Rikon 60-100 1HP dust collector

hdtran · Post by **hdtran** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 5:40 pm

The Rikon 60-100 1HP dust collector was on sale at Woodcraft ($199.99; regular pricing is $229.99). I ordered one, and it just got in. (This specific sale is over, but Woodcraft is running other sales, so I'm sure you can get a discount).

Here's my review. In short, it sucks

Seriously, now:

This is a 2-bag, single stage dust collector. Rated CFM is 650 CFM (rated CFM means no hose, or perhaps a single solid, straight 6" long inlet tube; and clean bags at output). The motor is a 1HP motor. It has a fairly small footprint (15"x30", and 60" high). It rolls on casters. The dust collector is a 4" inlet dust collector. It comes with no hoses, but comes with two bags: A plastic collection bag (14 3/4" diameter, 26" tall) and a 5 micron filter bag (same dimensions as collection bag). It weighs about 60 lb, and there's a handle for pushing it around on the casters.

How does it work? Well, it does suck

I just assembled it, and after buying a 4"x10' corrugated plastic hose, and some accessories (2 1/4 adaptor for the Shopsmith bandsaw & table saw; jointer hood for general purpose placement; some hose clamps), I did some bandsawing and horizontal boring on my Shopsmith. This thing really likes to suck (I had stray pieces of sandpaper and paper towels near my workspace that got sucked in!) Got to be more careful with my space now! It won't grab big chips (but that may just be the non-tapered hood that I got), but does a really nice job sucking fine dust out of the air. I could see the drilling dust just get sucked from 8-10" away into the dust collector.

Negatives: The assembly instructions also suck. They use various size hex-head metric screws for attaching the casters; attaching the motor mount to the base, attaching the motor to the motor mount, etc. The motor mounts on 3 screws to the mount, and the mount on 4 screws to the base. There is only one orientation of the base where the motor will point in the correct direction, but the instructions don't warn you about that. Attaching the blower outlet to the collector housing is a real pain; there are 3 screws where there is no room to use a ratcheting socket. Attaching the handle to the collector housing is also an interesting exercise. It would be nice to have better bags, and locking casters.

Positives: It works quite well, with plenty of flow and power for a small shop (e.g. a Shopsmith). It's not huge, and with the casters, maneuvers pretty well. I work in my garage, and the Shopsmith is on the garage ledge (about a 4" step above the main garage floor). I assembled the dust collector on the floor, and easily moved it up the step to the ledge next to my Shopsmith. Rikon has a 2 year warranty, but I just don't see what could go wrong (except the motor & motor starter)

I debated between buying the Shopsmith dust collector and something else. Well, I bought this unit, because it has a lot more CFM than the Shopsmith collector, and the footprint isn't much larger. I'm happy with the cost, and the savings go into the kitty bank for 1/5 of the Powerpro upgrade. So, if I just buy 4 more dust collectors, I'll have saved enough for the Powerpro upgrade

Best,

hdtran

moose · Post by **moose** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 9:33 pm

Thanks for the review HD. Like yourself, and also being retired, I just can't justify the expense of the SS unit. How do you feel about the noise level?

8iowa · Post by **8iowa** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 10:01 am

Last week my son and I were at the Woodcraft store in Towson MD and we looked at this dust collector. On careful inspection, it does have a small footprint, but the plastic collection bag is a lot smaller than Shopsmith's DC3300. This could be quite a nuisance if you do much planing. There are no accessories provided, and those who wish to improve on that 5 micron bag might have a hard time finding something better.

The reason your dust collector will not pick up the larger chips is because the velocity is too low in a 4 inch pipe. A dust collector in a small shop only has to do two simple things; keep the velocity in the pipes above 3500 ft/min, and have enough volumetric capacity to carry away the dust and chips as fast as the machine generates them. (A planer is a good test)

When it comes to dust collection, the general thought out there is that "the bigger the pipe the better the flow". Thus when someone has a problem, they think that increasing the pipe diameter is the answer. Wrong! You need to do just the opposite, decrease the diameter in order to increase the velocity. Thus, If you change from your 4" hoses to 2 1/2" hoses you will have much better performance.

As a side note; I have just changed to the 2 1/2" clear "crushproof" hoses on my DC3300. I love em. They are really light and easy to handle.

hdtran · Post by **hdtran** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 10:11 am

ashbury wrote:Thanks for the review HD. Like yourself, and also being retired, I just can't justify the expense of the SS unit. How do you feel about the noise level?

Very noisy without a hose or tube attached (when I just turned it on to test).

Once you attach a hose and connect to your bandsaw or hang the tube under the boring setup, about same loudness as a shopvac.

I would wear hearing protection anyway; hang up a set of earplugs next to your safety glasses or faceshield.

I eventually intend to buy a 1 micron aftermarket bag. American Fabric Filter makes custom bags in any size that you want.

I agree that the plastic collector bag is low(ish) capacity, cheap, and cheesy to mount. But $229.99 (minus discounts + taxes) is about $300 cheaper than $549.99 (+ shipping). So, that's 1/5 of a Powerpro upgrade! Just buy 4 more Rikon dust collectors, and get a Powerpro free!