Woodshop: Dust Collector - feralcoder/shared GitHub Wiki

Top Level Public Wiki: feralcoder shared I do car, sewing, wood, and other work in my SHOP One level up: Wood Shop

GREAT DEAL! Some reassembly required.

I got mine on crazy sale. I received a unit with a badly bent cowling, to the point where sheet metal joints had popped apart. The problem is they attach the very heavy motor to the cowling pre-ship, so even with the best packaging a big tin shell is carrying a really massive inertia. I contacted Grizzly, they asked if I was willing to do the repair myself (definitely), and they shipped me a new cowling. They're still shipping me the various stickers which are supposed to go all over the thing, cancer warnings and such.

The maybe unexpected expense is in hoses and adapters. Expect to pay $10/joint, $3/foot, and to buy a lot of parts you'll never use to trial and error. "Standards", hah!

YES YOU NEED IT

I can't believe I ever tried to run a planer on my shopvac, much less the jointer. I kind of knew when I bought the jointer I was forcing a dust collection upgrade. In fact, that might have motivated me to drive to Oregon for a jointer...

All of my tools perform better on this. Vision is clearer with dust pulled away, and work stops less frequently to clear port obstructions. Tool beds remain more chip-free, leading to fewer alignment errors. This is one of my most worthwhile upgrades.

MULTISTAGE

I added the vortex separator in front of the Grizzly cart.

The vortex is not about suction, it actually costs WRT to pulling power. It's all about moving air through a pattern which 'places' debris into a pile, at the bottom of the cyclone's path. It's an efficient way to drop most of the dust without clogging up filters.

You can see in this photo how much material has EVER made it past the vortex - I have never emptied the clear plastic bag under the filter bag. I've emptied the vortex cannister well over a dozen times. And most of what's in the clear bag, probably 80%, is there because I forgot to check the vortex cannister and it filled up.