Do I need a dust collector.

[jussi]

Does a DC help in the function of the machine it's attached to or is it simply to keep the dust out of the shop? I have a small garage so I have all the tools on mobile bases that I wheel out to the carport to use. Will a DC still benefit a person in my situation or would it be a waste of money.

[NJFrank]

If you work inside at all (rainy days, cold weather) then get one, also an air cleaner. If not then I don't see a need other than limiting the dust that may drift onto cars's etc.

IMHO

[MikeMcCoy]

It does make a difference with tools like planers and drum sanders.

[LCHIEN]

Does a DC help in the function of the machine it's attached to or is it simply to keep the dust out of the shop? I have a small garage so I have all the tools on mobile bases that I wheel out to the carport to use. Will a DC still benefit a person in my situation or would it be a waste of money.

I can think of some benefits to the machines:

Some machines like Planers and jointers need some help removing cuttings so that they don't jam. Planers are particularly bad because they can take a 12" swipe and produce a lot of cuttings, just letting them fly some small percentage ends up falling back on the wood and the outfeed rollers can actually make dents in the planed wood from pressing on the cuttings on top.

Table saw mechanisms can get clogged up and jammed over a longer period of time - they'll work better if you keep them clean.

Other than that, DCs are to keep the area clean (safety issue as well as neatness counts) and also make breathing safer (another safety issue). Neither of which are trivial.

So there are lots of benefits to having some sort of DC.

An air cleaner is also of safety benefit. Sanding and some cutting operations may also send fine particles into the air escaping the DC at the machine. These fine particles are a houskeeping issue (fine dust settle litterally everwhere) but also a safety breathing issue.

[atgcpaul]

Does a DC help in the function of the machine it's attached to or is it simply to keep the dust out of the shop? I have a small garage so I have all the tools on mobile bases that I wheel out to the carport to use. Will a DC still benefit a person in my situation or would it be a waste of money.

I have a HF DC with a Wynn filter. I used to use a shopvac with separator
trashcan but the DC is far better for my planer. The Wynn doesn't blow dust
into the shop like the shopvac did when it was full. And although I wear ear
muffs with the DC, I found the high pitch sound from the shopvac a lot more
annoying than the lower muffled noise of the DC.

[lcm1947]

I don't disagree with the others but let me just mention this. If you truly do wheel everything out doors then I don't picture you wheeling a DC out there too. It would just be too much trouble for what it's worth. I do everything I can outside too but don't wheel my DC out there. Now if you have a planer or jointer then yeah the DC would certainly be useful like already stated but I personally can't think of another tool that a DC would actually make run better other then those two. If you do anything indoors through it's a must have tool as is the cleaner. My 2 cents.