Steel City - 1HP dust collector (Rating: 3)

Just bought this yesterday at the local Woodcraft (good folks here)

With the exception of the the four bolts that hold the blower assy to the frame, assembly was rather uneventful.

After assembly I immediately put the collector to use attached to my table saw and it seemed to work "ok", not great. Even though I was using a zero clearance insert, a good amount of dust managed to escape from every nook and cranny from the cabinet. The collection only seems to be marginally better than the large shop vac that I was using prior.

About 5-6 minutes into using it I noticed a transient change in the sound of the motor almost a "groaning noise" this sound only lasted a few seconds and then disappeared. A minute or so later the sound returned only to disappear again. This continued for the rest of the time I used the collector. While investigating the sound, I touched the motor only to find it extremely hot…. I sent off an email to Steel City customer service which was replied too this afternoon with a name and number to call. Called the fellow in the service dept who stated that the motors "run hot".... he was at a loss to explain the noise which is reasonable as he couldn't hear it. Bottom line is I was told the unit has a 5 year warranty, should the motor fail they'd be happy to send me another… other than that, use it as is until then.

The only other issue I have with it is the plastic collection bag…. the bag's diameter is so much larger than the opening that you clamp it too that you cannot get a good seal as the bag ends up with several "pleats" in it. A good amount of dust escaped around the clamp and after an hour or so the entire bottom of the unit was covered in dust. I removed and replaced the bag several times, cinched the clamp as tight as I could and the problem remains. Not much use in a 1 micron filter bag if the collection bag won't seal…

The pros are:

It's attractive

Easy to assemble (less the aforementioned blower housing)

Fairly quiet as dust collectors go.

Manual is sufficient but does not have a wiring diagram for 220 conversion even though the motor is dual voltage.

Cons:

Motor noises (as I explained to the service dept in my 40+ years of using things electrical, motors that run hot and or make noises are not long for this world)

Collection bag won't properly seal (maybe why the unit doesn't perform well at the saw)

No way this unit is moving 700 CFM of air as claimed… my shop vac produces a fraction of that and this collector is only slightly better at removing chips and dust.

While prompt in their response, Steel City really offered no solution to any of the issues I'm experiencing.

If and when this machine gets straightened out, I'll update this review.
I'll give this machine another week or so and if I can't get it sorted out I'll likely have to return it.