HELP! Confusion of dust collectors

[Unisaw A100]

I was "making my rounds" one Saturday and stopped at a local HVAC contractor. This contractor has a display set up in the back of their shop that consists of a large heavy metal container with no top and partially open on the front. A nice man with a big truck comes each week and empties it so the contractor can display new items for the following week.

Anyways, this week there on display were two brand new blowers. One was sitting atop a tangled pile of black iron pipe and the other was poised next to it and off to the left slightly a kilter so as to draw your eye to it. I don't know who set up this display but it certainly caught my eye.

Some people have called this "dumpster diving". This isn't dumpster diving as they were both there on top by the front of the opening. I prefer to call it "dumpster reaching".

UA100

[Han]

My attempt at getting a blower for naught didn't work, so I bought one on Ebay, plus a variable speed switch (from "greatsam" total $125). The squirrel cage fan turned out about 5 times bigger than I had expected, but it moves a lot of air! There was (hopefully still is) a site decribing my box, but I lost the url. My wooden box is 15Wx24Lx20H, and has dual filters on each side (20x24, one each regular=cheap and Filtrete=expensive). It works beautifully, but it is big.

[mac davis]

big is what I'm going for, regardless of what size blower I find.. I need to build a new router table, so I'll make the filter box at least 36" high and 48" wide..

[Han]

mac davis wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Did a Google search: I got something like this from this seller, plus the variable speed switch from him. He had great support when the wiring instructions weren't clear to me:

(sorry about the wrap) I have no affiliation with this guy other than as a satisfied customer.

[Lawrence Wasserman]

No dust sparkling through the sunlight in my shop, either, but then again, I work in the basement.

[max]

We wound up building a box around the back of the saw and the sides come forward to the front fences on both sides. At the front to the right and left of the saw are two sliding doors. When the saw is at 90 degrees the doors are closed, when the saw is set for miters we have to move the doors to clear the saw. We are using a 2 horsepower DC with a hose to the box and a hose under the table. It collects almost everything. We can use this saw for hours without dust escaping. max

[mnterpfan]

Don't forget about the times you use the DC as a vacuum with a floor sweep or hose and you pick up a screw or chunk of wood. The impellor doesn't like that too much. Dust collectors don't have many moving parts, but I don't imagine that they are cheap to replace. A bent impellor is likely much more expensive than a pre-separator. As for buying better bags later, they are not on the cheap side either when you buy them as add-ons.

I am speaking more from my own purchase deciding factors rather than from experience. I haven't actually used my DC system yet. I am currently designing shop plans and ducting.

ET