Dust Separator Comparison

The Dust Deputy had no problem with the planner chips and there were no chips in the vacuum bucket and the filter looked clean. After sanding the 3/4" off the board the collection bucket contained a mixture of planer chips and dust. Checking the vacuum bucket showed very light dusting and cleaning the filter showed very little dust actually made it to the filter.

The Dustopper had no problem with the planner chips and there were no chips in the vacuum bucket and filter looked clean. After sanding the 3/4" off the end of the board the collection bucket contained a light dusting and noticeable fine dust on top of the planner chips. The vacuum bucket had a light dusting and cleaning the filter seemed to have slightly more dust than the Dust Deputy had left but not bad at all.

The Dust RIGHT Separator had no problems with the planer chips. The vacuum bucket did have a few planner chips and the filter also had some in the pleats. After sanding the 3/4" off the end of the board there was light dusting on the sides of the collection bucket but not much noticeable dust mixed with the planner chips. The vacuum bucket had a lot of fine dust and a few planner chips. The filter had a lot of dust and chips in the pleats.

Mike,

I have been using a Dust Deputy for several years and I totally agree with your comments about it. I have yet to find anything but a very thin layer of very fine dust inside my vacuum that's almost to little to see, unless I make a streak in it with my finger. No chips or anything larger has ever made it past the Dust Deputy.

My present vacuum system is a re-purposed whole house central vacuum unit with awesome suction. So much so that it imploded my first 5 gallon white bucket within seconds of using it the first time. I learned from the internet that the pickle buckets that are available used from the Firehouse Subs chain sandwich shops were supposed to be a tougher bucket, so I picked up a few of them for $2 each. The money that they get for these buckets is supposed to be donated to the local fire company, so it's kind of a win-win both ways. Well, I managed to implode my first pickle bucket too, but it did take a little longer, before I managed to suck up a planer ship and plug the hoes end.. Then I realized that these buckets were tougher because the top 1/3 of the bucket has ringed ribs around it, but the bottom 2/3 really isn't that much different than the white, gray, or orange buckets. So, to fix my bucket implosion problem I stacked three of these pickle buckets together, giving me 3X the wall thickness and ribs all the way to the bottom of the top most bucket. This worked well and solved my imploding bucket problem, but you first use these buckets they will make your shop smell like dill pickles, until enough air and saw dust goes through them to remove the pickle smell. It was about gone after the first 4 gallons of saw dust was collected and dumped. Not very noticeable after that.

I have since changed to a metal 20 gallon collection barrel under my Dust Deputy and no longer use the pickle buckets. I also now vent my central vacuum unit to the outdoors, so no more dill pickle smells at all for my shop, but stacking these pickle buckets did work well for me. With a Shop Vac it isn't likely that they will need to be stacked, but if you experience a bucket implosion with your Home Depot or Lowes buckets you might want to look into getting one of these tougher buckets from Firehouse Subs. If you experience imploding problems, just use two buckets stacked. Add another if you still have problems. They are tougher than the white, gray, and orange buckets from the Borgs and a pretty good deal at $2 each. I use mine for washing my cars now.

Charley

I posted this elsewhere, but think it belongs here instead regarding the bucket options:

My chip collectors are 30 gallon fiber drum with a lock-on steel top. A band goes around the lid and metal reinforcement at the top of the drum and seals the drum. The walls are thick and just won't implode. I got two of them new from Uline for about $50 each. The only down side is you can't tell how full it is. I think you could drill a peek hole in the top big enough to shine a light in, seal it with a clear plastic "window". The actual usable capacity is between 15 and 20 gallons with the Rockler system, and I think it might be higher with a DD. I have had to divide my shop - ran out of space, cutting, assembly in the shop, wood prep in the garage. Most will just need one barrel. https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail...YE9Q&gclsrc=ds

Here's a picture of the drum and Rockler setup. The steel top probably won't need reinforcement for the DD mount.

Uline drum with Rockler fittings.

I have my Harbor Freight DC hooked up to the (larger Dust Deputy) and that unit is exhausted outside, which eliminates any dust inside my shop. This unit handles my larger tools, table saw, band saw, planer etc.. I also have the smaller dust deputy hooked to my central vac, this is used for all of my sanding, router table, miter saw, shop clean-up etc. I have not changed or cleaned that filter in 2 years. The filters for the central vac are very expensive and before I installed the Dust Deputy I was changing filters every month. As far as I am concerned the Dust Deputy has paid for itself. Here is a picture of the central vacuum's filter. What you are seeing is a very fine layer of dust.