HF Dust Collection

[Rockytime]

My shop is very small, 112 sq. ft. I only have room for my 10" lathe. The rest of the shop is filled with metal working machinery. Not having spare room I need to get a small DC system. I was thinking about the Dust Director but it is shop vac based and is noisy and I cant imagine how long the vac would last running constantly. HF has a small 1hp dust collector. Has any one had experience with it. It is small but I only need it for my small wood lathe. There is no room in the shop and I would place it outside the shop wall inside the main part of the garage and put the collection tube through the wall, about a four foot run. Sound practical? HF also has a little larger 1 1/2hp unit but I need to be as compact as possible. The 2hp is out of the question.

 

[Tom D]

I can let you know in about a month. I bought one this past Saturday and I just have to hang it and cut the hole in the wall of my shop. I have heard it is not noisy but I like to hear my lathe when I turn.

 

[Edgar]

I can let you know in about a month. I bought one this past Saturday and I just have to hang it and cut the hole in the wall of my shop. I have heard it is not noisy but I like to hear my lathe when I turn.

I'll be looking forward to your report too. I need something about the same size for my shop.

 

[William Menard]

thats the one I have, it works perfect for my needs. I built a small wooden cabinet outside my shop and piped it through the wall, does a great job and barely any noise.

 

[Dalepenkala]

Les I don't have that unit but I have the 2hp unit and have been very happy with it! I understand your room issue but if at all possible I would suggest that you get a bigger unit. I have the bigger unit and at some point need at get a bigger one yet! Just my 2 cents worth. Good luck with your purchase regardless of which way you go.

 

[stonepecker]

I have mine right in my shop running with my router. Together they are loud. However, I wear hearing protection when running them.
The suction is great for what I am doing. I would think that running it into another (Heated) room would be a bonus.

 

[ironman123]

I have 2 metal lathes, a mill/drill, drill press, tool grinder/sharpener and small HF 10X18 wood lathe in one 12X16 building and use that same 1HP dust collector. That is crowded. I have been using that 1HP unit on my wood lathe for almost 3 years now. Works good but loud.

I have since bought the 2HP unit from HF but it is still in the box til I get my dedicated woodshop completed.

 

[robertkulp]

Considered the smaller HF units, but bought their 2HP DC. The smaller units have the bag sticking out horizontally, while the 2HP unit is more vertical. They end up taking about the same amount of floor space. The big unit is fairly quiet and it works great.

 

[Larry Hansen]

I had the same problem. Limited space in a garage space where regular dust collector would take too much valuable space. My dust collection footprint is now a 30 gallon garbage can. I used the Thien baffle (google it for instructions) system and the HF dust collector for the power and round housing. I have severe lung damage from inherited Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency that came on suddenly a few years ago. Many of the bag filters allow too much fine dust into the air. I just could not risk it. After researching cyclone type collectors I decided to build my own with a Thien baffle system that would catch all the larger particles and exhaust the very fine dust outside my garage. My system works great. I made it so the heavy HF motor lifts off the wood top plate so I can remove the rest of the top hat assembly from the can to empty it. I cut grooves in the bottom plate to fit over the edge of can and cut the Thien groove/slot in that board. The HF housing fits on top of that then another board with a groove for the top of the green HF housing goes on next (sealed with silicone to bottom and top boards, then some rubber anti skid mat on the top board with a hole that the motor housing intake drops into. Others have demonstrated this on YouTube and some have made the entire thing from wood or metal and just used a blower motor rather than adapt a HF unit. The HF units works good on a regular 20 amp circuit and is reasonably quiet when in use. I only run one 4" intake hose at a time to the collector and exit the exhaust through a fitting through my garage door so I can work in winter and summer with door closed if necessary. See photos and Google top hat and Thien baffle construction for technical details. It is cost effective to buy the HF system and make your own system. Large pieces
cannot hit the impeller with this design.



Thien baffle in proper position relative to intake.

 

[Cavediver]

Larry,
I have the same dust collector and have been considering a similar arrangement. How much noise do you hear outside? I'm in a subdivision with strict(ish) HOA rules, and am concerned that the noise would be an issue with my neighbors. Also, how much dust gets through the baffle? Does this setup create a big dust pile outside?

 

[Larry Hansen]

In my opinion the noise outside would be much less than a standard shop vac and probably sound like a muffled household vac running inside. When I run my whole house vac inside it literally screams so I can hear it in the house even though it is in a closed utility room.

No dust is visible outside yet. However I have been doing acrylic pens only so far and have only made a total of 8 of them. In my opinion the fine dust that escapes this system would not accumulate. I have my output fitting low and almost in the middle of my double driveway so even if there were to be a small accumulation it would not be too visible. One could put the bag that comes with these units on an exterior fitting if there was a concern. However, it would slow down the motor some where as this design does not require that kind of back pressure on the motor. I have a db meter I could actually go outside and measure this since I have not been outside when its running. My garage doors are insulated and I have a weather strip around the outside to keep it as air tight as possible. I just put in a new HVAC unit in my home and had a vent put in over my shop workspace with an electric switch on a damper (no thermostat) that I can turn on or off. Nice in the very hot days here and this winter so far. The other choice is to buy a very efficient rigid cartridge filter to put on the exhaust (these can be over $200). I could not do this and I do not run my unit for hours on end either. My front sidewalk is 30 feet from the house and very lightly used. My dust is pre-filtered for big bits and consists of super fine bits. I would worry about it if there were lots of people around and I was putting lots of dust outside. If it is a concern at all I would adapt one of the filter bags and attach them to the outside. Then the people outside would be breathing the same air you would on the inside if you used bag filtration. For my purposes as a hobby person this works great. I know there are lots of other issues like replacement air etc but for short term use like mine this has been an ideal system. Of course I am very new at this so all I can really say is: so far----so good. In my opinion you would be fine noise wise and exhaust dust wise as well (especially if you used a bag should you detect dust accumulating in any amount). The design of this system from the factory is too big and not efficient enough given impeller placement for the intake. This top had system improves it in my opinion. and takes up 50% less space on the ground.

 

[Rockytime]

Friday I bought the HF grey 13 cubic foot DC. I had been looking at the smaller red unit but they are no longer available and someone had just purchased the store demo. The previous evening I spent quite a bit of time researching Google. The problem with the red unit was it had a brush type motor as on a shop vac. Longevity was not to be expected when running constantly. The 13 cubic foot had great reviews. I did the installation this afternoon. It went well. Although I do not have a separator, which I will figure out later, the DC works well. I have not turned with it yet but gave it a quick dynamic test with a few handfuls of sawdust and it seems very powerful. It is put together with just one short straight run of dryer vent hose and a two foot length of tin pipe. The fittings came from Lowe's for the whopping total of $30.76. I've posted photos.