I've recently come to the conclusion that my shop-vac just wasn't doing a good enough job at dust collection. When a Harbor Freight flyer arrived in the mail recently, I noticed that HF was putting their 13 Gallon Industrial Portable Dust Collector[1] on sale for about $90. So I picked up one today to use with my planer, jointer, and anything else I could connect up.
At the store, I looked around for some 4" hose, as the ad and the web page for the DC state "Hose sold separately". I couldn't find any. I asked one sales person and they claimed they didn't sell any hose of that sort. Given the wording about the hose being sold separetly, it implied to me that it was something HF sells, but maybe not all the sells people know about it. So I decided to ask a different sales person--this time I got a better answer. It turns out they don't sell just the hose, but they do sell a Dust Collector Accessory Kit[2] for $43. This kit wasn't out on the floor, so they had to get it from the back. If you should decide to get one of these things, make a note of the model number (93601) and then ask someone to get one of them for you.
The DC kit includes two 10' lengths of 4" hose that seem quite sturdy, along with a collection of wire clamps, blast gates, etc. I was really only interested in the hose and clamps, but figured I'd find a use for the other goodies later on.
When I got the DC and DC Kit home, there wasn't much to put together except the casters on the DC. I was impressed with the size of the motor on it (1HP) and it looked to be a pretty beefy little unit. The DC bag is made out of canvas, but it is very thick and sturdy. One thing I immediately noticed though was the casters. In the ad/web page it describes them as "heavy duty ball bearing casters." Not even close--these are just those plastic sort of things you find on cheap office chairs. No biggy there though, if they break, I'll just replace them with some better casters.
The first thing I decided to try was using the DC with my jointer. I fired up the DC and was pleasently surprised at how much less noise it makes than my shop vac. I then fired up the jointer and ran a board through a couple of times and then shut everything down. Checking the bag of the DC there were indeed some dust in there--so it must be working.
Next I decided to try the DC with my planer. This is where I'd really been wanting better dust collection, because even with my shop vac hooked to the planer, it would still spit chips all over the place. After getting the DC connected, I ran a board through and immediately noticed that the planer was still spitting chips. I decided to check the DC and see if there was something wrong. At the end of the hose, it seemed the suction wasn't very strong. I shut down the DC and then removed the hose on the input side and immediately I noticed what the problem was--it was clogged with chips. On the inside of the DC's input was a plastic mesh/screen that was clogging things up, so I decided to see if I could remove it. The input is held on with four machine screws. After removing those, I was able to easily remove the screen. I put the input connector back on along with the hose and then fired up the planer again. Again, it was spitting chips at me. This time, it turns out the output side of the DC was clogged--again with a screen. The screen on the output was also easily removed.
With both input and output screens removed, I was now getting some decent suction from the DC. This time, when I ran some wood through the planer there were no chips to be seen at all. This little DC really does a good job at getting the dust and chips away from the cutter head on the planer.
So, with the HF DC on sale for about $90 and the added DC Kit it all comes to about $133 (with out tax). Normally the DC goes for about $120. If you've been wanting a small dust collector, this one seems to do a pretty good job.
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