Dust Collector

[Buster]

Hey all, well the time has come to purchase the dust collector unit. Right now I'm leaning towards a 1 1/2 HP or the 2 HP General Unit. With the 1 micron cannister filter. Why? It's readily available and serviceable here in Canada.

I view the Dust as a safety device more than a convieience item, so I'm willing to put in a little extra work to get a good quality one.

The key here folks is that it has to be available here in Canada (Calgary).

A little background on the shop. It's an 18x20 garage shop that shares 1/2 with the car. The non mobile machines are on one side of the garage, while I move the more mobile ones out to the other half when I need the space (or the machine). After reading "Bill's Cyclone site" on dust collection I'm a little worried that everything is crap!

Any help would be appreciated.

[Han]

"Buster" wrote in news:BWl3f.164815$oW2.111824@pd7tw1no:

I myself am leaning to the Harbor Freight 2 HP unit at $160. Flyer just arrived yesterday, and I am getting ready for something better, easier and quieter than the old Shopvac. I'll have to buy somewhere a better filter. I want a

[Clint]

You can check out the Canadian wood-working magazine forums

for one) for Canadian specific items, so you don't end up getting comments on Grizzly and Harbor Freight units.

I'm looking at dust collectors up here too (in Edmonton, BTW). The ones I was looking at are the King 2HP unit (3105C), and the House of Tools "house" brand, Canwood. Probably leaning towards the King based on price and specs. Where did you find the GI cannister unit, and at what price?

Clint

[arw01]

Bought the Harbor Freight unit last year and immediately bought the Wynn canister as well. Been very happy with it, can tell even with my contractors table saw when I don't have the line hooked up. More chips off the top of the blade if the DC is off.

photo can be found:

the inside of the canister looks like after a few months of not knocking down the dust with a good whack once in a while:

[captmikey]

We've all read "The DC Gospel According to St. Bill" and frankly (with all due respect to Bill) I think it's a tiny bit extreme with regard to equipment. If you're a basically a weekend wood-warrior then you could possibly get by without a cyclone. I've worked in my small basement shop for 30 years and a year ago I added a Jet air filter and a Jet DC with .2 micron cannister. I love it... it's a thousand times better with regard to dust. Would a cyclone (at double what I spent) be 1000 times better than what I have? Nope.

If you have the space and the unlimited budget, get the best of everything. If you have a limited budget, a 1½-2 HP conventional DC with a .1 or .2 micron bag/cannister plus a decent separate air filter would seem to be more than adequate for most hobbyist woodworkers.

Remember, Bill was dealing with an illness and he did what is best for him... which is smart.

[tom_murphy]

< OP snipped>

I have tha HF unit and it seems fine. Based on the current draw, I think it's more like 1.5 HP, but that's okay. I just wish it wasn't so big.

I initially upgraded to a 3 micron bag from Highland Hardware. It was the least expensive I could find, but I'll admit I didn't do an exhaustive search. The link below should take you right to the correct bag for the HF 2HP unit. You want the 20" x 32" bag.

read comments on this board and elsewhere that the felt bag would provide much better airflow even while filtering much finer particles, so much so that a felt upper and plastic lower would flow better than dual stock HF bags. Well, being too cheap to buy a "real" plastic DC bag, I tried it with a heavy duty contractor cleanup bag on the bottom. This would probably have worked very well, but after fumbling with getting the clamp over the garbage bag for 15 minutes, I quickly realized that I didn't want to go through that every time I emptied the bag. I went ahead and ordered another felt bag for the bottom, thus saving my sanity and maximizing the airflow.

Tom M.

I bought one felt bag and tried using a heavy duty garbage bag on the bottom

[BillyBob]

When I bought mine, the dealer told me "The 1.5 hp is all you'll need". But I noticed his shop was smaller than my 3 car garage and he had a 2 hp unit. I decided the worst thing in the world would be to buy the smaller unit, then discover I could have used the extra oomph. I had in mind running 6" pipe one day and I wanted plenty of capacity. I ended up running dual 4" pipes instead - for the table saw - 1 below and 1 above. As a dust collector fills and filters get dirty, they lose suction, until you empty them and clean the filters. I felt the extra capacity gave me some margin, as the thing gets filled. All of my theories may be all wet. I just know that I am still tickled with what I bought - a Jet 2hp with filter cannister. Its now 2 years old. Its one of those cases where the price was quickly forgotten and the satisfaction remains.

Bob

[Scott]

I got the 2hp from Grizzly which I like a lot and the price and quality is right compared to other brands.

[djh7097]

Hey Buster. Have you considered the Busy Bee CT030 which seems to meet your specs/requirement. I believe they have a branch where you are. I got this model last year and am happy with it. It comes with a 1 micron felt bag but you can also purchase a cannister upgrade. I believe they also sell a similar model now with the cannister as standard.

[Buster]

Thanks for the suggestion.

I haven't seen the King tool version, but the Canwood seems to be very comparable to the General. I'm putting my final purchase off until after the Edmonton wood show/tool sale.

The General International machine could be bought at The House of Tools here in Calgary (although they didn't have them in tonight when I dropped by after a 'quick' Lee Valley trip). The can also be purchased at Pro-Tool City.

On a side note that may interest you, Canadian Woodworker is opening a store in Calgary. They seem to stock some General stuff. They should be open any day now.

The 2HP GI runs about $629 for the 'bag' version. The cannister would be slightly more obviousy ~$100. I'm a big fan of General tools.

[dwo49]

BTW , when is the Edmonton tool show?

[Buster]

Yes I can agree with that.

My mentor here recomended the 2HP GI with Canister Filter, and a pre-separator.

I'm very fortunate right now to have a little extra cash in the pocket for the dust collector and my next project. But space is the real concern. My stationary machines are set up on one side of a two car garage. I have plans to annex the rest, but the wife is putting up fierce resistance. The set up on my side is relatively permanent.

I'm really leaning to the GI 2HP or the narly identical Canwood 2HP (tool shop house brand).

[Buster]

Last weekend of the October, Calgary is the following weekend with a few different things. I'm going more for the tool sale than anything, there are some good deals to be had or at least a freebee. I went to pick up a Drill Press from House of Tools, and the sales guy just told me to wait.