HELP! Confusion of dust collectors

[Greg O]

I still have the factory bag on my HF dust collector. I don't have dust spewing all over my shop, unless I am sanding! Greg

[mac davis]

well, that's good to hear! Another idea I'm stealing from Ken is a sanding box.. that should held some with the little stuff.. and the swamp cooler seems to get that out of the air pretty fast..

hmm... it sounds like the way to go for a beginner is the $150 one with the $40 hose kit... The $190 one has most of the stuff in the kit and is 1 micron, but them we gat back to that 1 hp thing instead of 2hp and 30 microns..

I should have just bought the sucker last month before I knew what the hell a micron was!! *g*

[max]

We had a pro shop with several dust collectors dedicated to tools and each tool requires specific solutions. I found a 3 HP dust collector wasn't enough for the table saw. We tried everything. The final solution was actually a smaller dust collector and using an overhead guard to cover the blade. We kept thinking bigger is better but found that smarter wins. The chop saw was an adventure in itself. It took months to get it right. max

[Mark Jerde]

I'm interested in what the "right" solution was. Care to share? ;-)

-- Mark

[Greg O]

My toughts were to buy the bigger 2HP HF collector, then if I did not like the bags, replace them with any of the various .5 or1 micron bags available. I have not seen the need to upgrade the bags. I think you will be much more pleased with the 2 HP model over the 1 HP model. I looked at the 1 HP model, and decided it was too small. Plus even if you upgrade the bags, the 2 HP is still a good deal. Also, I have not bought any blaste gates, dust collector tuning, whatever o build a collection system. I park my TS, jointer, router table, and planer close enough togather so I just move the hose from one machine to the other as needed. There is a friction fit hose end that mates with the typical dust collector adaptors that mount to your machines.

This fits on your hose,

br_lf_hi_8//103-9710276-0606224?v=glance&s=hi&n=552654 and mates with these, have been tempted to buy another hose, but I guess I am not pressed hard enough for time so moving the hose does not bother me. Sometime I may get something permant set up with ridgid tubing and some short hoses to the machines, but for now its good enough! GReg

[Alan W]

I bought the $149.00 model from the local store. They didn't have the kit, but I ordered some parts from grizzly.com.

Grizzly has one for 4" hose, let me know if you find one for 5" hose. The dust collector comes with the Y already you just need a hose. Blast gates are only needed if you are trying to hook up multiple machines at one time.

[mac davis]

well, it got solved tonight... I was filling the wife in on all the stuff I learned and the trouble that I was having deciding, and she said "go for the 2hp, you can add bags and stuff cheaper than you can add horsepower" She's actually got more experience with this kind of stuff than I do, (she used to own a sharpening business), so I'll order the 2 hp DC and the startup kit... and hopefully be ready to assemble it and get it working when it gets here..

Thanks to all that informed, confused and guided me... I know I'll have a shitload of questions when I get it set up..

NOW.. the filtration system and the sanding box, once I finish the project that's scattered all over the shop, waiting for assembly tomorrow.. *groan*

[Mortimer Schnerd, RN]

Emptying the can is *a* benefit but not the main one: it serves to protect the impellor blades from every big chunk that the dust collector slurps up. They should fall in the can BEFORE they hit the DC. For the little bit of money you need to spend to get a garbage can and cyclone lid, it's cheap insurance.

[Ba r r y]

Does anyone actually trust HARBOR FREIGHT performance ratings?

Has anyone actually verified any of the imported dust collector claims? Would we know a 1 micron bag from a 30 micron bag by sight?

Barry

[patrick conroy]

OK... But I take very light passes with the DW735...

[Bob G.]

============== I have had a Griz 1029 for years... and it is NOT overkill... In fact it is marginal ...honestly anything less is a total waste

It keeps my shop a little cleaner and that was why I purchased it...NOT for health reasons... IF you are concerned with health my "Marginal" comment would change to USELESS...

Bob Griffiths

[FMB]

Mac, are you gonna have "da machine" in your garage too? Gotta keep the dust off of that too.

Keep us informed with your progress with the DC as that is something else still on the list...

[loutent]

You can easily tell a small micron bag - they are thicker and felt-like and will stand up on their own with no support. At least the ones I have do.

My BIY has a Delta dust collector with a 30 micron bag. When his collector is running and the sun is streaming into his shop through a window, it is unbelievable what you see escaping into the air.

Now I'm sure this is true of smaller micron bags as well, but if you are trying to save a few bucks on bags, think of your lungs first, then amortize the $50 extra over the next (say) 10+ years. The cost is insignificant.

In addition, it is good to wear a dust mask too.

No DC will get everything - but every shop should have a decent one one.

Lou

[mac davis]

sorry, but I don't think they allow ram diesel owners in the wreck...

*g*

I ordered the DC and starter kit last night... another $210 ding on the ol' credit card...

It would be cheaper and more effective to get one of those trolls from the dodge group to just walk by and inhale once a day..

[Greg O]

I have a home built dust filter that I use when ever I am in the shop. No dust sparkling in the sun light in my shop. Greg

[Mark Jerde]

Details, please? I may want to "borrow" some ideas. ;-)

I have a "one stage" furnace-fan sanding table that uses just the standard flat filters. I'm thinking about modifying it to have a 2nd stage that uses automobile air filters to help get rid of the smaller dust particles.

Thanks.

-- Mark

[Greg O]

I am almost embarassed to show mine! I do HVAC work for a living. A couple of years back I replaced a furnace for someone, broght the old one home and cut the upper 1/2 of the funace off, leaving just the blower section. Next day after work I bent up some sheet metal to build a filter rack for it. It uses two 20"x20"x2" pleated paper air filters, back to back. When the outer one gets dirty I toss it, move the inner one out, with a new filter behind it. It has a three speed fan, but I put a three position, center off toggle switch on it, hi and low speeds only.

Total cost, zip, nadda, nothing, 'cept for the filters. Even the switch was one that I scrounged off something years earlier and had been residing in a junk box.

Sorry, the whole aparatus has zero wood working content, as far as building it, just metal!

Now the na-sayers will be screaming that it don't get the sub-micron dust that will kill you in the long run. Well I donno. After all I used NOTHING before, other than the snot in my nose which used to get thick and dirty, but not comes out nice and clean and pristine. With it running I don't see any tiny floaters in the sun light, unless I have been sanding, which I have no means of collecting at this point, but after 15-20 minutes of running the filter on high, the air is clean again. I ingest more dust on construction sites daily than I will ever ingest in my shop! Greg

[Mark Jerde]

LOL! Don't be. I'll be the dufus!

I do similar, except I still have the original filers. ;-)

You're singing my song! I love making useful thing from what other people have already tossed.

Sorry, I don't agree. ;-) It supports your "habit", therefore it's 100% woodworking. ;-)

I have lots of relatives who lived to 99 to 103 years old, but no one (AFAIK) has made it beyond that. Since I'm 45 and have the habits of some of my ancestors (smoking, drinking, ...) I figure on annoying the succeeding generations for at least another 35 years. ;-) Based on my research not breathing the small dust particles is a plus, and I intend on doing so. ;-) I suggest you also get rid of the "floaters."

-- Mark

[patriarch]

"Greg O" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Encouraged by the success of all the handypersons out there, building their own dust filters, I took a leap of faith Thursday. The HVAC guy was replacing the heater at my son's apartment on the next block, and gave me the functioning blower and motor, and instructions on how to wire it up.

I spent thirty minutes or so, just cleaning the grunge out of everywhere, and wiping out the accumulation of dirty crud, and then wired it up, EXACTLY as the nice fellow said, and proceeded to let all the magic smoke out of the motor.

Walking around the block with the beast, still smoking, I tossed it onto his truck, having lost all interest for the day.

Maybe another time.

Patriarch

[mac davis]

sort of like the one Ken Vaughn built..

'm waiting for someone in the neighborhood to buy a new furnace or dump an old swamp cooler...