So, I am not clear from your original post. Do you already have the Shopsmith jointer that you picked up, or are you considering buying one? Based on your interests, I would say you could possibly get by without a jointer for many projects if you are buying good quality S4S lumber. The Shopsmith jointer is well built but this also makes it heavy to mount/unmount. In that form factor of a short bed jointer, in 2024 I would encourage you to look into benchtop jointers that are on the market, e.g. Rikon has a nice 8" jointer (viewtopic.php?p=312101#p312101). Personally I don't see the Shopsmith jointer as competitive today with most of what is out there. I know you can't fit a long bed, wide width jointer in your shop...neither can I. Unless you already have the Shopsmith jointer or are getting a smoking deal on one, I would honestly look elsewhere. With either option you can do extensions on the infeed & outfeed to handle longer lumber that is cupped. IF your S4S is perfect, then ignore this last point. In a small shop like yours and mine, I really see a lot of value in the lunchbox (or benchtop) type planers and jointers that are on the market. They can be pulled out and used, but then easily tucked away when not needed. In hindsight, I wish I had saved the money that I spent new on the Shopsmith 4" jointer and Mark V mounted 12" planer and gone this route instead. They don't even sell the Shopsmith planers anymore and who knows how much longer the jointer will be sold.Forrest wrote: ↑Mon Aug 26, 2024 5:56 pm Really appreciate this response. My projects are kind of all over the place, but I split time between cabinets and other similar "large" scale furniture and small storage boxes. Currently am working mostly with sheet goods and S4S boards, but I want to move towards milling my own lumber. My plan is to pick up a 12-13" surface planer to compliment the 4" edge jointer of the Shopsmith. I don't think I have brought home anything larger than 12/4, but I do know the 4" will limit. I just don't have the space to dedicate to a 6" or larger dedicated jointer.
I do already have the DC3300 and it works just fine honestly. It sounds like hard tubing would make a bigger difference than the DC6000 upgrade so I might just do that. I have debated the 42" hood. I am also cautious when it comes to health concerns. It is a small space, but 17" ceilings and a 10' tall window that can be fully open to outside. I have also built a wall dividing the rest of the loft from the workshop. I run 2 larger multi-stage air purifiers in the loft and I try to leave the dust collection on with the ports open for a while after I finish working (this would be more effective with the larger hood). Along with wearing a respirator most of the time when I am in the shop.
After this message, new knives, the larger hood, and those BlueMax tires are on the short list.
The pluses of the DC3300 are that they are cheap used today, compact footprint, they are relatively quiet and they last. The cons to me are insufficient airflow and cloth filter hoods which leak too much of the smaller particulate dust that is more damaging to the lungs. Some have constructed adapters to attach HEPA filters onto their DC3300. This would definitely be an improvement, but it is costly. One downside with this is HEPA filters clog on sawdust so they have to be cleaned (not all of them can be blown out with compressed air without damaging the filter media). This is why typically a dust collector has a 1st stage of a cyclone to capture the majority of the sawdust to prolong HEPA filter life. The DC3300 has anemic airflow, so putting a cyclone in front will only restrict it even more...of course I have this as well with my ShopVac™ setup and cyclone so what I am saying is it could be worth trying and just see what you get. Just know HEPA filter dust collectors without cyclones in front of them clog fast. I really would get the laser particle counter to investigate dust particulates in the shop and living space to see how you are doing for IAQ (Indoor Air Quality). They were only like $50 last time I got one so they are reasonable. Not sure I would hard pipe the DC3300, but the choice is yours. It is anemic on airflow and hoses or piping create restrictions to this airflow. There is a good Nick Engler video around somewhere I can try to find if you want to do this where he goes through the math for PVC sizing that is appropriate to connect to a DC3300 (bigger isn't necessarily better). They also made a special plenum to connect the DC3300's to this piping in the Shopsmith Academy when they had it. Keeping good quality hoses and shorter runs to each tool from the DC3300 is the better bet performance wise, but may be less convenient.
RF Guy
Small sections of PVC aren't that expensive, so if you have the time, experiment with it and see what you get. I do believe you can make the DC3300 a half decent dust collector with converting to a 4" PVC inlet with not too long of a hard pipe run, but to really be useful you need a HEPA filter on it. Not trying to tell you what to do, just musings of how I have thought about making mine better along with some evidence based measurements I have done. Good luck. One last point is NOT all flexible hoses are created equal. I upgraded my hoses to ones from Oneida and they are MUCH better than my original black corrugated ones from Shopsmith. I had noticeably better airflow with the Oneida hoses.