HF-2 HP Industrial 5 Micron Dust Collector Central Machinery - Item#97869

I don’t have one yet but will be getting one I have heard good reviews on here about them.

-- My theroy in wood working will be. If I'm not enjoying doing it i won't do it.

If you search here on the site, there are lots of folks that have tricked out this unit with a homemade chip separator, better filter, etc. They seem pretty great and I plan to get one.

-- Brian in Arlington, TX - Laziness is the foundation of efficiency.

http://lumberjocks.com/search_results?cx=016283335483199634424%3A4na88symhay&cof=FORID%3A9&safe=high&q=Harbor+freight+dust+collector&sa.x=0&sa.y=0

Click that to peruse at your leisure.

-- Brian in Arlington, TX - Laziness is the foundation of efficiency.

There is a coupon I got in an email from HF for $169

-- Steve - Dust sucks!

I’ve been using one for 3 years at least and have no problems. Mine is stock just like it comes from the factory.
Watch the magazines you can usually get this for 149.00. Would I buy another? Yes for sure. One thing I would suggest if you buy one. Get a roll of aluminum tape and seal all the joints on the housing. JMO

-- Don't rollerskate in a buffalo herd

Buy it,.... you’ll like it.

Had mine 2 years great machine. I wanted to mod it but it works great out of the box.

I’ve got one sitting in my little vacuum closet behind the shop. Love it.

-- http://www.teamturpin.org/house/shop.htm

I, too, am a believer. Had mine for 2 1/2 years. Works great.

At some point, especially if you do a search, you will see bunches of suggestions for modifying this unit.
Most suggestions will be to replace the 5 micron bag with a 0.5 micron cartridge. this is a good mod, but will set you back around another $100.

Another popular suggestion is to put a thein separator or dish baffle in the inlet. I don’t think this is such a good idea. I would much rather put a separator in the duct before it connects to the fan. In that position it prevents chips and chunks and screws and nails, etc. from grinding their way through the fan impellor.

But, bottom line, it’s a good little collector and you can almost always get one for less than $150 by getting a coupon out of many of the wood working magazines. Those same ads always have a 20% off coupon that you can apply to the hoses, connectors, and baffles needed to attach the collector to your tools. I got a kit with 20ft of 4” hose, 4 connectors, a couple of slide gates, a bunch of hose clamps and more for less than $35 with the coupon.

By the way, the fan inlet on mine is 5” and that is connected to a wye with two 4” inlets. I don’t think they have changed the inlet size, but it’s possible. More likely they just changed the numbers on the spec sheet or ad. HF normally don’t know what they are selling. I bought a lathe there and the box said #2 morse taper spindle. Their ad, and the spec sheet, and the sales person all told me it was a #1 taper. I took a chuck to the store and tested it. It was a #2 taper.

-- Michael :-{| Diapers and politicians both need to be changed often; and for the same reason.

@crank 49
do you use it as is, from the box, no mod’s?
I like this unit for the specs especially and the reviews.
I have a Vortex connected to a Shop Vac, all 2 1/2”.
My Jointer is the only machine I have a problem with, I have to take off the 4” shroud – 2”, to empty the duct all through-out the joining process.
The rest of my system, (2 1/2” hose w/blastgates) works fine for the Table Saw, Planer, Router Table, Miter Saw, Drill Press, Down Draft Table, and Orbital Sander.
The Down draft table could benifit from some more suction, I have to split the air between the sander and table, but I still get virtually NO visible dust when I sand, none. Ever since I built an Air Exchanger, I have NO, NONE. Dust on my tools and shelves and such.
The HF Dust Collector has got to be more suction than a 5.5HP Shop Vac and Vortex.
I think I will still use the VORTEX with adapter fittings, it is a solid performer.
I may try and run my 2 1/2” line with the HF 4” DC, with reducers untill I can buy 4” piping. I WILL run 4” dedicated to the Jointer which makes THE MOST chips.

-- Steve - Dust sucks!

1550 cf is as much air as a 2 h.p. 220volt machine will push (or pull?). I’m surprised they are getting that much performance with a 110 volt motor. If it could be run at 220, I sure would. Otherwise, I’d anticipate the shop lights going dim every time you switch on, maybe take down the whole grid, which will annoy your neighbors. 20 amps is a lot, though I have seen really old motors, back before most people had 220, rated as high as 24 amps. You’d want heavy wiring for that (even for 20 amps); I’d want 10-2 wire to the outlet. Also, except for machines that don’t crank out a lot of dust, I’d go to 4” hose (some guys prefer 6”), especially for a planer and jointer.

I use the HF collector as is and did not install the Wynn cartridge filter. I just said it was a good idea because the sub-micron dust is the really nasty stuff that gets in your lungs and stays.

I do not like the noise of a dust collector so it only runs when a machine, table saw, jointer, or whatever, is running. I depend on a shop air filter to catch and remove the fine dust. It only has a 1/4 hp motor and you can’t hear it running all the time.

I don’t have a big drum sander but if I did that would require me to reconsider the cartridge filter for the DC.

Runswithscissors, in an induction motor 2HP is 2HP. Makes no difference whether it’s 120 volts, 240volts, or 480 volts. The amps will go down as the voltage goes up, but the watts and horsepower remain the same.

As far as the inflated ratings of dust collectors, like 1400 CFM, they don’t mean squat. Just a sales gimmick. The CFM rating without a corresponding static pressure is a completely useless number. The HF 2HP collector actually pulls about 500 CFM at 10” static. And so will just about any other collector with the same size fan, same size motor, running at the same RPM. Plus or minus a few % to allow for efficiency of the motors and fit of the impellers in the housings and leakage of air at the joints.

-- Michael :-{| Diapers and politicians both need to be changed often; and for the same reason.

whatever you get, add a baffle, like this one or a flat thien:

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/40189

regardless of filter (bag or canister), performance of DC is dramatically improved.

-- there's a solution to every problem.......you just have to be willing to find it.

FYI, if you use a standard 20% off coupon you can get it for $160 (regular price $200). So I’m not sure why they would send out a coupon for $169.

Or, as others have pointed out, woodworking magazines often have a coupon for $150.

-- Rex

I’ve had mine for a couple of years now… It was $129 when I bought it and I’ve never regretted the purchase.

-- Hal, Tennessee http://www.first285.com