Anyone have comments on Craftsman dust collectors?

[richclemson]

Was looking at a Craftsman 21337 1 and 1/2 HP Dust collector. It claims to pull 1200 CFM with a 30 micron filter. I have a small one car shop with light tools. BT3000, router, 1 in belt sander with disc, jig saw. Would also like to set my palm sander up with something.

I'm trying to find something to pull the fine dust out of the air. I know this is a 30 micron unit, but for around 150 was tempted non the less.

Anyone have any opinions to share? Space and $ are a premium, so are my lungs though....

[Bill in Buena Park]

Rich,
Several folks here, including me, put some stock into the research and opinions of Bill Pentz, who has some valuable info on DC, which can be found here.

If you place the 30 micron DC outside when you operate it, you might be ok, but for in-shop use, you'll want to get to 1 micron or less.

The 21337 looks like a capable model - you might want to check for compatible 1 micron bags, and use a separator up-stream of the DC.

[LCHIEN]

30 micron filter should be considered unacceptable.
if it has a standard sized 19.5-20" ring then you can choose from several options to convert it to 1 micron pleated filter canisters but it will add about $100 to 175 to the cost.

[Uncle Cracker]

Ditto the advice on converting to 1-micron. Your lungs (and just about everything else in your shop) will thank you.

[Charlie]

Deleted by me.

[TheChief]

I have this dust collector that I picked up new at a repair/outlet center for about $130. First thing I did was order a replacement filter bag - cheaped out and went with a Grizzly "G5556 - 2.5 Micron Dust Bag - Large Bag for G1028Z, G1029 & G1030", then got some large plastic lower collection bags at Woodcraft. The only "mod" I've made is to replace the corrugated 6" hose between the blower and input ring with jointed vent piping configured for the bend radius and completely sealed with Gorilla tape. The last things I got for it was an HF dust collector remote back when they were $12, and a Dust Right collection hose and a couple of the DR fittings, since I'm operating in a garage with no dedicated DC piping.

So far I've been pretty happy with this set up. The remote and Dust Right hose make this a snap to use on just about anything within 20 feet of the DC. It does a bang up job with the 6" jointer. With the BT, it depends a lot on your throat plate. A ZC plate will still result in a lot of dust up top unless you do one of the 4"/2.5" split jobs and replace or modify the blade guard for DC. With the standard plate it does a pretty decent job on most cuts.

Still have some work to do in setting up something that will be easy to connect and remove for router work on the BT table, but that's just setup stuff. I see no reason why the Craftsman DC wouldn't handle anything needed in a small garage setting.

[pelligrini]

When I was researching collectors the Craftsman models seemed pricey (especially the large particulate size) for the it's features when compared to similar flowing Grizzley or PennState (even including shipping). At $150 it wouldn't be a bad buy, you'd probably end up in the $300+ range once you get a canister or finer bags. You'll probably end up spending more on fittings and ductwork.

Be sure to take a look at Rockler's Dustright system. It's really great for small shops. I really like it in mine.

I ended up picking up a Jet-650 on craigslist, even though it's a 30micron bag the price was right. It does a pretty good job on my Craftsman 21829 saw, DW735 planer and 6" jointer. Most all my cutting gets done outside my little shed so getting all the fines isn't a big concern for me.

[dbhost]

For $150.00 you should be able to afford to put a Wynn canister on it, and have a heck of a good DC going for you. The HUGE weak point to that DC is the filter bags. Replace the bags with a 1 micron cartridge filter up top, and a clear plastic bag on the bottom. Do the stovepipe mod to get rid of the corrugated hose between the impeller and inlet ring, build yourself a Thien baffle pre separator and you will have one heck of a good dust collection system for your shop!

A word of warning though. Once you start going beyond moving hose from machine to machine, and actually plumb the shop for DC, the collector itself can be the cheap part of your system...

[vaking]

Are tools in your shop installed stationary or rolling? Larger size DC is usually hooked up with stationary piping and blast gates. I also have a small shop and I move things around. My DC is small and I hook it up to one machine at a time whenI use the machine. DC is movable so I bring it to the machine to connect. The DC units you are looking I think are too big for this application.

[richclemson]

Good morning and thanks to all for your comments. I appreciate the comments on bags and fine filters. I was concerned 30 would not be enough and am now convinced.

vaking, what kind/size of dc did you go with? I have a shop like yours I think. My wife calls it her garage still....so everything is rolling and gets moved around to fit the shop.

I was thinking if spending 300, it might be better to go with one of the delta models that are smaller but have the needed filtration. Any other comments??

[LarryG]

I was thinking if spending 300, it might be better to go with one of the delta models that are smaller but have the needed filtration. Any other comments??

Only that dust collector CFM ratings are notoriously overstated by the manufacturers, routinely by as much as 200% and sometimes more like 300%. I would be wary of buying TOO small a unit, especially one that uses hoses (much higher resistance to airflow than hard pipe), for fear it wouldn't do much good at all.

I've not looked up the Craftsman model you asked about but pretty much any of the 1HP to 2HP double-bag style units (including those with a canister filter on top) can be rolled around a shop. Lots of guys do that ... DCs in this class typically have a footprint of around two feet by three feet, which isn't too bad. You might have to replace the stock wheels with some better casters, however. My Harbor Freight 2HP DC is technically capable of rolling, but the wheels are so small and rudimentary that they'll snag on every piece of sawdust littering the shop floor. Some 3" or 4" casters, even the cheap ones like HF itself sells, would be a big improvement.

[vaking]

I have a Jet DC-610. If I were to do it again - I would have picked DC-650. DC-610 has smaller than usual bags so replacing 30 micron filters was a pain. I also made a chip separator that collects a lot.