Dust Collection bargain returns

Sale is on now.

Ray Newman said:

CAVEAT EMPTOR: Good price, but observed the units I saw advertised (item#97869 and item#61790) only have a 5 micron filter bag.

Based on personal experience, I would not put much faith in a 5 micron bag. A .5 filter yes, but not a 5 micron filter

At one time I had a Delta dust collector with a 5 micron bag, 5" hose, and 2 HP 220 volt motor on an independent circuit. Powerful machine. But I still had dust in the air as the bag was too coarse to prevent the fine dust and the dust I could not see, but breathed in, from escaping! And a much more efficient bag was almost as much as the price paid for the system.

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If you can wheel it outside when in use, the 5 micron is OK. But if you are using this indoors, then you should consider the Wynn canister filter, which gets down to 1micron. If you must use the bag indoors, wear a good quality face mask while working. In addition to hooking it to your machines, you can also get a 4 inch tube about 3 feet long with a floor sweeping attachment. Very nice for shop cleanup.

The picture is pretty much how my shop unit looks. The garage unit gets pulled outside but will also be getting a Wynn filter before too long.

The other picture is what my 30 gallon chip collectors look like. Most sawdust and all large bits land in the collector. Make sure the nozzles in the barrel are aimed in the direction water wants to drain, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, clockwise in the southern. Put casters on the drum, you'll probably move that more than the DC itself.

I post this because once fine sawdust gets in your lungs, it's there to stay. Look at how many carpenters have COPD. No fun.

I got mine a few months ago when Tom posted that they were on sale. ITS [email protected]! I just assembled it yesterday because I don't have room to put it.

I started building a 'closet' outside my garage yesterday, looks like it won't fit under the garage AC unit. After deliberating and discussing, I've decided to move the AC unit out of the garage wall and install it in the back wall of the closet (above the house AC unit), then duct the cold air through the closet, into the garage. That will allow me to make the closet tall enough for the dust collector, hide the AC unit from view of the street and allow me to match the roof line of the closet to be an extension of the roof line of the house.

Well, sometimes a bargain isn't such a bargain.

I picked up my HF Dust Collector this morning, $149.99 after 25% coupon. I also used a 20% coupon on the Dust Collection accessories kit.

Things went a bit sideways right out of the box when the M8 hex bolts supplied to mount the casters would not go through the holes in the base. So I enlarged the holes. Then I discovered that while they had provided the necessary number of bolts (16) there were only two nuts of the appropriate size. I went to the hardware store and rather than buying M8 nuts, I bought 1/4-20 x 3/4" hex bolts. I have a box of 1/4" washers and a box of 1/4-20 nylock nuts already and 1/4-20 bolts are lots cheaper than metric nuts ($0.13 ea vs $0.38 ea).

Once I got the casters mounted, things seemed to go smoothly with most of the bolt holes more or less lining up, and most of the pieces fitting as they should (I guess). The instructions were vague, incomplete, and often just plain incorrect. And there was a bunch of hardware left over. I estimate that there are 16-20 M6 machine screws, washers, and nuts that are not called out anywhere in the instructions.

I hooked it up to my table saw with flexible ducting laid across the floor and held together with duct tape (that's what it's for isn't it?), and I'll replace the flex with rigid metal duct as I figure out how and where I'm going to connect tools.

I'll also replace the "5 micron" bag with a Wynn 1-micron canister filter soon.

Everend said:

Anyone recommend where to get one of these? Are they really more expensive than the whole HF unit?

thanks
Everend

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Wynn Environmental Filters. Model 35a, and they now ship to Canada. This thing comes in a pretty good sized box. Maybe you Canadians can use this?

https://wynnenv.com/woodworking-filters/

35A274NANO Cartridge Kit

Permanently closed at the top, open at the bottom with gasket, MERV 15, Nano fiber filter media, 274 sq ft., 17.5″ diameter, 23″ tall, no inner cage.

Included: Instructions, (2) clear poly dust bags, (3) FGL-U latches used for mounting the filter.

Filter price: $188.00. $150 +188 = $338. About the price of a cheapie brand name, 1hp.unit. Wish DC were cheaper, but it sure beats suffering with COPD.

What converted me was an OSHA study that found home shops have the worst level of sawdust particles, far worse than commercial shops. I noticed some breathing problems and decided to set up dust collection. I started building my own setup, but it just wasn't effective and I spent a LOT more that $338 on it. Not only does this put the woodworker at risk, but also for garage shops, the family gets exposed as well. And if you smoke, well, you're just asking for it.

This can be an expensive hobby, that's for sure, but if you're not working strictly with hand tools, do think through the question of dust collection.