In Wood Magazine, I think, HF has their DC on sale for $90 off their regular price. $159 I think. Those of you that own this, how is your experience been? Currently I have a Ridgid 650 CFM with 4″ plastic piping. It does “ok” when the bags are clean, but the performance down grades quickly. I am hoping to gain some more CFM with the Harbor freight unit. I don’t have much room for a Cyclone and of course never enough money to buy everyting I would like to buy.
Thanks
John
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HF is okay if you limit your purchases to items under $5; that way when it breaks , you will not have lost much.
There are a few people over at WWA who have bought the HF unit, especially to retrofit the upper bag with an aftermarket cannister filter. You might want to check over there. In general though, I'd doubt replacing one cheap DC with another is going to get you much (yes, I'm a bit prejudiced about the HF stuff).
I'm not seeing one on their web site that's sale priced at $159. Can you give a more detailed description (I don't have the magazine). One thing you definitely want to find out is what the impeller size is.
For others, here's the HF Dust Collector selection:
http://order.harborfreight.com/EasyAsk/harborfreight/results.jsp
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Edited 8/31/2005 11:46 am ET by forestgirl
I have this unit with a Wynn filter (don't remember the model number). When I turn it on I get a temporary brown out but then it's OK. This think really sucks the dust. Prior to this unit I always had a film of dust over the entire shop. Now, none that I can detect but I will be doing a test for effectiveness. I have the unit connected directly to my saw and blade guard. It picks up small off cuts from the guard. I could not be more happy with it.Since my shop is very small and I don't have many tools, I decided to hook the unit directly to my saw. In this regard it works 100% as expected. Total cost, including filter, connectors and 20' of flex hose, was under $300.I looked at Oneida and Penn State but neither would fit under my very low ceiling. The HF fits with room to spare.
The price was found in a print ad in the latest edition of Wood Magazine. The Wynn upgrade would cost an additional $82-118. So all said and done I could be into it $300 max and still have a HF system. I too am not too impressed with HF tools. I buy nitrile gloves, chip brushes, foam sanding blocks and such there, I figure those are throw away anyway.
I do frequent the WWA. When my wife and I got into woodworking we knew very little about it and less about Dust Collection. But at least we knew enough to get one. We have the 650 CFM Ridgid DC and a JET air cleaner. A good start, but the DC is barely adequate when maintained frequently.
I think the HF impeller is only 10" or so.
Thanks for you help. I read your posts on the various forums and learn a lot from you.
John
I have an HF DC with a Wynn env cartridge. It works OK, but I wouldn't get an HF to replace anything. It's a good unit to get when it's cheap (at or below about $150), if you are short of cash: it works well for the price. It can keep your shop clean, but with a 10" impeller, it can't really draw enough air to meet the usual 800 CFM at the machine requirement that is supposed to protect you best. And you can't tell whether a DC is collecting the small particles, so personal experience is not too helpful if your goal is to collect these. I consider mine a good investment that has bought me the time to slowly construct a higher performance setup. I'm building a cyclone with a larger blower, but having the HF means I don't need to make that project a high priority.So if you have one inadequate unit, I would not upgrade to a slightly better one that may also be inadequate. If you plan to use the two together, say with the HF pulling from below the tablesaw table, and the other pulling above, you might get enough performance out of the two together, at a large convenience cost. But if you have something, it may be best to simply use it until you can get a replacement of more capability, which usually means at least a 12" diameter impeller. While that's not the only important feature, it is probably the simplest fairly reliable indicator. There are now other options that frequently approach the HF price, making it less lonely at the bottom of the scale than it once was.
I have the HF 2 HP collector and it works fine, although trying to move that amount of CFM through tubing that fits a router fence isn't great. I still have the cloth bags and still don't need to clean my garage very often. Before the collector, I almost hated cutting anything out there since I would spend more time cleaning than anything else. For my 12-1/2" planer, TS, BS and jointer, it works fine. For my Porter Cable sander, I use my Shop Vac fitted with a flexible washing machine outlet hose from Home Depot. It's the grey one that comes with a part for maintaining the bend that hook it onto a stationary tub. The rubber end just happens to fit the tube on the sander where the filter normally goes, and I don't need to clean out the filter anymore. That hose cost me about $7.00 and when I am sanding a big job, it's the best way to collect the dust.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
I bought the HF on the same sale price last year. I immediately ordered the wynn cart. retrofit kit and have filled about 5 bags now.
Keeping the dust out of the cart needs a little attention once in a while. A whack with a palm whenever you go by it helps.
There is quite a bit of suction, even after 20 feet of 5" flex hose and 10' of 2.5" flex hose into a router fence. My kids enjoy vacumning the shop with the unit.
If budget was not a consideration, I would opt for the JET with a larger impeller and the canisters.
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