Steel City DC

[gsmittle]

The HF dust collector thread prompted this:

Has anyone used the Steel City Mini Dust Collector: http://www.steelcitytoolworks.com/pr...y=5&tool=65115

and if so, what did you think?

g.

[BobSch]

Personally, the 300 CFM maximum and 30 micron bag makes me think it's probably not worth the money.

[SARGE..g-47]

I was considering one to use exclusively on my 18" BS two years ago. When I was ask to demonstrate BS's for Steel City at the International WW'ing Fair in August of 2008 I hooked one up to the 18" BS I was using to try out.

I am a major fan of Steel City with 3 of their machines but... I highly reccomend you skip this one as every company has misses. The dust collection was not bad using on just their 18" BS but... the noise level was terrible. I dis-mounted it about 30 minutes after I hooked it up and rolled their larger DC over to take care of the saw.

I affectionately call it.. "the screaming memeeeeeee" with a bunch more E's than I have time for here.

Good luck...

[AlanZ]

I ordered one when it was on sale... thinking that it would be good to have around. I agree that it is VERY noisy, and of limited utility. The collar they use to couple it to a machine is very nice though.

[gsmittle]

I saw one at Woodcraft the other day, marked down 50%. I took a good look at the universal motor, small impeller and general non-Steel City build and gave it a pass.

I must say the concept is interesting—a small, dedicated DC that could possibly help boost airflow at the end of a duct run, but I don't think this is the solution.

Thanks for the input— I wanted to make sure I wasn't passing up a good deal.

g.

[tellittojake]

It has its uses

I own one and while I can't say it was the greatest of purchases, it has its uses. I have very limited shop space and often take benchtop tools outside on a moving cart. Naturally my dust collector won't reach. While it is noisy with the universal motor, so is a shop vac for many people who don't have full size dc systems. The unit does an okay job on the benchtop planer and jointer I have. I put the hose on it and a floor attachment and it becomes a shop vac, so I use it in other ways as well to get my money out of it. I like that the bag can be emptied and not have to always buy shop vac cartridges. Mine shipped with a nice 1 micron bag too. Most shop vacs have highly inflated hp ratings but they are in the 100-180 cfm range, so the 300 is better and the larger hose doesnt clog as easily. I paid not much more for mine than what you would pay for the 1 micron bag alone or a shop vac. I would not have paid full price but the deals make it tempting as you can do more with it than a shop vac and not everyone has full size dc systems. I will never replace a full size dc system but that wasn't it's intent I'm sure.