Portable Dust Control

[Barry F]

Started woodworking at 70, three years ago. Found it to be the 2nd best fun without laughing! For my workshop I am using 1/2 a double garage. The garage adjoins the house so effective dust control with a low noise level is essential. Rather than use ductwork I intend to use a simple portable dust collector to service the following equipment

Jet 14 inch bandsaw with 4inch port
Triton 2000 sawbench
Triton router table
GMC Mitre saw
Bosch planer
Bosch Orbital sander
I am hand planing and scraping as much as possible to minimise sanding dust.
I am thinking that a 1 to 1 1/2 hp dust collector say Jet DC650 (650CFM @ 4inch) with a garbage bin and a pleated filter (12000sq in) would do the trick but as the saying goes "buy in haste - repent at leisure" - I dont want to become wise after the event

I've read varying degrees of criticism about the effectiveness of Jet canister filters flapper dust releasing action and I am uncertain about the washability of the filter material. Controlling cost is important and I'm prepared to fabricate a filter from local material if this is feasible

Would very much appreciate input from members of this excellent forum

Best Regards to all

Barry

[bsrlee]

Go for the largest capacity with the biggest hose that you can afford.

Jet has a good reputation & their parts are used by some of the US based custom dust system builders. As for the pleated dust filters, if the flapper isn't good enough, you can always 'back-blow' the filter with a venturi air gun & a cheap compressor - I have one of those ~$99 GMC ones, which is good enough for a dust gun or brad nailer. I think the flapper is just intended as a temporary measure during use, not as a complete solution.

Other things that have come up are tears in the collecting bag & using a 'drop box' to separate out big chunks - the first seems to be related to the second. Using a drop box or a garbage bin separator seems to stop anything too solid from hitting the impeller (fan) and also stops it ripping the collecting bag. Lee Valley have the best looking bin lid seperator & some of the other commercial offerings have been noted to pick up almost as much junk as they filter.

The must visit site for dust collectors is Bill Pentz' site http://billpentz.com//woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm
It answers just about everthing :)

[David L]

Barry, I have a Jet 650 with a cartridge filter and it works well, I would have preferred a larger unit but have only a small work shop. If you are worried about large offcuts tearing the bag perhaps you could fit a mesh screen in the pick up somewhere after all they could wreck your fan too.
The GMC scms is the dirtiest power tool I own, So I built a box for it with a removable panell on each side to allow for cutting mitres.
Good on you starting wood work, keep the mind busy.
David