Do You Need a Dust Collector?
Since I started woodworking out of my garage I have been constantly upgrading my dust collection system. The first system I owned was a broom and dust pan. That did little to remove dust from the air.
Poor little guy lives on as a rolling scrap bucket.
I was upgraded by my parents to a shop vacuum. It was a little one with a 1 1/4 inch hose. I would mainly hook it up to my sander, which it did an adequate job with until I ran it for an hour straight and burned the motor out.
Enter a bigger shop vac, which I still use today. It has a 2.5 inch hose so I could hook it up to bigger tools such as my jobsite table saw. This was a major upgrade from my previous vacuum, but it would fill up quickly despite the 12 gallon capacity. Bigger tools equals more dust.
My shop vac now lives under my miter saw station dedicated mostly to the miter saw and occasional floor sweeping.
Enter a new discover, the dust stopper. It’s a thein baffle which spins the dust out of the air much like a vortex separator, but it’s the Home Depot version which is very affordable. The point of it is to take all the large dust particles out of the air so only the finest dust enters the vacuum, keeping the filter cleaner so it lasts longer.
I used this setup for years, vacuum and dust stopper, but it became tiresome and only worked moderately well. I noticed, especially when sanding, that the vacuum left 30% of the dust behind. I started using my sander with just the bag because the performance was about the same.
Then I bought a dust extractor, which is really just a fancy shop vac and let me tell you, it is totally worth it when sanding. It has convenient features, such as automatic turn on when a tool turns on, and it sucks way better than the shop vac, but it is really only for small tools. I still had an inadequate setup for my miter saw, table saw, and planer and wanted a solution before winter comes and I have to work with the doors closed to preserve as much warmth in the garage as possible.
The mighty Festool dust extractor. I was skeptical about spending the money. Boy is this thing nice. Totally worth it.
So I decided it was time to buy a dust collector. For those whom do not know, a dust collector is like a big vacuum. It differs in that a vacuum’s motor is behind a filter. It sucks air toward itself and the dust is stopped by a filter. It works great on small amounts of dust and debris but the problem comes when you want to move a lot of dust the filter gets overwhelmed. A dust collector uses an impeller which the dust passes through and into a container. Some dust collectors use cloth bags as the container, the dust stays (mostly) in the bags and the air can pass through the cloth. The problem with those is the space between the fibers lets dust out. Another way they do it is by using a plastic bag or bin on the bottom where all the heavy dust falls and a filter on top for the fine particles that float in the air, see the picture of mine for a visual. These filters are baffled which gives them more surface area and a finer filter to remove more of that dangerous fine dust from the air. This design keeps the filter from getting clogged.
Back to my journey, I did some research and wanted a 1 - 1.5 horsepower unit, preferably 1.5 horse, with a 1 micron canister filter. I didn’t want to go too big for space reasons and because I don’t have 220v in my shop. I also didn’t feel the need to run ducting to tools when I generally have to move tools around to use them anyway, so rolling a dust collector around would be preferable to be able to take the unit to the tool or even out in the driveway when the weather is nice. Recently, I was planing some white oak and I rolled the planer into my driveway with no dust collection at all, just swept up after and used my leaf blower to push the small stuff into the flowerbeds. That works but I know my neighbors didn’t appreciate all that dust flying around.
Back to the collector. I had my mind set on a Jet 1.5 vortex with a canister which currently go for nearly $1,000. Way too much for me. So I went to Facebook Marketplace to find the same or similar unit for a better price. The problem with Marketplace or Craigslist is the good units at a good price go fast. I ended up missing out on two Jet units before I stumbled upon a Laguna B | Flux. This is smaller than the Jet, in footprint and horse power being only 1 horse. I wasn’t sure at first if it would work for me, but I figured it was worth a shot so I went and got it.
I was blown away.
My new-to-me dust collector. It’s a little unit but well built and easy to move around in my small shop where everything is mobile.
I never really thought through CFM meant. CFM is Cubic Feet per Minute which is how much air the machine moves. My shop vac says it moves 144 CFM, usually this means at the inlet so it’s likely less at the end of the hose. The dust collector is rated for 650 CFM at the inlet. That’s 4.5 times more air. That’s a huge difference.
With my old setup the shop vac would leave tons of chips on the work piece and bed of the planer, even with a planer that has a chip ejection fan. The dust collector leaves almost nothing. It’s amazing. And this is a small unit moving much less air than even a 1.5 horsepower dust collector.
What this means to me is the fine dust that I can’t see is also being removed from the air. That is less dust for me to breath, less dust to settle on everything in the shop to be stirred up anytime someone walks around in the garage, whether that be my kids, dog, or wife.
So, to answer the question, do you need a dust collector? Technically no, you can get by with a shop vacuum, but if you have big tools creating lots of dust get a dust collector. Your health is too important to not buy one.