DC info request

[vtv010]

Has anyone used this DC... Please share experience... So far I have been running with a shopvac, and the spce in garage is ate premium. This one appears small enough and functional. Price is attractive too, $79.99 in DFW area

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=94029

[just4funsies]

Not unless you and your whole family wear respirators around the house. A 35-micron bag is like no bag at all. You may as well hook up the output directly to your lungs. Get a HEPA filter and a liner bag for your shop vac if you don't have space for a full size DC with a high performance filter. (A 1-micron bag, assuming you can find one, that would fit the HF DC you're looking at would be very big, as the denser fabric will not pass the proper air volume unless it's MUCH larger.)

[cwsmith]

IMHO, one shouldn't try to go cheap on a dust collector. That's not saying you need to spend a thousand ($), but trying to get the bargain basement special is going to defeat the purpose and safety issues of dust collection.

I agree with the idea of adding a fine (HEPA) filter to your shop vac as an interim step. A 35 micron dust bag will collect the heavier dust, but it's the really fine dust that you need to capture, as it is the most harmful to you and your famlies lungs.

You can do a Google search for "dust collection" to obtain a lot of information which I think is necessary before you waste your money. Here is an often recommended site: http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyc...%20Electricity

You can also go to www.pennstateind.com and order a catalog which has some nice recommendations (whether you buy their product or not), although their offerings are pretty decently priced.

I hope his helps,

CWS

[LCHIEN]

IMHO, one shouldn't try to go cheap on a dust collector. That's not saying you need to spend a thousand ($), but trying to get the bargain basement special is going to defeat the purpose and safety issues of dust collection.

I agree with the idea of adding a fine (HEPA) filter to your shop vac as an interim step. A 35 micron dust bag will collect the heavier dust, but it's the really fine dust that you need to capture, as it is the most harmful to you and your famlies lungs.

You can do a Google search for "dust collection" to obtain a lot of information which I think is necessary before you waste your money. Here is an often recommended site: http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyc...%20Electricity

You can also go to www.pennstateind.com and order a catalog which has some nice recommendations (whether you buy their product or not), although their offerings are pretty decently priced.

I hope his helps,

CWS

You might note that there are two sort of objectives in a DC.
One is to collect all the bigger chips to prevent machine clogging and so sweeping up is not so messy - this is the higest volume of chips and fills up bags and vacs quickly.

The other one which the replies have been directed is to reduce the fine dust which by volume is seldom large but it flies in the air and annoyingly covers everything in your shop with fine dust. Worse, you breathe this stuff deep down into the linings of your lungs. Overall not beneficial, possibly quite harmful.
The difference is particle size: the cheap collectors and most shop vacs do little but recirculate the fine dust thru filters with big pores. The way to stop the fine dust is to get filters (so called HEPA for vacs) and 1-2 micro filtration for dust collector bags.

You can buy aftermarket 1 micron and smaller bags at like Grizzly that might fit that DC, the DCs tend to come in standard sizes.

I guess it depends on what YOUR objectives are: Health or Cleanliness or both.

[vtv010]

Thank you for advice, as always you all are great!

Loring, my objective is both - health (primary) and cleanlinnes(secondary).

I am not trying to skimp on health. I have a desire to keep my wife's car in the garage, hence a problem with floorspace. When i do ww, i move the car out so there is room.

Shopvac liner feels up way to quick

I suppose I can deal with a larger bag, as just4funsies mentioned. With this in mind, what are your thoughts with respect to a compact unit with an upgraded bag. What would you recommend? can i upgrade the bag on HF unit mentioned earlier?

Thanks, Tony

[dlminehart]

Tony, another thing you might consider is a two-stage collector, in which the bigger and heavier chips and saw dust drop off in a barrel, while the smaller and lighter powder continues on to the HEPA or 1-mil filter. The big stuff usually fills the barrel faster, and is fairly easily dumped. The small stuff, that doesn't add up to much volume, doesn't fill up your filters so quickly.