JDS Company Reviews

This filter has saved me money by not having to purchase replacment filters. Easy to clean and does a good job.

This is a product long overdue in the air cleaner market. I have two of the JDS 750 air cleaners in my little shop and they move a lot of air. If I hadn't bought the electro-static pre- filter I would have spent a fortune on replacement filters by now. Now that JDS packages it with their standard air cleaner, it is even a better deal!

This isn't the cheapest pre-filter in the world, but it is a darn good investment for the long haul.

The quality is 5 star and once again the unit really does a wonderful job in keeping the airborne dust down. It's so much easier to change filters than ones lungs !

Our company purchased and installed the JDS Model 750JE in February 2000. This filter has been running in the grinding room for one year now. The filter element finaly needs to be replaced. This filter has done an execent job of traping air born particles. Our grinding room is 12 x 35 with a 10' ceiling and is used daily. This filter element only required occasional blowing out, and the pre filter washed monthly. We highly recommend this unit to anyone with a dust problem.

At the JDS web site, they list this charcoal filter for the JDS 750, as intended to remove smoke, odor, and pollen from the air. I did not see any mention of using it as a paint fumes remover. It also should not in any way be used as an over spray clearer. I had a body shop for twenty years. We used special explosion proof motors for the wall fans, and one in the ceiling stack for the booth, because the build up of flammable paint over spray can be a fire hazard. Additionally, if over spray got near the JDS 750 air cleaner, it would clog at least the initial filter, and since you couldn't clean it properly, it would be rendered useless. The electrostatic pre-filter that comes with this unit is great for removing airborne dust particles etc. It is super easy to clean. It slides right out of the unit, without having to do any disassembly. I use a standard shop vac, to quickly reverse suck the dust out of it. No waiting for the pre filter to dry. If you have the time, gently washing it is the way to go. With the rigid wire mesh protecting it, using a vacuum doesn't damage it, and it a lot more convenient. Back to the charcoal filter.
If you working with someone who smokes, and doesn't bathe as often as you would like, and has a habit of taking a run through the ragweed before coming into the shop, the charcoal filter is just what the doctor ordered. :-) No seriously, it is great for those three things, eliminating smoke, odor, and pollen. Refinishing is best done in the garage, or a dedicated area, with fumes venting outside. Post filters are nice. No matter what you do, for the first 24 hours, you are going to get fumes coming off of the finish. It is a constant source, meeting up with a constant air filtration. (If you leave it running all night) Since it takes a certain amount of time for the filter to work, and the finish emitting fumes is non-stop, I guess you know who will win that race.
The garage is ideal for refinishing. During the summer it is great. During the winter, I use a salamander kerosene forced air heater on the floor with a thermostat. I refinish in the morning, and leave it running during the day. By the end of the day, the finish is baked so nice, it doesn't matter if it gets cold during the night. You don't want to spray refinish with the salamander going at the same time though. It not only is a fire hazard, it also wreaks havoc on your finish. What it does is take the over spray particles, and instantly turn them into baked hard tiny pellets, that are especially well suited to sticking on your finish, and sends them blowing into your shop, rising with the heated air, only to settle down onto your project. Net result, a heavy dust nubbed finish.
I just felt like I should say something about the suitability of this filter for refinishing. Hope it helps.

If you do any finishing/painting in your shop and you have the JDS air cleaner, get this charcoal filter as well. JDS recommends that you only insert it when you need it, ie., when applying a finish to your projects. Otherwise, keep it on a shelf in a plastic bag to keep the charcoal fresh and free of dust. I would imagine this would be recommended for a charcoal filter used on any brand of air cleaner.

The filter replaces the blue fabric diffuser at the exhaust end of the JDS 750. It's pretty easy to install and remove.

I highly recommend the book, Controlling Dust in the Workshop. In there I learned a lot about setting up dust control in the workshop. One of the more profound things was that we can only see dust particles down to 20 microns. The 1-micron particles are the ones that get into the tiny recesses of the lungs, and can do the most damage.
Even though I have just bought a second JDS Air Cleaner 750JER, the author mentions that they are effective at cleaning the big stuff, but the little stuff they send flying through the shop. In all fairness, the JDS air cleaner cleans 99% of all particles, and gets 80% of the 1-micron type. I use them to try and keep a clean shop.
What the author states is that if you get your dust collecting system together properly that is all that you need. You just need a dust collection system, and no ceiling air cleaners. Capture it at the source, he says, nip it in the bud, keep the air clean before it gets dirty. That is where this 1-micron bag comes in. He is emphatic about cleaning out the 1-micron size dust.
The author also suggests that a cyclone dust collecting system is best. Without getting too wordy, essentially, cyclone systems prevent wood chunks, or even worse metal screws for example, getting to the fan blades, and denting it up, or causing a spark. The problem is that they are expensive. Also they do not pull as much air as the JDS Dust Force unless you buy a 3 HP unit.
Combining the JDS dust force, the Woodstock International separator, and this 1 micron bag kit, you are spending about a third of the money, and getting the same results. The 1-micron bag kit is essential though. What good is it, if you are collecting dust from your tools, then sending the finer stuff into the air, and into your lungs?
Look into the Woodstock International separator. It is cheap and fits on top of a standard inexpensive, 30-gallon trash can. Only the fine dust makes it to the JDS dust force or shop vac.
So cleaning the bag is not as frequent.
I would like to mention that I wear a respirator while sanding, sawing, etc. Not that little white cotton thing that leaks real bad, almost like not having a mask on at all. A real mask like the 3M Paint spray respirator. When I am not active, the neck straps keep it on, while it drapes on front of me like a bib.
Going a little farther, I have a fresh air supplied system, with a helmet mask, that is 100% fresh air from the outside, fed to me from a diaphragm based, fresh air supplied respirator pump. That is a moderate investment. I break that out when I am doing something that is caustic.
I had a body shop for 20 years. Did a lot of high-end cars. All in all, I don't have any breathing problems.
There is a disease in the woodworking industry called, black lung, or brown lung. Comes from a long-term exposure to fine airborne wood dust. The government has announced it is officially a carcinogen. Ouch!
So get the book, Controlling Dust in the Workshop, and read about how to set up your shop for clean, clear, and more fun, with less work to clean up. And spend the extra money, and get the 1-micron bag kit. It's a bargain, considering the money you saved buying the JDS Dust Force. How do they get 1200 CFM, relatively quietly, and still keep the price so reasonable. Just check out the cyclone units at Onieda-air.com to see what I mean. Hope this helps.

Pros... The unit is designed and constructed reasonable well, quality seems good so far. It makes a little more noise than I expected, based on the other review, but it isn't unreasonably loud. The remote and timer are great.

Cons... The unit sports an "electrostatic air filter" Now, when I hear that, I expect to find a high voltage power supply with an ion charged attraction surface (like my whole house filter installed in my central forced hot air heating system). However, what is in this unit is a plastic 1" thick filter that can be washed and reused. That washable filter is a good feature, but I think that it is misleading to label it as electrostatic. I'm sure that technically it has electrostatic feature, but certainly not what I expected.

I'm going to keep the unit as I believe it will meet my needs and like I said the design is well thought out and the fabrication quality is good.

I looked long and hard checked out all of the other units the JDS 750-ER blew them away. I have health problems and the wood dust really tears me up. I have been remodeling my shop so I have been doing my scrolling in a spare bedroom all I was getting done was running the shop vac and fans out the windows I did not want my wife to tell me to get it out so I have been very careful. The JDS 750 is about half as loud on high as a 20" box fan on med. It does not only get 99% of air born dust in the room it does the whole house My wife has noticed the diffrence in the entire house. I have no dought when it goes back in the 25'x20'x10' shop it will do as well Do not fool with the others I have friends with Deltas not even close to the JDS. I hope my wife lets me take it out to my shop. It had a dent in the top of it from shipping but it is so good I still give it 5 stars. I will give SMASH X shipping 1 star.

This is a great product. I should have purchased one a long time ago!

High quality construction, heavy guage metal, quality filters. Includes washable pre-filter. This dust collector really keeps the shop air clean and breathable.

I looked hard at the JET but the JDS won out in a comparison of the most popular models done by American Woodworker. You can search the archives of A.W. to find this "must read". JDS completely sank the competition in A.W.'s extensive product test.

You won't be dissapointed!

Because the screw issue has not been resolved (see other reviews), assembly can be maddening. It is too heavy: sturdy is good, but this gauge is awkwardly heavy. Without a T-slot (and maybe even a lateral table extension), anything but narrow stock will have this gauge falling off the table.

Reviews here imply this is a "must have" for precision work. Fastening a milled board to a conventional gauge (preferably with an adjustable rod, to eliminate lateral play) and clamping on a stop on occasion has a lot going for it.

The JDS 18-34 Accu-Miter Gauge does everything it claims it can do.It was simple to assemble and adjust it.Adjustments have held true so far.I've used it alot in the short time I've had it. Comparing it to 3 other miter gauges I have its by far the best, but I feel it should be. I paid the price for a quality tool and got one.

This is a rock-solid mitre gage. Easy to set up and use. There are two stops on the gage and both are easy to use and produce extremely repeatable cuts. Customer service at JDS is efficient and nice. (I accidently knocked the gage off of the workbench and one of the stops broke. JDS quickly shipped a replacement for a nominal fee, $4). It's an expensive gage. But, I do so much cross cutting that the cost is justified.

I was looking for a new dust collector to replace my Penn State Industries 1 HP 850cfm unit which just wasn't hacking it anymore. I wanted something in the 2HP range but when I saw the specs and price on the Dust-Force I jumped at it. Inexpensive to begin with, plus 10% off sale and free shipping. I already own a JDS dust filter so I knew the company had a fairly decent reputation for design and quality. Shipped 2nd day UPS the unit was here in record time and arrived in fine shape.

Assembly was easy dispite the relatively crude manual which is why I gave it only 4 stars. A little Vaseline on the ends of the 5" expandible hose allowed it to slip easily onto the outlet chute and inlet funnel. I assume the bag that came with it is 1 micron (only because Amazon's add for this machine says it is) but the manual doesn't give that as one of the important specs and so I have my doubts. Besides, the manual offers as an accessory a 1 micron canister kit. If the bag is already 1 micron why would anyone want the canister? The filter bag is, however, convieniently designed with the continous pocket for the band clamp (my old machine just had loops for the belts and that set up does not work as well). I had almost no trouble threading the band through this pocket except where it had to pass over the seam which took a little faniggling. The bottom bag, however, is in my opinion lame. As another reviewer stated, the two clips that are supposed to support the lower bag while you put the clamp on just do not work well. Small pieces of duct tape did the trick. I would have preferred a lower canister that could be easily removed as this bag will be a pain every time it has to be emptied or replaced. I also doubt the plastic bag will hold up very long if you intend to reuse it. I will probably use inexpensive contractor trash bags or try to covert it over to some type of reusable rigid container. One will definitely want to use a pre-filter trash can converted to a low pressure chip collector before the dust reaches the blower otherwise this bag will be full in no time and you will be wrestling with it every few days.

Prewired at 110V and at 1.5HP this unit draws a heafty 16 amps so unless you want to be continuously resetting circuit breakers coversion to 220V is a good idea. This conversion proved to be a fairly simple task dispite the fact that the manual shows a completely different motor wiring set up than the one the machine actually had. The manual goes into a lot of detail on how to open the cover, remove the terminal block insulator and then rewire the terminal block. Problem is that there was no terminal block in my unit. All the wires in my unit were connected using wire nuts. Inside the cover was a spare wire nut taped to the lid for the conversion which was a thoughtful touch but JDS could have at least updated their manual to show the correct configuration or have included a simple addendum sheet showing this alternate wiring arrangement. Fortunately the switch on the machine handles both 110 and 220V setups so you don't have to replace the switch as well (unlike some Delta equipment that I rewired where I had to order a special 220V switch at a highly inflated price plus exorbinate shipping charges). You will, however, need to supply yourself with a new 220V plug, cut off the old 11OV plug and wire up the new plug. At 220V the Dust-Force runs quietly and delivers impressive performance. As soon as I hooked it into my system and started cycling my blast gates I could hear and see all the dust and chips being sucked out that had been left behind in the ducting by the old machine. Overall I'm very satisfied with the Dust-Force considering the price I paid for it. If the increased CFM's keeps the dust and chips moving through the ducting it will have been a good investment.

This is the first dust collector I have purchased, so my opinion may be of little value. However I hooked this up to my table saw, band saw, router table and 13" plainer and this baby worked like a charm. I can actually see the dust and wood chips being pulled down into the tool and into the dust collector. No more sweeping wood chips off of the floor.

The dust collector was easy to set-up, just a few bolts to mount the wheels, the motor housing and the bag attachment. Holding the plastic bag in place while trying to get the band on is a little tricky. I used a couple pieces of duct tape to hold it on while I placed the band clamp on. The small clips on the unit do not work well with the plastic bag.

For a 115V machine this unit is powerful. I didn't want to rewire my shop for 220V, so this unit works great.

Hang on to your skivvies cause this baby has some suction !!

Contrary to what one of the earlier reviewers has to say this piece of equipment is a tremendous value. With Amazon's current $50 off and free shipping you can't go wrong. Let's face it, all these machines are made off-shore and are of similar quality, form, and function.

I am a mechanical engineer who has designed defense equipment for the past 25 years and I don't know how they make a piece of equipment at such a low cost. We'd probably have to sell it for $1000.

This machine is replacing a 15 year old 3/4 HP Delta cannister dust collector and I only wish I had done so sooner. I no longer have to worry if I leave another gate open as it has plenty of head (engineering term for good dust pick-up, I'm not trying to be nasty!). It's not whisper quiet but doesn't whine like my old collector. Lets face it, it's moving a ton of air which is difficult to keep quiet.

And if you have trouble putting this machine together, as the other reviewer stated, you probably shouldn't be using power equipment at all.

I own Jet, Delta, Dewalt, Makita, and Craftsman equipment and am more than pleased to have this piece of JDS equipment complement the others.

This unit looked ok on paper. It seemed to have plenty of power and required, according to one reviewer, only 16 amps @110 volts.
When the unit arrived I knew there was a problem. The motor looks like something that came out of a locomotive. It weighs all of 45 lbs. Unfortunatley it was stamped not 16 amps but 24 amps @110 volts. My 20 amp curcuit would not handle it. In any event It is far more than the average woodworker needs. I am sure it has plenty of power for servicing 3-4 machines at the same time but I find I usually work best with just one on. I think one of the smaller units will work just fine.

The Dust-Force came packaged well and arrived fairly fast considering it was on backorder. It is a big improvement over the Jet 650 I have been using. It seems to be a sturdy well built piece of equipment with great suction. I was surprise that it is much quiter than expected and assembly was pretty straight forward. My problem lies with the 1 micron free package. I was under the assumption that I was buying what was pictured, a dust collector with top and bottom bags cloth and a free 1 micron kit in addition. What I got was the original dust collection bags removed and a cloth 1 micron upper bag and an oversized garbage bag on steroids for a bottom bag. The plastic bottom bag is much larger in diameter than the machine, it has no provision for the metal strap as the upper bag or cloth bag would have, this makes for a major pain. Picture this a shiney metal, slippery surface and a plastic bag that is too big and no way to secure it to the machine while you try to get this metal strap around the machine and bag without the bag falling off, is this a joke? After finally getting my grandson to hold onto the bag while I tried to wrap the strap and lock it only to find the bag puckers like someone with a 32" waist putting on a 38" pair of pants and a belt with no belt loops! needless to say everywhere there is a pucker there is a leak. Why JDS dropped the ball on such a fine machine to save a dollar or two is beyond me. I have asked Amazon to send me the bag for the bottom that I thought I was getting as the picture showed. This wasn't a free kit. it was a poor substitute for what I was buying and would like to know where the original bags are, if this was a free bonus. JDS needs to throw the garbage bags in the garbage or improve them or provide a cloth bag as they used too, then this would be an excellent piece of equipment.
********Update: JDS contacted me today and were eager to listen to my concerns. I must say they have the best customer service I have ever encountered. They explained their thinking behind the bag system and offered to do whatever I thought would make me satisfied. This is a 5 star company. Thanks JDS and Amazon

The Dust collector was shipped quickly and arrived in great shape. It was easy to assemble. you almost didn't need the instructions. It is all I expected and then some. The machine was prewired for 110v so I plugged it in an outlet in my shop and fired it up .It really pulls the air in well. At 115V it draws 14 AMPS and requires a 20 AMP circuit. I had intensions to convert it to 220V from the get go, so I had a 220 plug all ready for it. The instructions in the manual are very confusing. I didn't want to take a chance of making a mistake with the conversion , so I showed it to the electrician at work. He couldn't figure it out any better than me???
To make a long story short , I contacted the company and they were excellent . They gave me a toll free number to call for tec advice.It is 1-800-480-7269 . Johnny walked me thru the wiring conversion and the blower fired up perfectly. The JDS people were great to work with and I highly recomend them.

I had been looking for a Dust Collector for about 6 months. My final choices were either the JET or JDS single stage units. My shop is in our garage and even though I wanted a 2 stage unit I didn't have the room for the perminent ducts that are required by the 2 stage Cyclone units available at that time (late 2005). I have a JDS Air Filter 750 and was impressed with it's performance so I was inclined to purchase the single stage unit when in a conversation I had with a JDS support person he informed me of their new cyclone. It wasn't available yet but he thought I should consider it. After looking at the specs for the 2 HP unit I decided that I could mount this unit on a platform with casters so that it would be portable. So I ordered from Amazon before it was even officially available. I may even have been the first person in the country to receive this unit. The shipment arrived on February 10, 2006.

Assembly took about 3 hours and, like the reviewer before, I had difficulty with mounting all of the filter bolts. I disassembled the filter from the unit and ran a tap through each hole. It appeared that there was paint residue in many of the threaded holes. This solved the filter assembly problem. The only other problem I had was installing the flexible hose between the Cyclone body and the collector assembly. The previous reviewer mentioned that his hose was not flexible and neither was the one on my unit. Additionally the hose clamps just didn't want to tighten up sufficiently. I emailed JDS with my problem and the very next morning I received a call from JDS. Not just a support person but the President of JDS himself. I explained my problem in greater detail and he said that he would be back to me shortly. Later that day he called again and said he was emailing me a picture they had taken of the hose clamps that would show me what the problem was. He and his staff had taken a unit out of inventory and attempted assembly and had run into the same problems as I had. The email arrived and the picture showed that I was attempting to install the clamps backwards. In another conversation with the President he said that they too had tried the clamps and found that they had been assembled backwards at the factory.

All my assembly problems were solved in those conversations with JDS and I appreciated that the President was the guy who helped me. In consideration for the problems I had run into JDS sent me a replacement flex hose and a box of collector bags.

In use I have found that this unit performs very well for my purposes. Mounting to a portable platform allows me to move it from machine to machine with no difficulty. I am using 6" flex hose to my Delta Unisaw and DJ20. I have another flex hose in 4" that I use when connecting to my thickness planner, band saw, spindle sander, Disc/Belt sander and other smaller machines.

I would recommend this unit to anyone wanting a Cyclone over a single stage dust collector that can be made portable. I can recommend JDS as a company without any reservation.

There are lots of positive things to say about this product, but also a real concern so I encourage you to read all of this review.

The price of the 2000-CK cyclone through Amazon.com is competitive with other companies. This is because the stand is included with the machine and the shipping was free. The unit was shipped promptly and was received within 7 days.

It took me about 4 hours to assemble the machine. It was challenging. The manual is adequate but left out some important steps. It needs to be rewritten. Once assembled it took 3 men to set it upright, just as the manual said it would.

The gasket on the filter was misapplied and that had to be remedied. Also, installation of the filter is not easy. The bolts are hard to seat. It feels like they are cross-threading.

The most difficult part of the assembly is the connection between the cyclone body and the main dust collection bin. The connector is very inflexible and hard to work with. Also, the clamps holding connector to the cyclone body and collector bin are tricky. There is no explanation for the installation of these clamps in the manual.

I like the design of the 2000-CK with the legs integrated as part of the machine. A company executive suggested that I place it on a platform with casters and I did. This gives me better access to the machine and the ductwork. I could move it around the shop but I decided to use permanent ductwork.

I am pleased with the suction. I have two runs. One is about 20' long with a sweeping 180 degree turn and two tighter 90 degree bends. This run connects to my oscillating belt sander which creates a lot of dust. The suction is very good and handles the dust well. Also, I get very little kickback of dust from my table saw which is connected with 10' of flexible 4" tubing.

The crank on the filter works well to get dust off the inside of the filter. Actually, very little dust ends up in the bag below the filter. Most dust goes into the collection bag below the cyclone body. Also, the framework inside the main collection bag works well and it is included in the price. It is an extra cost option with a major competitor.

The machine is very loud. I have installed sound absorbing material on the adjacent walls and ceiling, but hearing protection is still required.

The motor on the 2000-CK is an E Class motor. Major competitors have an F Class motor on their machines. The F Class motor withstands more heat than the E Class motor. Nevertheless, I don't think that I will have a problem with the 2000-CK motor because the low profile of the cyclone keeps the motor away from the heat at ceiling level.

There are many things that I like about this machine but I don't recommend that anyone buy one at this time. Here is the reason why:

JDS has no supply of parts for this machine and cannot support the customer. I'll give you two examples of this.

I called the company and spoke to an executive. I wanted to exchange or buy the nozzle for their 3hp model. Both the 2hp and 3hp machines have the same 8" diameter cyclone inlet size. The difference is that the 3hp nozzle has two hose inlets and the 2hp model has one hose inlet. The two hose inlet nozzle would have been better for my installation.

The executive told me that it was not possible to get a different nozzle. He said that JDS has no supply of parts and that the nozzles are matched at the factory in Taiwan. He said, "Do the best you can." I wondered what I would have done if my nozzle had been damaged. I can only assume that I would have had to improvise one on my own or try to get something from another company!

After striking out on the nozzle I told him that the machine had been scratched during assembly and asked if I could buy some touchup paint. He said that they have no touchup paint. He said,"Go to the hardware store and see what you can find."
That is the attitude that they have; you are on your own with this machine. Don't look to the JDS Company for support!

That is why I can't recommend their machines. This is a classic case of caveat emptor; let the buyer beware. Too bad. It's a good machine with some unique features that set it apart from the competition. Hopefully, the JDS company will realize that they need to be able to support the customer and not just sell machines.

We've used the JDS products in our Delta for over a year and they work great. Quite a savings!!!

Don't try to economize by purchasing a standar filter elsewhere. Unfortunately you need this exact one as the standard size is about 1.4" too big.