I have checked Grizzly web site and I see that they are selling a 2HP canister dust collector that looks like the one that JET introduced to market not so long ago. The interesting espects are:
- It is rated to filter down to 1-micron (vs 2-micron in JET).
- Its filter is made from spun bonded polyester instead of paper (JET's is made from paper, right?) According to Bill's Cyclone web site, spun bonded polyester is preferred because it is more durable.
Seem like it is a very good choice if someone cannot use a cyclone (may be "vertically challenged", not enough budget, ...etc). I have a couple questions though:
- It can filter dusts down to 1-micron. This is good. But I am under the impression that we should filter the dust down to 0.5-micron. How big a difference between these two filtration rates in term of health and cleanliness anyway?
- JET came up with a 2-micron canister last year, and Grizzly came up with a 1-micron canister this year. Should I expect to see a canister that can handle 0.5-micron dusts next year (as in 2004)? Anyone knows any information about this trend?
- What's that 1-micron filtration rate really mean anyway? Does this mean it can filter down to 1-micron but only at 75% efficiency? If this is the case, it may be able to filter down to 2-micron at 99% efficiency, and this may mean that it should have been rated as
2-micron after all, instead of the "marketing friendly" 1-micron rating. This is just a guess. I would like to see if someone knows something about this rating.- Is the filter "certified" as having that filtration rating? Or is it just something the vendor comes up with?
- Has anyone used it? How does it work so far?
By the way, I am not likely to buy that Grizzly dusts collector because it needs 220 volt that I don't have. I am only interested in filtration rate of its filter.
Jay Chan