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Thread: Yet, another dust collection question....

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Cedarville, OH
    Posts
    95

    Yet, another dust collection question....

    So, I'm in the infancy stages of finally setting up my shop to do some REAL woodworking. I've had a DC-1883 Jet 3hp double bagger, dust collection system that I purchased with a number of other tools a number of years ago and have never set it up. It currently has the, less than ideal, cloth bags on it. How would you all recommend I set this up to optimize my performance of dust extraction on a limited budget? Does anyone have this, or a similar unit, that they've had success with?

    I've even thought about venting it directly outside into a "bin" where I could collect the majority of the dust/chips and the really fine particles could be expelled into air (I live in the country and don't have any neighbors nearby where it would cause a nuisance). Pro/cons of this setup?

    I know that there are a TON of articles on this matter, but when I start running down the rabbit hole, I find myself getting more confused than before I started! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    MA
    Posts
    2,255
    From equipment cost effective standpoint, imo, your best bet is to vent to the outside. Add a cyclone or Thein baffle to capture some large particles, then blow the rest outdoors. I did this for years. With the cyclone it doesnt pile up outside so no worries about a pile of sawdust.

    It will impact space heating since it sucks all the air out of your shop after a while. But for me, I was not running the DC all day (or even extended periods) so the thermal mass of all the equipment and shop items kept the inside temps fine.

    No bags. No filters.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Tampa Bay, FL
    Posts
    3,895
    Very good advice from Carl, but don't underestimate how quickly it will suck the hot air out of your shop and make it cold in the winter. You're in my old neck of the woods (I used to live in Kettering), and I know this from experience.

    Yes, indeed buying good quality cartridge filters will make your dust collector much more efficient at removing small particles from the air (which are the ones you really don't want to inhale.) Wynn Environmental gets lots of mentions from producing good cartridge filters, and I used them way back on my HF dust collector. But these are expensive.

    I would also buy an air cleaner (the Jet 1000B and many similar units are ubiquitous for good reason.) Also, get a 3M P100 respirator, or one of many other similar units. Again, once you get serious, you really don't want to be breathing this stuff.

    So easy to be spending somebody else's money.
    Last edited by Alan Lightstone; 01-03-2022 at 9:00 AM.
    - After I ask a stranger if I can pet their dog and they say yes, I like to respond, "I'll keep that in mind" and walk off
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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,688
    Replace the OEM bags with better ones from American Fabric Filters which will kick things up a notch on filtration.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Northeastern OK
    Posts
    301
    I started my woodworking hobby without dust collection and quickly realized that something was needed. The first couple years I had a double bag collector that I moved around the shop. It was not much better than nothing at all as far as the real fine particles were concerned but collected the chips. I quickly moved up to a cyclone separator collector along with properly sized duct work. It is not 100% perfect but my semi-annual bouts with bronchitis stopped!
    My main complaint is the noise (82dB ambient). I really need to build a closet around the cyclone to mitigate the sound but that is low on my priority list.

    As Alan indicates, do not underestimate the amount of heat this will pull out of the shop if you elect to vent externally (I would not do this). Personally, I think your better solution(s) short of an actual cyclone separator would include a couple of good filters and better collection bags(not filter bags) or solid dust bins to catch the waste on your current collector. Wynn Filter is a good place to start for replacement filters if a cyclone setup is truly out of reach. Again, based on my personal experience, a dust collection system cannot be too good and is never just good enough.

  6. #6
    I had a Powermatic double bagger that set in a room next to my shop, worked great until I bought a widebelt sander and then my poor John Deere tractor sitting next to it wasn't green but dust covered. Looked into putting a cyclone separator before it, changing to cartridge filters etc. All that stuff is expensive. I sold the bagger to someone that it fit their needs and bought a Oneida Cyclone, the sale of the Powermatic plus what I would have spent to upgrade it was only a few hundred bucks less than the Oneida.

    The cheapest solution to upgrade what you have is new bags as Jim stated above.

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