Vacuums and Dust Collectors Reviews

I just bought this machine. Has about 25% more power then my craftsman 5hp shop vac. So far it pulls just about all the dust I can throw at it from my table saw and miter saw which is notorious for spraying dust everywhere.

Not as loud as my shopvac and much smoother at pulling in the dust, plus as the bag fills up it still pulls in consistent pressure whereas my shop vac even with a drywall bag still clogs up. I haven't used any other collectors but this one is good for individuals who have a small shop.

I wasn't crazy about the way its put together. When the instructions say its from China...clearly from the bolts and assembly its definitely made in China. It is very solid after construction but we'll see how long it holds up with vibration and dust etc.

Have it. Had it direct connected to a table saw at first and it was fine. Now run two branch lines and two blast gates to have it pull from the table saw and jointer and it's still fine. Just pull from one machine at a time.

No, it doesn't have the ooomph (suction) that larger machines have, but the price/performance ratio is pretty good.

If you have a small shop, this dust collector is more than you need. You can connect it to multiple machines (with blast gates, of course) and receive excellent results. A great dust collector for a one man shop.

These are high quality and far better than the band type.These are clean looking and fit over the ridges on the pipe instead of crushing them. They tighten up with a screwdriver or wrench and really sinch down tight.Because the dust collection hose is made with a continuous ridge and not seperate sections. You will have to cross over some ridges on the collection hose but, it still comes out clean.Forget the old rubber hose type clamps and go with these you wont be sorry. Now get out there and clamp some hose.

These work great on the "ribbed" hose that most shops use for dust collection. The solid strap clamps tend to slip and skew when tightened and allow tiny leaks where these wire clamps seat on the hose solidly. You can also use a nut driver or socket wrench to get them REALLY tight, tighter than just using a screwdriver. If you are using Woodstock International hose, use these clamps.

picked up 10 of these clamps and I like them a lot better than the other type . If you would use the other ones on the flex tube you are going to crush it. with these you wont harm the flex tube cause it sits in the groves. I also like the way they look. To me it looks like a pro put it together

I recieved this collector as a gift. Probably would not have bought it on my own, mainly because I thought I needed more hp. I was wrong. Have had this little jewel in the shop now for about 7 months and its perfect. I have a very small shop, 120 sq ft, and this unit fits under my home made saw table (New Yankee Workshop version). I generally only have one machine running at a time so I just move the hose around. Very seldom have to move the machine. It does a great job of collecting the dust and chips from the table saw, planer, miter saw and band saw. The only problem I have had is with the zipper on the bag, I think it could have been a little heavier construction, but if you remember to vacuum the zipper edges before you attempt to close it up again it works fine. I added an additional length of 4" hose (10ft) to the hose that came with the machine so I could easily reach all my chip producers as I did not want to constuct a permanent pipe system and have not had any problems with static electricity. I'm thinking of adding one of the "can" type second stages to my little system so I am not emptying the bag so often. This is a perfect upgrade from a shop vac type of system.

My shop consist of a one car garage and I do alot of Bandsaw projects. The amount of sawdust produced by a Bandsaw is enormous and with very little air circulation this poses a health hazard. This dust collector takes care of this problem. Its ease of mobility to go from one machine to another has keeped sawdust to a minimum with very little to clean up at the end of a day, also making it easy to store. This unit does get warm but not hot and has not tripped any breakers during long operating periods. It is rated at 80db but because of the size of my shop is seem alittle louder than that. I had this unit running in about five minutes out of the box and have been pleased with its perfomance.

A nice, easy to order kit of the needed items for a DC system. The kit includes 2 blast gates, one "Y" connector, 10 wire clamps, 2 ten foot sections of hose, a table saw hood and another dust hood, all for a 4" system. You save a few bucks by ordering the kit versus each item separately.

All connectors went together with the hose as required, the wire clamps fit snug, everything went as well as could be expected. A few holes needed drilled in the table saw hood for attachment, but that is expected for a universal type attachment. No complaints, problems or issues. Just a good product.

I FIND THIS SET EXCELLENT WITH NO PROBLEMS EXCEPT FOR SOME COMPLAINTS THAT I'VE READ ABOUT THE TAPERED FITTING THAT CAUSES THE HOSE TO SLIDE OFF. I TRIED SOME PLUMBERS PVC PIPE CLEANER AND ALSO APPLIED SOME PVC CEMENT THEN CLAMP THE HOSE. JUST BE SURE THIS IS WERE YOU WANT IT CAUSE ONCE ITS THERE THATS IT. I ALSO USED 4" SCD 20 RIBBED SOLID PVC DRAIN PIPE & FITTINGS THAT WORKED GREAT AND ALSO SEARCH THROUGH THE LOCAL HOME CENTER FOR PVC FITTINGS, LOT CHEAPER THAN ALL THE COLLECTOR FITTINGS. HOPE THIS HAS BEEN OF ANY HELP.

I help my dad clean his house and use his vacuum. This is the most annoying, horrible vacuum I have ever used. Nearly every vaccuming causes it to get clogged. I have to spend a very patient 15 minutes each time trying to figure out where the clog is coming from. I also couldn't believe how much dirt was in the carpet each time since there isn't much dirt outside. After reading the other reviews, I realized it's not dirt, but carpet fibers being shredded. The roller brush often jams and it smells like it's burning because the rubber stoppers at the ends are melting along with the hose.

I loved this vacuum at first. It picked up everything, and even though it was very heavy I was happy. After about 8 months it stopped working correctly. I noticed it wasn't picking up anything and would quit in the middle of vacuuming. The hose got clogged after every cleaning. I was spending more time cleaning this thing out than I was actually vacuuming. After a year I am no longer able to vacuum an entire room without it quitting or plugging up. This is the worst product I have ever purchased!!! I am wishing I had my $50 WalMart vacuum back!! I am going to buy a new vacuum this weekend so I can finally clean my house.

Hmmm. All the comments I have read - good and bad - are true. This vacuum has awesome sucking power - perhaps too much. I may have, in fact, been shredding my carpet these last few years:-) Still, it is also very cool to see the junk piling up in the collector. My only big complaint was that the flexible black hose that carry debris to the collecting area can get easily plugged up. This shuts down the circulation and may cause the motor to overheat and apparently happens when you get the collector get too full. It took a long time with screwdriver and coat hanger wire to clean out the hose (I've done it a few times - ugh!).
I also fear that I have gone way too long in changing the various filters because the unit now seems alot less powerful than last year. If I can get everything flowing again, though, I hope to keep this vacuum for many more years.

Cheap Cheap Cheap... Sure they are 1-micron dust bags... My Grandmother could have done better at sewing a bag together... Ink marks and no double stitching on the loops... In fact it appears to have a loop missing.... Again how can Delta hold there heads up with charging so much for a crappy crafted piece of material.... The original bag was made better by the Asians so why can the US made products at least muster up to their quality?? Not even a Delta Logo on the bag... a waste of money in my opnion.... your better off just throwing a sheet over your dust collector with the original bag on it.... probable just as effective or perhaps better....

I bought this to go with the Delta 50-850. It fits fine. Two come with the order so it's not as pricey as you'd think.

From all I've read, you want to get these. If you've gone this far to buy a dust collector, don't skim on the last part that will stop tiny dust from blasting back into your workshop.

I just installed my 1-micron bags. What a difference! It's true, the 1-micron bags do not inflate up hard like the original bags that came with the dust collector. Since the 1-micron bags allow so much more air to pass through more easily, do not expect them to be inflated hard and stiff. The 1-micron bags have less resistance to air flow. To test, I held the original bags and the 1-micron bags over my mouth to see how breathable they were. The 1-micon bags were very easy to breath through and the original bags were very restrictive. I purchased the 1-micron bags for two reasons, (1) I breath anything that the bags do not collect and (2) I started noticing a very light dust covering over items in my storage room where I also keep the dust collector after about 2 weeks of use (I just installed my dust collection system.) I can only imagine what it would look like after 2 years with the original bags. Keeping things clean is the original reason I bought the dust collection system in the first place. My only negative is I think these bags are a bit pricey but I still worth a 5-Star rating.

I bought this system and installed it in my shop.I found at compleation that there was no way to hook it up to a 2 1/2in vacume unless you use one of the gates as an adaptor. It then becomes a 5 drop system.
Shop Vac has cleverly designed the system in a non standard size so you can not use PVC pipe fittings with it and believe me I've tried.
I know this system has been around for sometime and can't believe they haven't included a simple adaptor. I have emailed customer service about this and to this date no reply.

This Shop Vac Dust Collection System seems to include just not quite enough fittings to complete even a simple system. Although there are 8, 36" tubes included, there are only 5 connectors to join them to any other tube or fitting. There are only two 90 Degree fittings and 4 "T" Fittings to complete your system. A quick check of the "Plastic Accessories" available through an order form enclosed with the kit will bring you to the realization that you will have to spend a lot more to get what you need. The little plastic coupling for example will set you back $2.49 ($3.49 on the Shop Vac Web Site) for each one you need. An extra elbow will set you back $3.49 ( $4.49 on the web site) I suggest everyone plan their system before the purchase and add up what your total expense will be.

First let me say I agree with the reviewer who said that Shop Vac's customer service is excellent, they go the extra mile.
I installed this system a couple years ago, use it with a Shop Vac 4.5 hanging vacuum (see seperate review).The components are well made and fit together tightly, no glue needed, and the kit includes most everything you will need to set up for multiple applications, and it doesnt take up a whole lot of space. It does an adequate job of pulling the dust and chips from my miter saw, small joiner, table saw and drill press. It does clog occasionally, but its easy to clean out clog's because you can see em, and since the pipes and connectors are not glued you can disassemble the glogged section and blow it out. The blast gates are a must as this system will only handle one tool at a time, if you have more than one gate open, suction is heavily reduced.
I know...this should be a no-brainer, but it is easy to forget as you move from one tool to the other. I have a four inch chip collector also and use it for the planer, large joiner and bandsaw. I intend to "pipe" my shop this winter so that I can use the 4" system on all the tools, except the miter saw and bench joiner. These I will leave on the smaller system as it is more suited for their applications.
This is a good system for the money and for a small shop. It's range is limited, but if you use it for what it was designed for it will do a good job.

I have had my Delta 14" saw for about 15 years and never got a handle on dust control. This device fills the bill. It is unfortunate Delta never cast in a 5" port on the saw in the first place. As mentioned in another review, the OEM collector port surely had to have been designed by someone with a great sense of humor! My new connector fit perfectly, out of the box. I appreciate the reviewer's tip to slot the existing trunnion hole. Good catch! Also, Delta has sized the exhaust port for sheet metal apparently (why?). It would not fit my Jet hose utill I got the heat gun out to stretch the "5" tubing.
All in all, it is a good product. One last item; I build the majority of my DC fittings but did want to tackle this one, Delta has overpriced this unit by a large amount (must have about twenty cents in material investment). Does not seem fair since they are responsible for the mess in the first place!

I purchased this dust collector for my 28-280 band saw, manufactured ca. 1997. The Delta 14" band saw has been in production for a very long time, and I do not know if the attachment points have remained unchanged all that time, but the dust collector was reasonably easy to fit to my saw. An inner tab fits behind a screw and washer, and in order to tighten that screw (with my largest Robertson screwdriver) I had to enlarge a drilled hole. An exterior tab is held by one of the trunnion handles and that tab had to be bent to fit, and I cut a slot in the tab so it can be slid in place, rather than having to remove the trunnion handle completely every time the collector is taken off, which is necessary in order to change blades. The port is 5" in diameter and fits my old Delta dust collector, the drum-top model, but that is not now the industry standard. Dust control is not perfect, but vastly better than the original part afforded, which was a joke, and it is not perfect specifically because this collector is designed to function with the table tilted 45 deg. If a person were to resaw a very toxic species like ebony I believe it would be both possible and necessary to modify this collector to better capture the dust which is deflected by the arrowhead shape of the lower blade guide, the main source of the tramp dust generated by this machine. I gave four stars because the collector has to be removed to change blades and Delta should have long since enlarged the screw access hole and possibly optimized the geometry.

The collector worked good after I got it installed.Some simple instructions would have made it a lot easier.I had to drill out a hole and do some bending to make it fit,but it was worth it.

Grizzly states before purchase a vastly lower sum than when you attempt to check out. Do not be misled.

I own a Kuster 37 inch wide dual-drum thickness sander (Kuster is out of business but Grizzly sells comparable models). The Grizzly G0548 with the cannister and a 6 inch dust hose does a great job collecting all the sanding dust from the thickness sander and keeping the air clean in my shop. I've used three different 1 1/2-hp to 2-hp dust collectors (with standard 30 micron and optional 5 micron bags) and none could keep up with the sanding dust being generated by the large 37 inch drums. Additionally the 30 micron bags failed to filter out the fine dust (instead it put it into the air) and the 5 micron bags clogged quickly reducing the efficiency of the dust collector to near zero. The Grizzly 2-hp cannister model has plenty of suction and the cannister filters out the finest particles and doesn't clog (I use the paddle regularly to knock the dust off the inside of the filter). What a difference! I used to dread using my thickness sander due to the dust and mess, but the grizzly solved the problem.

I don't have any experience in dust collectors, but I do know quality when I see it.
Finally, an engineer has figured out that quality and simplicity can go hand in hand.
The metal is heavy guage. All boltholes have been dimpled, and tapped, allowing for about three threads of holding power. There are no nuts used in the construction, just bolts. Everything lined up perfectly.
The metal work is topnotch. Clean, and sharp looking.
I like the triple hose hookup,even though I'm only using one right now, which leads to my only complaint. They could have included an extra cap to block off two inlets.
Noise wise, it's quiter than the Rigid vacumn that I had used previously.
I also purchased the separator,which fits on a 30 gal. metal trash can.It will save considerable time in getting rid of the debris, and save wear and tear on the impeller.

I AM A HEAD PORTER SO I KNOW AIRFLOW.YOU WILL GET BETTER AIR FLOW JUST BENDING YOU HOSE.WHEN THEY SAY IT IMPROVES AIRFLOW THEY ARE WRONG AND HAVE KNOW IDEA WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT AND I WONDER IF THEY OWN PART OF THE COMPANY .THE INNER DIAMETER IS REDUCED TO 3 INCHES OR LESS BY A VERY SHARP CORNER SLOWING DOWN AND REDUCING AIRFLOW ALOT. IF YOU DO BUY THIS POORLY DESIGNED ELBOW. TAKE A FILE OR DREMMEL TOOL TO SMOOTH OUT THE RIDGE. THAT WILL INCREASE AIRFLOW ALOT.ESPECIALY IF YOU HAVE A WEEK DUST COLLECTOR YOU NEED TO.IT WILL ADD ABOUT 300CFM OR MORE AIRFLOW. THATS LIKE CAMPARING A 700CFM CARB. TO A 1000CARB.ITS A BIG DIFFERANCE.IF YOU DONT HAVE TO BEND YOUR HOSE AS MUCH AS THE ELBOW DONT USE IT. AIRFLOW IS MORE VALUBLE THEN LOOKS.ANYONE SAYING THERE ARE NO RIDGES IN THIS ELBOW WELL THATS A PLAN OUT (LIE)AND REDICULOUS. THIS WAS A HONEST REVIEW. GOOD LUCK

I read evrywhere to avoid 90 degree bends in my ducting if possible - and I did - but there was one place in my shop where it was unavoidable. I used this elbow to solve the problem and I have not noticed a significant difference in the airflow or dust collector performance. By the way I have a one car garage shop with a Jet DC650 collector.

Bottom line, don't make sharp bends in your ducting if you can avoid it. If you must bend, use these but use them sparingly and you should be fine.

When installing a dust collection system, eliminating resistance to airflow is what it is all about. The ideal is as large a pipe as possible, flowing in a straight line, without any ridges in the surface. Of course in the real world at least some of these things wind up being less than ideal. What this Jet 4" elbow does, is give you a large pipe, that makes a gradual turn as opposed to a straight 90 degree angle, and the sides of the elbow are smooth. So when you need to make a turn with your air flow, this elbow does the nicest job.
The fit snugs neatly inside the standard 4" flex pipe. With some 4" Jet wire clamps which are also highly recommended over standard pipe-band clamps and this Jet elbow your all set for some hassle free collecting.