Question
(WOODWEB Member):
I am a one man shop. Basically a hobby, but I build some serious furniture. I need a dust collector and presently have nothing for dust collection (except my lungs). I have considered a 650 CFM bag type collector with a Super Dust Deputy hooked to it, and have also considered a cyclone. I want something that is going to eliminate sawdust and airborne dust. The main dust producers are a Unisaw, 12" planer, router table and a 22-44 drum sander. It will only have one machine at a time hooked to it. Any ideas? My shop is 16' x 26" with a 9' ceiling and plenty of attic space upstairs.
Forum Responses
(Dust Collection and Safety Equipment Forum)
From contributor L:
1100 CFM minimum. With hose losses or filter bag clogging, you will end up with about 600 CFM. A cyclone would fare better.
I hated moving the vacuum from machine to machine. The only way to really eliminate sawdust is to have each machine hooked up all the time. Then all you need to do is pull the gate and flip the DC on. What happens when you are working on the planer and need to do one saw cut? You know what will happen. You won't swap out. Do this a bunch of times a day and you get a lot of sawdust. Trust me. You are lazy, just like the rest of us. Maybe not at first, but you will be.
Assuming well-designed ductwork, you probably need a two or three horse collector. I agree with contributor L that a fixed system with blast gates is vastly preferable to a portable collector.
Do a google search for Bill Pentz. He has loads of info on his site. As stated, manufacturer numbers are under certain conditions. Those conditions are not yours. I don't think you can really get too much suction for the most part. You never know when you might upgrade to bigger machines that'll use the extra suction.
