Shopsmith Forums

There's a lot wrong with the manufacturers of dust collectors and their close liason with the magazines that rely on their advertisements.

A small home based garage/ basement shop does not need a 2HP dust collector with 6" and 4" ducts cluttering up the walls and robbing the small shop woodworker of needed wall space. This type of unit is definite overkill. Yes it will work. But why try to install a dust collector system suitable for a 1000 sq ft or larger shop into a 200 to 400 sq ft home shop.

I've been in this type of discussion on the Lumberjocks forum and can say that woodworkers are under the impression that the higher the HP, the larger the pipe - the better the flow. In many cases Just the opposite is true.

A dust collector has to do just two simple things; Have the capacity in cubic ft per minute to take away the dust and chips as fast as the tool generates them, and have a velocity in the pipe of at least 3500 ft per min in order to keep dust suspended in the tuburlent airstream. A larger shop, perhaps with more than one person working, needs a large system, but for us, using Shopsmith equipment, the DC3300 is entirely adequate.

People can't seem to understand how a 2 /1/2" hose system could possibly outperform 4" ductwork. Simple math provides the answer. In order to satisfy the 3500 ft/min velocity requirement, a 4" system must have a much larger fan and more HP in order to maintain the necessary velocity. this is because the velocity in the pipe decreases according to the square of the difference in diameter. Thus it is that many woodworkers, including some "Shopsmithers", have needlessly oversized their dust collection systems.

A 2HP system put in a home will likely require some electrical expense for a 240 volt circuit, or at least a dedicated 120 volt circuit. The noise level will be objectional. Many higher HP dust collection units are placed in separate enclosures for this reason. The electric bill will be significantly higher. This is all unnecessary for our small home shops.

I have one of the first DC3300's (1985). The only maintenance that it has required is the normal replacement of the lower plastic bags. I also have a newer DC3000 in my Upper Peninsula shop which is about 650 sq ft. There I regularily use two 8' hoses connected together as I like to keep the dust collector back in a corner. I have no problem collecting 99% of the dust and chips from my planer without having any dust accumulation in the hose.

[quote="8iowa"]There's a lot wrong with the manufacturers of dust collectors and their close liason with the magazines that rely on their advertisements.

A small home based garage/ basement shop does not need a 2HP dust collector with 6" and 4" ducts cluttering up the walls and robbing the small shop woodworker of needed wall space. This type of unit is definite overkill. Yes it will work. But why try to install a dust collector system suitable for a 1000 sq ft or larger shop into a 200 to 400 sq ft home shop.

I've been in this type of discussion on the Lumberjocks forum and can say that woodworkers are under the impression that the higher the HP, the larger the pipe - the better the flow. In many cases Just the opposite is true.

A dust collector has to do just two simple things]


I agree completely... Most of that "more HP, more HP" stuff is purely what I constantly call the "Tool Man Tim Taylor" factor which can seldom be held in check with logic... Most of us (even me) have attacks of it now and then. I bought the 2 HP HF collector only because of my Foley Belsaw 5 HP planer which will "hog off" up to 1/4" at a time on a really rough sawn board if desired. I bought my 1 1/2 HP Penn State DC just because it was a deal I could not pass up (like new $50) from someone I knew. One of Diana's brothers bought HF 1 HP unit (still regular motor, not the brush type like some) and I have been in his shop when he was using it. The only difference I could tell watching it was that it was a LOT quieter. I believe it would have kept up with my planer fine. Almost everything else in the shop uses a 2 1/2" connection anyway.
I have watched the DC3300 at the state fair in the good old days and my fast planer "might" be too much for it but I can think of nothing else in my shop where it would not work just fine. Even normal use of my planer it would probably work fine. I "really" like how quiet it is. If an opportunity hits at the right time I will have one. Nice tool.

I posted on LJ's but I don't think here about using much cheaper 2 1/2" hose and fittings on most tools between the tool and the 4" DC gate. I found that at places like Wally World and Camping World That I can buy nice twist lock fittings and matching sewer tubing for a tiny fraction of the cost of the "official" DC fittings and hoses.
Right now I have a common DC 2 1/2" hose connected to the table saw port and sticking out from under the saw. When I use it I just slip the 4" hose over the outside of it a foot or two and it works just fine. In fact I believe it works better than a tight closed connection.

Yes, a 2 HP dust collector is overkill for a Shopsmith. The Shopsmith dust collector was made for one tool, the Shopsmith, and it works great for that situation.

The only time I can see needing a larger system is for a workshop that needs several tools attached to the system at the same time. Even then, the use of blast gates at each tool are needed to prevent loss of suction.

Shopsmith has designed a well thought out, and very quiet (compared to most other dust collectors) system that works great with their tools. The major problem is that unless you can find a used one, the SS dust collector costs almost twice what a 1 1/2 HP Delta DC costs. I think that is why so many Shopsmith owners go that direction.

I got lucky in that when I purchased my Shopsmith, they offered either a free bandsaw or dust collector with the purchase. I went with the DC and I'm glad I did. I knew I could buy the bandsaw at a later date, and when I did, I'd have the dust collector for it. I also knew that I wanted to keep my workshop clean because the Shopsmith alone can generate a lot of sawdust. It sure has helped in keeping my workshop clean, and quiet too.