Harbor freight/central machinery dust collector

John...

I have one. It works well for me. It wasn't well packed and one of the bags had a hole worn thru and the plastic 'Y' intake was broken. HF took from May to July to replace the 'Y' and until September to send the replacement bag.

You can see it in place at

There has been a lot of discussion about this on the woodnet forums. A good synopsis can be found here:

That woodnet link seems to show that most people like it. I'll have to see if the local store stocks it and the accessory kit.

John

John, I cannot speak for the quality but the capacity ratings on this machine are inflated. In dust collectors, there are no rocket science designs that make one blower have more capacity than another. Its straight forward design and all the manufacturers are roughly comparable. My guess is that this dust collector might be much closer to the Jet DC1100 in capacity and performance. None of the reputable manufacturers run 2 hp motors on 110v. and none of them claim 1600 CFM on 2 HP.

So if you really expect/need the advertised capacity of the HF machine, you need to look elsewhere.

Another thing to consider is the bag - Its got a 30 micron bag. Lots of people find out that a lot of dust gets back into the shop through these bags and replace them with a 5 micron or better felt bag - additional expense.

Lastly, get yourself mentally prepared, if you are thinking about setting up a dust collection network. I did not realize how much hassle and expense this could be. I've got a Jet DC1200 and just using it as a portable for my table saw right now. Talk about overkill! I might have been better off getting a 1 HP guy and upgrading later when I got more tools to play with.

If you just want to use this as portable to automatically "vacuum" the big stuff off your jointer, it might be perfect for you.

Bob

Had mine for two months now. I upgraded the bags and band clamps with grizzly gear. (I swear the Grizzly is the same machine). It's a GREAT piece of equipment for $149

One of the best deals I've ever gotten. Well worth what I paid.

In reality, if you expect ANY DC to get the maximum rated CFM, you need to STOP looking.

I've used the DC1200 (It comes with 30 micro bags too!), and I'll put my HF up against it any day.

You CAN find gems from time to time and the HF DC is one of those gems.

The goes Jet for around $350.00 without good bags compared to my $149 HF (free shipping) upgraded to .3 micron bags from Grizzly for an additional $50 (Total of $200)

BTW, it pulled even harder with the .3 micron bags on it.

I bought one a couple of months ago. It is well worth the $149 price. I would buy it again. Greg

the HF collector comes with two 4" ports. I never cover the unused one, I covered it once and I can not say it made a differance either way. Greg

The performance curve of the DC/collection network is non-linear and has many variables.