dust extractors

12bolts

12bolts

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Looking for a dust extractor for my shop.
What sort of power rating do others here run?
Wet & dry vacuum, or dedicated extractor?
Is it worth modding my leaf blower to suck?

Cheers Phil
 
I use a 1 hp unit for my wood working equipment. Since it is in the basement, I bought a quiet unit like this one. I would likely upgrade the bag to a larger volume, but still 1 micron. If the bag is drum tight it is too small for the motor unit and dust will be pushed through the material instead of being captured.
http://www.busybeetools.com/products/DUST-COLLECTOR-1HP-570CFM-1-MIC-BAG-CSA.html
Pierre
 
I use a shop vac combined with a Dust Deputy, which is a cyclonic dust separator. There are other brands out there, I just am not sure what they are. Anyway, I have been very happy with mine, very little dust gets into the shop vac, saving like crazy on filters.

My large shop vac, which is quite loud, was way more than I needed for dust collection, so I purchased a smaller one just for in my basement shop, and the big one stays out in the garage. The smaller vac is advertised as 4.5 HP, is far less noisy and it also comes with a frame to mount it on the wall, getting it off the floor and up out of the way.

As for shop vac horsepower, I typically ignore it. My big shop vac is advertised as 6.5 HP and there is no way that they can generate that kind of power off of a 120VAC / 15A circuit. Here is a good read about advertised horsepower on shop vacuums: http://www.thewoodnerd.com/articles/shopVacPower.html Anyway, I just go by the amp rating instead, it is a much better indicator of how much power the vac is actually capable of.
 
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I am looking at the Dust Deputy as an addon. Seems that it is very good at capturing the fine dust before it gets to the main unit. Is that what you have found as well?
Pierre
 
Yes, Pierre, the Dust Deputy is a wonderful add on. I can vacuum up metal shavings, cast iron dust, saw dust, dust from sanding, and about 99% of it stays in the Dust Deputy bucket. I simply empty it about once a week or so, depending on how much use it has been getting. I've never had it fill up. Even if it did, the Dust Deputy is somewhat translucent, and you would be able to see material piling up inside the cyclone, indicating that the bucket needs to be emptied. As for the shop vac, I check it from time to time and empty it, but there is never much in it, but what it does catch is very fine dust. I find that my shop vac filters last much, much longer this way, too.
 
I just recently stumbled across a "Cyclone Separator Shootout" by the Wood Whisperer, and have been waiting for an excuse to post the link!

It's a pretty thorough comparison between the Dust Deputy, the Rockler Dustright Vortex, and the ClearVue Mini CV06. The Dust Deputy wins!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ct5R6_bj80
 
I have a dust deputy that I use mainly on my blasting cabinet. It does a great job separating out the fine dust from the blasting cabinet. I'm happy to see that it was the clear winner in the shoot out too.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
 
I just started looking at the Dust Deputy this morning. My plan is to use it for general chip cleanup around my new mill. I am hoping it keeps the chips, oil and swarf out of my shop vac. Has anyone had any issues with using it? I saw the shootout and it appear to work well for saw dust. Oneida has been doing dust collection for years and their experience in this was was evident in the shootout.
 
Here's another vote for the Dust Deputy. Mine is one of the original steel models. Oneida threw it in as a freeby years ago when I bought a Dust Gorilla for my wood shop. I use the dust deputy with a Rigid shop vac (another good product) for general shop cleanup and for sucking up the swarf. I don't let metal get into my wood dust collection system because of the possibility of sparking in the duct work.
 
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