Thread: JET AFS1500 Review #3

This is an unpaid, unendorsed review, product fully purchased by reviewer

After way too many years of not having a decent dust extraction and air filtration system I finally bit the bullet for the sake of my health. While I'm only a hobbyist woodturner, at age 35 I still have many decades of my hobby ahead of me so I need to get smart about my safety and wellbeing.

The JET AFS1500 is an Air Filter System designed to remove up to 98% of particles from the air down to 5 microns and up to 85% of particles from the air down to 1 micron. Regardless of how clean your workshop looks, there is still the fine sawdust which literally hangs around for hours afterwards. Eventually it settles to cover every horizontal space and tool in your workshop, including in my case the car and motorbike. It’s also the stuff which has the habit of getting into your lungs, not good.

Removing the JET AFS1500 from its box made me realise that this is a weighty unit coming in at 34kgs or 75lbs. While it can be ceiling mounted with supplied eyebolts, I'm not sure if the battens in my workshop (OK, it's a garage) will take the weight and JET recommend only suspending from a structure that will support a minimum 68kg or 150lbs. I'll most likely install it on the wall using some brackets and dynabolts, but for now it will have to sit on my Triton workstation as pictured.

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Setting the unit up is a piece of cake. Take it out of the box, remove the plastic from the filter on the front, remove some foam packing from the inside, plug it in and you are ready to go in a few minutes. Turning on for the first time on the low setting I was pleased to find the noise - advertised at 58db - is not intrusive. The medium setting isn't too bad - at an advertised 66db. High - at an advertised 70db - is starting to get a touch on the loud side, but you would have no problems holding a conversation next to it.

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There’s also a handy remote control. With this you can turn the unit on and off, choose the speed setting and a shutoff timer period of two, four or eight hours. This is particularly handy as you can set the unit to run for an additional two hours once you have finished for the day to scrub the workshop’s air before automatically shutting down. I did find you can only adjust the timer settings with the remote, this can’t be done on the unit itself which is curious oversight.

When the JET AFS1500 is running the exhaust air flow is quite substantial even on the low setting. This is by design because it needs to get the air in the workshop moving around so those airborne particles are also moving and eventually get caught in the filter. This means positioning is important because you don’t want any dead spots, keeping it away from corners is recommended.

Changing the filters in the JET AFS1500 is very easy and quick. The first stage filter (5 microns) slides straight out the side as seen in image 3. The second stage filter (1 micron) is also quite accessible after removing two thumbscrews from the side of the unit to remove a panel and then slide the second stage filter out as seen in image 4. There is also a third slot for an optional charcoal or electrostatic filter.

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How long the filters will last is a question which will be different for everyone due to the amount of use, type of work and overall area of the workshop. To get an idea of when the filters may need a clean or replace I placed a sheet of A4 paper on the front of the unit while running on Low and then timed how long from when I turned it off to when the paper would fall away from the filter - 30 seconds in my case. I've written this on the side of the first stage filter along with the date and when the time drops to around half I'll investigate cleaning and/or replacement options.

The JET AFS1500 is very cheap to run due to its 1/4hp or 0.18kw motor – image five. At a residential power rate of roughly 13 cents per kilowatt hour, the JET AFS1500 will cost less than 2.5 cents per hour to operate which is less than 19 cents per eight hour day.

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So how has the JET AFS1500 performed? Let me say exceptionally well. The first day I set the unit up I also put together a JET 2hp dust collector (review at a later date) and I spent a lot of the afternoon cleaning a bag and a half’s worth of shavings from around the lathe, that’s about 200 litres worth. To say a lot of wood dust got kicked up in the air is an understatement. I had the JET AFS1500 running the entire time and once I finished I set it to high for two hours and left the workshop. Later that evening I moved the motorbike back in with a clean tank and helmet. The following morning there was very little to be found on the motorbike, unlike normal when there's a decided "layer". Granted you can't actually see the wood dust getting down to the 1 microns etc, but the fact it's keeping the majority of heavier wood dust off surfaces is a good indicator.

If you have thought about getting an air filter system but have either balked at the purchase cost or assumed running costs, then I would highly recommend you reconsider. Easy to setup, cheap to run - and along with a high quality face mask and dust collector unit - an air filter system is an essential component of the well equipped workshop.

My JET AFS1500 was purchased from Gary Pye Woodturning which at the time of this review lists for AUD $525.00

edit: As a late update I have now got the JET AFS1500 hanging from the roof. I found the joists by drilling holes in the ceiling until I met resistance. Much happier with it up there than on the wall.

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© Glenn Martin
September 2008