I been thinking about installing a dust collection system in my ‘shop’ ( 1 bay of a two car garage so far) . Anyone has any suggestions as to brand name prefrence? I looking at Delta, Sears and Greneral, approx 600 -800cfm. I want to hook up my table Saw and Thickness Planer.
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I have a Delta, but it is a higher CFM. The 800 cfm model is ok for a single machine with a short hose hook up. The munber of tools and length of hose makes a big difference in how effective any dist collection system works,
FWW did a tool review on small dust collectors not to long ago (1-2 yr.).
Drop in over at Knots and post your question in the tool section. You get more opinions tha carter has pills.
Dave
artworks,
Go to http://www.grizzly.com it's where great equipment can be found for a modest price.. If you go over to fine wood working you'll hear mostly great things about that equipment the rare dissenter is the eception that proves the rule..
My experiance with them is so positive that I bought my first piece from them 6 years ago and since then I've bought no other brand of equipment..
It's not the fanciest stuff on the market and I hate the color.. but it's fine durable stuff that does a good job and is reliable as an anvil..
>>the rare [Grizzly] dissenter is the exception that proves the rule.Put me in that group. I have three things of theirs and will never buy another. Two of them have broken. Getting parts is a pain in the butt because (in both instances) they seem to use things that they bought to save .1 cents per item. Of course you can buy a 75 cent bolt from them that you can't get anywhere else, but they'll charge you $10 to ship it. My latest round with them is they insist the part (way down inside) is 1/4 x 20 thread. After trying to get the thing to work, I find out it's really 6mm. They don't even know what they sell.I've had other companies send me replacement equipment and/or fix it for free.But alas, every correspondence with them insists "I'm a valued customer." I just wish they'd sent me that odd-threaded bolt instead of a 700 pg catalog annually or buy premium inside the front cover two page spreads on every magazine I get.
byhammerandhand,
They aren't odd threaded, they are metric.. most of the world is metric. So much so that my local hardware store stocks mostly metric bolts nuts and fittings.. SAE and USS bolts are becoming rare..
Next, I own 7 major pieces of equipment from them and have used that equipment on all 50,000 bd.ft. of hardwood I've used in this house. Total breakage has been one fan belt purchased at a local NAPA store for about $5.00
To put that 50,000 bd.ft in perspective that would build a typical house about twenty times over.
Go over to Fine Wood Working and you will find near uniform consent with that level of reliablity.
Just so you understand most "American " brand equipment is made in those same factories. (and has metric threads)
Finally the reason I bought Grizzly is based on their reputation for help. I previously had purchased major shop equipment from Delta and found that experiance so painful, so abusive, so unreliable, that I vowed to find an alternative. I went to the fine wood working site and Grizzly is the near universal recommendation I recieved.
In the end I gave away a Delta table saw that was a couple of years old. I tried to sell it and everyone who came out and looked at it turned and walked away. The person I gave it to wound up scrapping it..
Thanks for input. I was trying to get by in my small space till I finish my larger shop ( 34 x 48 converted barn with loft ) and get a dust system for it but after planeing a bunch of Oak got mouldings and stair nosings and seeing that the completion of my larger shop not in the near future ($$$$ for re roofing, insulation ect. ) I figure I better invest in better dust control system. Looking at the GENERAL 620cfm for $269.99 available from Sears ( DW is sears cataloge agent and gets 'points') I have a bit of a home made system of 5" ducts that I made up with a old furnace fan, but it didn't pull enought and I have a recycled central vac on my table saw.
artworks,
$249 get's you 1300 CFM from Grizzly From experiance I can tell you that 1500 CFM isn't enough to keep up with steady planing on my 20 inch planner from Grizzly. depending on the cutter size it might keep up with the shavings from my 3 hp shaper..
As long as you use just a table saw or equipment that doesn't make a lot of shavings you might be OK with just 650CFM..
Edited 1/11/2008 10:59 am ET by frenchy
I just bought this unit and installed it in my two car garage. I just have single 50' flex hose to attach to various equipment. Best money I ever spent. It works great and when I move it will go with me to the new shop. The filter system is awesome virtualy no dust on the exhaust side. Give them a call very informative staff.
Mark
http://www.pennstateind.com/store/tempestcx.html
I have a Delta. It is on casters and all my tools are on mobile bases. I hook the hose up to the tool as required.
With a one bay shop you will certainly be doing the power tool dance to get each tool out to use. Also, when you eventually take over the other side of the garage (you will, trust me) you can easily move things around and not be tied to the hose drops if you have a more permanant collection system. I just this afternoon swapped the collector hose from the jointer, to the table saw to the miter saw to the jointer to the table saw again with no big hassle.
I emptied the bag three times yesterday while planing a bit of oak. Based on that I would not consider one of those little short jobbies. Get one of the stand up types as a minimum.
This site has more info than any others I have seen:
http://www.billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm
HUGE resource, many times quoted over at Knots.
Also look at Oneida; they will design a system for you if you buy one of their cyclones.
Johnny
I put mine in the back corner closet and ran the pipes overhead. It vents outside. This is in my basement.
View Image
from the other side, looking towards where the first was taken from.
View Image
There are two more capped off leads above either side of that white countertop.
Note the many different vents in the ceiling. Makeup air feeds into the plenum above the ceiling tiles. The vents keep the ceiling from flexing when the room is closed and the collector working. That black line on the edge of the door is weatherstripping. I used exterior door frames to seal the room from the rest of the house.
Which ever machine you are looking at keep in mind that .5 microns is the threshold level for inhaled dust that will cause damage to your lungs.
Look for those that have filters to that level.
I have a question of dust collection myself. I have a small craftsman 1 gal. wet/dry vac, with a standard bag-typ filter. I want to use it on my belt sander especially, but just after 10 secs. of use the filter is clogged too much to use. and no dust is collected in the bin. can I use a different filter to stop this or is it just the vac?
"I'd rather be a hammer than a nail"
I have used a used mud pail, cut couple holes in lid, one for the shop vac hose, other one for hose to sander or whatever machine your useing, a lot of the dust will drop into the pail before going to the vacum. I use this set up a lot for sanding drywall if I want to keep the area mostly dust free ( I put water in the pail 1/3 to1/2 , which keeps the dust out of the air stream , but you have to watch how much suck you have on the vacum or it will suck up the water.) This system works well with a long hose ( central vac hose ) and a 'funnel' for scrapping off old ceiling texture.
Andy,
You've discoved the weakness of those types of shop vacs.
Clogged filters.. it's not the filter per sey it's where the filter is located..
Dust collection works on a differant principle, in that the air is "swirled" around and the heavy particals (dust and shavings) drop out long before they reach the filter media.
If you have a Dyson house vacum that uses the same priciple, as do the air filters on big over the raod trucks and most heavy duty construction equipment.
Bump, can I get sum moor answers to my question
"I'd rather be a hammer than a nail"
if you jump up to a bigger 16 gal vac it will have a big enough filter to go longer,but will still stop up with fine dust.
someone sells a sock to put over your filter to make it go a little longer,never used one...
the post of putting a container between you and the vac will work pretty well for no cost. larryif a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?
Is a 16 gal vac the size of the new rigid? I've been eyeing it for a while, and mabey I would get it if it would definitly help.
"I'd rather be a hammer than a nail"
ridgid has a 16 gal,that is the one that is about 2.5' tall and 18" around,thats really the one i'm talking about,but ridgid does make a small vac [i have 2 of these]that i think is rated at 5hp that is small and has the tool storage on board. it's really a great vac,but the filter is about 3/4 the size of the big one so it does stop up a little quicker,but it's easy to shake it out and go again. larryif a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?
how long can you go when running a belt sander
"I'd rather be a hammer than a nail"
You seem to know about vacs, do you have any ideas about my prev. post
"I'd rather be a hammer than a nail"
bump
"I'd rather be a hammer than a nail"
Andy, I am sorry but I can only offer a bit of of suggestion. Try eliminating the bag and trying a cartridge type filter for your vac if they are available. Dust from sanders is very fine and with a belt sander if you are removing much stock at all you are creating a lot of it. Might be time to step up to a larger vac. I know about the .5 micron stuff because I have lung issues from a variety of sources and have read about what is considered threshold amounts to keep the air clean.
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
I think myshop might be even smaller... Single stall. After routing my last MDF piece, I too decided that dust collection was a must. Steel City has a 1 micron unit on wheels for 200 bucks. Seemed perfect for my shop.
http://www.steelcitytoolworks.com/products_tools.cfm?section=2&category=5&tool=65110
Good luck.
ct thomas,
Grizzly's version of the 1 hp unit is only $149.00 and it's on wheels as well.