a Harbor Freight, repackage it so I can put parts of it in my checked bags, and ship the rest back up here.

    My sense of this new tool (dust collector) is I should go ahead and put a dust deputy (tm) on a five gallon bucket and mount that vertically above my shop vac to save a little floor space for now, and it will be adequate for the little bandsaw.

    As I will only be using one of the RAS, lathe and future planer at a time, does the HF 70 gallon/ 2HP with a Super dust deputy on it sound like a long term solution? I feel like I have done a lot of research, but really "a lot" is just enough to have a first impression.

    Given I am going to drop $1000 on airfare to go see my family in California and buy a $200 DC while I am down there, should I consider a $400 DC from some other maker?

    Thanks

  2. #2
    I have the HF and have had it for many years. It works great and I am glad air bought it. If I had to do it all over again, I’d get the Rockler Dust right. Not sure what shipping would look like to you, but the idea of a more portable solution is appealing. I am in a Garage shop also,so I get it. The Hf has a big foot print, even though there are mods to address that. He base is pretty flimsy, so mine sits flat on the floor in the corner with a single 20 foot 4 inch run and a single 20 foot 2 1/2 run with blast gates. Check the package before you go back, It’s rare that I get any tool from HF with all the hardware included.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Todd Trebuna View Post
    I have the HF and have had it for many years. It works great and I am glad air bought it. If I had to do it all over again, I’d get the Rockler Dust right. Not sure what shipping would look like to you, but the idea of a more portable solution is appealing. I am in a Garage shop also,so I get it. The Hf has a big foot print, even though there are mods to address that. He base is pretty flimsy, so mine sits flat on the floor in the corner with a single 20 foot 4 inch run and a single 20 foot 2 1/2 run with blast gates. Check the package before you go back, It’s rare that I get any tool from HF with all the hardware included.
    I switched from a 1hp Delta bagger to a 5hp ClearVue on stationary tools. The difference in air flow is at least an order of magnitude - psychologically at least! I can't speak to the HF performance.

    I can offer an opinion of the Rockler Dust Right. It i$ a compromi$e, $trategically infu$ed with flaw$, wrapped in marketing, and priced by a$tronaut$. I have one. Stupid. Me. I repaired the rim, cracked simply trying to remove the lid. On each use, I threaten to move one of the duct attachments to the center of the lid; this at least would allow me to pretend there is a little cyclonic separation going on. The OEM design just waves cheerfully at inertial separation as it passes by in the breeze. 95-98% of fine sanding dust passes thru the Dust Right to the vac filter; it probably (generously) gets 80-90% of larger dust (i.e. table saw-sized).

    I do still use it with a shop vac, attached to a ROS - - or just for basic cleanup - - and is why I consider modification of the lid. Plus my Scots thriftiness would be too embarrassed to toss such a high-priced toy in the trash.

    It is a very expensive bucket IMO. ...Buy a Dust Deputy and $5 Homer bucket?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    Lebanon, TN
    Posts
    1,719
    For your lathe use, a DC will help with the on lathe sanding, but for shavings a brush and pan will be more appropriate, assuming you are doing bowls or projects a few inches in diameter.

    My first, and still my current DC, was a $600 Jet 1.5HP 110v unit. Bought it 5 years ago and it has been sufficient.

    I have a couple of machines that produce a lot of shavings, a Shopfox Moulder and a Hammer A3-31 12" J/P. In one run, I filled 12 55Gallon bags with the Shopfox.

    My DC managed to keep up with this.

    I did convert my unit to a two stage, using a Super Dust Deputy XL and a 55 Gallon drum. These two parts cost around $350.

    I use my DC with my tablesaw, bandsaw, router table, 19/38 drum sander, Shaper, moulder and lathe when sanding.

    I have it iVac switched, so it turns on and off with my stationary tools and remote power on/off for others.

    I also use it to vacuum my floor for shavings and sawdust when necessary with a 20 foot 2.5" hose.

    Periodically, I get tempted to upgrade the system to a Clearview, but as of yet, I not seen where I would get a significant benefit.

    I have 5" metal ducting, about 40ft of it, that give me three drops where I have Wyes with a 4" and 2.5" blast gate. From the blast gates, I got to the appropriate machine with about 12' of 4" flex hose or 2.5".

    I swap the flex hose between machines as necessary.

    Quite often when I am ripping and dimensioning, I have my Sawstop ripping and my A3-31 jointing, using two open 4" blast gates, so both machines on, but only one doing either a rip cut or and edge joint. My DC has no issues capturing the shavings and sawdust.

    This short video is my system, here demonstrating a small enhancement to monitor the cyclone when in use

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Location
    Elizabethtown, PA
    Posts
    124
    Your main issues isn't what you have, but where you live. Alaska is a beautiful place, but shipping prices are very costly. I would advise you do buy as much HP/ CFM as you can afford, since shipping will outweigh the price difference of a cheap collector and needing to upgrade in the future. I bought a Jet 1200 because it was decent and I wouldn't outgrow it for a long time (I don't have enough space for a lot more machinery). My unit is 220V, but I have a subpanel in the basement and it wasn't a huge deal for me to run another line for the collector. If upgrading your electrical service is out of the question, then a 110V is your best option. Onida makes a very good yet expensive unit for a small shop and has great suction it might be worth looking into. I thought about going the HF route, but to upgrade it would put it price wise with a Jet 110V unit that comes ready to run with a canister filter.

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