Dust Collectors

[boomer12831]

I know this is a popular topic with many great ideas and opinions but is any one familiar with the Grizzly, Jet, or other brand of wall mounted 1HP dust collectors? I have found a few used dust collectors on CL but some are 2 to 3 hrs away. They are between $ 150.00 and $ 250.00. They are the floor models between 1 and 2 HP. I am seeing the 1 HP wall mount models on Amazon for around $230.00 with free shipping. I am only running 1 machine at a time, saw, planer, etc. I wonder if the 1 hp wall mount will be enough. I have the perfect spot for it with either 120 or 240 volt outlets already there. Thanks for some opinions, Ed.

 

[machsnell]

i am in the same boat i have seen some Grizzlys and jets for reasonable money and want to know if they work well enough. I dont mind spending a little more to get one that works much better. And by better i guess that means less dust from the device itself? i imagine they all pull well enough?

 

[never enuf time]

I have the bigger HF dust collector, it works really good. waited for it to go on sale/w 25% off coupon was $ 150.

This is one of those purchases that I should have done long ago.

 

[McFarmer]

I had a central collector, don't use it anymore due to the amount of noise. I have a shop-vac wired to each machine now. Comes on with the switch.

 

[Ainsley]

If you have the room I'd suggest a larger unit with a filter and a bag. The wall mounts have a filter/bag that collects everything and I'm guessing clogs up quite quickly.
I personally have the large HF unit with a Winn filter and it works well.

 

[machsnell]

If you have the room I'd suggest a larger unit with a filter and a bag. The wall mounts have a filter/bag that collects everything and I'm guessing clogs up quite quickly.
I personally have the large HF unit with a Winn filter and it works well.

i was looking at the HF model it seemed perfectly fine.

Can you use a 4" flex pipe for vac pipe or does it need to be hard metal piped?

 

[Jackfre]

Your lay-out will determine selection, but I think I'd go 2 hp if you can. I had a 1 1/2 hp Delta that did a good job for me on single machines. I rolled it around as needed. Unless your wall location is central to the use points I'd get a roller. You will be amazed how performance falls off with to much connector hose. So, 2hp if you can. Check Oneida too.

 

[Ruthless53]

I've got the 1hp grizzly wall mount. The problem I ran into was the larger chips clogging it up and it lost suction. Did some research and built a cyclone'esque separator using a 40 gallon fiber drum, about 3 feet of 4 inch pvc pipe, thin sheet of metal and about 14 inches of 4x4. A couple hours work and hardly any money and it has improved suction and now i can vacuum the floor of the shop and not worry about anything that i vacuum up. Screws, big chips, plastic are all no issue.

I used it for about 3 months with 2 shop vacs sucking out of a Y pipe and filled the drum up completely with no noticeable dust getting into the shop vac bags. The two shop vacs worked awesome but the noise was too much. a couple modifications and now instead of 2.5" pipes im using all 4" and 4" hoses. DO NOT USE SMALLER THAN 4" HOSES. The suction was horrible.

I mounted the collector high on the wall and the drum sits just underneath it. I followed this guys plans.

 

[mark11]

I've also got the Grizzly and made a cyclone from a fiber drum and the fittings that Rockler sells. I'd almost say I could use my planer in my living room without making a mess with the setup.

 

[Nowater]

You want to know how fine of dust the filter will handle. The fine dust will kill you.

 

[Kaizen]

I've got an older jet stand alone unit that I think is 3/4 hp. maybe 1 I forget. moves chips and dust just fine but I still need to wear a mask in the shop when running the cabinet saw for a lot of ripping. I can't see the dust but sure do feel it. couple things that I would look at is how easily the bottom bag attaches, the quality of it (if it rips the first time you empty it not good), and how good the stand itself is. I think mine was 200 something .

 

[ZRX1040]

Bought one of the HF 2 hp collectors for a buddy after he did a bunch of work for me. He set it up with 4" thin wall pvc trunk and flexible pick ups with gates. Works nice.

 

[7echo]

Jack mentioned these guys, we use their larger systems, good information on the site...

http://www.oneida-air.com/category.asp?Id={93BC9067-D325-48FB-B58B-69E5FBAE3925}

 

[kpilot]

I have a Grizzley 1 1/2 hp dust collector which has served me well in over 15 yrs of service. It has two ports and services a sander,radial arm,planer,jointer and cabinet saw. Each machine has its own blast gate to max suction instead of pulling from 5 ports at one time. I used 4'' thin wall pvc to tie everything together with flex pipe at each machine. A copper grounding wire is also ran in each pipe and grounded to each machine to take care of static elec. that might be in the pipe. Longest run of pipe is about 25 ft.
Only time it clogs up is if I try to **** up alot of shavings from a hand plane at one time. You have many manufacters to shop from nowadays and alot of places to find info on setup of a system that would best suit your needs. Hope this helps and here`s some pics.

thanks
carl

 

[Jackfre]

You want to know how fine of dust the filter will handle. The fine dust will kill you.

I also have the ambient air filter box. Mine is a JDS200 permanently mounted in a unitsrut trapeze at the ceiling or at least it was in my last shop. I will remount it in the new shop. I generally run it when I'm in the shop using any of the dust producing equipment. They do a good job and as noted, it is the small stuff that is the real health problem.

Pay close attention to the micron rating of your bag filter on the DC you choose. If you upgrade to a 1micron bag pay attention to the pressure drop it will cause. If your piping system (length/dia) is marginal a tighter filter bag can compromise performance.

 

[Ainsley]

i was looking at the HF model it seemed perfectly fine.

Can you use a 4" flex pipe for vac pipe or does it need to be hard metal piped?

Good bang for the buck with the HF model. I changed the flex line on the outlet of the blower to the filter ring to hard metal pipe and it seemed to help a bit.
If by 4" flex pipe you mean spiral plastic hose then yes that is what most use. you can buy a kit at HF that has the hose, fittings and some gates. If you mean the metal flex duct for HVAC or driers then I'm not sure. That stuff is intended for positive pressure so I'm not sure it will hold up to a vacuum.
That said I plan on doing my main trunk line in 5" 26 guage metal duct and reduce it to 4" for the machine drops.

 

[jgorm]

Go as big as you can. A dust collector can never be too big! I have the 3hp grizzly that has 2 bags on each side. It works fine for single tools, but I could use more flow on my downdraft sanding table.

 

[Toolfool]

If you'd like some informative reading : http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm .