I am a fairly new woodworker and am looking for a bandsaw, and dust collector. My budget for both is in the $1500 range. My shop is a 21 x21 garage that is used primarily for woodworking. I have to make space for my wifes car occasionaly when there is bad weather. I have 220 in place so I am thinking a Grizzly 2hp 1 micron dust collector. Does anyone have any experience with Grizzly tools. I am looking at the 14″ Ultimate bandsaw also.
Thanks,
Ben
Edited 4/13/2009 10:57 am ET by benphillips
Replies
ben,
when starting out, grizzly stuff was the only thing i could afford. i have the q1023 table saw, their 12" planer and the 3 hp shaper. i have been a happy camper the whole time, since 1987.
eef
Grizzly is a very good choice. They will be around when someone reads your will.
For a dust collector just for the bandsaw I use a Fein Shop vac and the large diameter hose (3" ? ). Works great. Not enough cfm for a jointer or planer if you need that capability I suppose.
roc
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
Edited 4/13/2009 10:54 pm by roc
I had the Griz 14" ultimate bandsaw, loved it, great saw. Sold it to a good buddy to upgrade to a bigger saw, sometimes I wish I had the 14" saw back. Also have the 2 HP griz cyclone DC, it's been a excellent tool as well. It was a heck of a lot of work putting together a shop sized DC system, but having every machine ducted is awesome...
I have had excellent experience with Grizzly tools.
I assume you either have or will eventually have a table saw, jointer, planer, and possibly other machinery that will require dust collection. A 1-1/2 HP unit will run you about $600 plus or minus. But it will provide 1200 CFM of air flow as opposed to 135 CFM from a shop vac, I just went through the exercise of discovering a shop vac is not a dust collection system for machinery.
Then the issue becomes: Can you get a bandsaw for $800 - $900? Depends on your requirements.
I recommend getting as much of a dust collector as you need. With the remaining budget, you may have to consider a used bandsaw.
Greg
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Exo 35:30-35
I already have a RIGID contractors tablesaw, a RIGID jointer, Delta Drill Press, and a lunchbox planer. I tried using the shop vac, but quickly realized with the planer that it isnt nearly adequate.
Ben
Hi Ben,
I think purchasing DC equipment may be influenced to some degree by how you work. By that I mean using one tool vs several at the same time. On the flip side I think it's also akin to clamps, i.e. you can never have too many clamps just as I don't think you can have too much DC, within reason.
I also think that one should get more DC than your current needs to afford expansion. These things are all nice to say but there is a reality part of the equation and it invariably turns out to be how fat your wallet is. Like everything else there is a flip side to this too and that seems to be what is it worth to you to protect your lungs?
Only you can make that decision but to err on the overkill side in terms of DC is NOT a mistake in my opinion.
Aint ye glad you decided to get into woodworking!?
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
I have the Grizzly dust collector for 2 yrs. it does a great job and i see it's on sale.
Do you have your ducted, or are you using hoses? What type of duct material do you reccomend?
Thanks,
Ben
I have pvc pipe under the shop floor and flex hose connected to a blast gate box i built that was in Woodsmith, it has three gates. I would also suggest investing in an over head dust collector from Penn State Industries which also acts as a guard. Good luck and be safe.
Do any of you gentlemen, or ladies know of an easy way to adapt sch 40 pvc over to 4" DC hose? I see in the woodcraft that there is a sch 20 to DC adapter. Is that a type-o? Is there such a beast as sch 20 pvc pipe? Is it the same outside diameter as sch 40?
Thanks
I just found that there is such an animal as sch 20 I found it at Home Depot and Lowes - but you have to get sch 20 components - I found that they keep them in the garden section outside. I haven't verified the 4" flex hose fitting yet - that is this week ends task
I believe that SCH 20 is rated only for non-pressure applications (drain lines, etc.). It would probably be okay for vacuum.
-Steve
That is what I was told at one of the tool stores here.
I set up my DC system last year and I found that the plastic blast gates slide inside the sch 40 PVC, it fits a little loose so I wrapped two wraps of duct tape around the collar of the blast gate and it fits so tight its hard to take apart after, then the 4" DC hose fits on the other side of the blast gate and plugs into your machine. Hope this helps good luck.
thats a big help......thanks mike
Did you use 6" for your main, and 4 for the laterals? DId you use tees, or wyes?
Thanks,
Ben
I have two short runs of 4" PVC in my shop with a few machines hooked to each run, one is about 16' and the other about 20' (use wyes where ever possible they have less restriction than a tee). I have six machines hooked up permanent and two extra spots to hook up, one is over my workbench which works good for routers and such. I only have a 2hp General DC with canister and it seems to keep up quite well, I only run one machine at a time, if you have more than one person in your shop things will differ, I plan on installing a air filtration sometime this year. If your only going to have one main line in your shop I think I would run a six inch main.
My 12" Dewalt SCMS is at the end of the 20' run, the dust collection doesn't work that good for the miter saw, I have tried hooking it up with a shorter run but it doesn't seem to help it kind of blows the dust all over before it can get sucked up by the DC. If anyone has any ideas on how to get the dust collection around the miter saw to work better I would be interested to here there suggestions.
Edited 4/16/2009 3:13 pm ET by mikeddd
mike,
Here's one from Rousseau, and there are others. Found this and more by Googling dust collection miter saw.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Thanks Bob, that looks like something that would work a whole lot better than what I have going on, I think I could build something like that. Once you have a dust collection system in place do you ever stop trying to improve it?
Edited 4/17/2009 10:00 am ET by mikeddd
mike,
I know huh?
Kinda like what is really sharp? Are my chisels/plane blades really sharp? I dunno, don't have anything to compare them too. They do what I want them to do but I often think, could they be better?
I think in the case of dust collection every thing we do to make our systems better is certainly a step in the right direction for oh so many reasons. Gotta be right up there with safety and preventative maintenance. My take is that if all our tools are at peek performance, we're all safer.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Ben:
If you live near a location where woodworking shows are presented once or twice a year you can get a good deal on both. I decide what I want and plan ahead for a show. I buy a new large tool about once each year. I'm almost done, especially since I'm limited by space. If you buy a floor model you don't have to put it together and it's even cheaper because they don't want to move it.
Good shopping, Jim
I have the 17" BS (great and not that much of a step up in $$ from from the 14")
I have the 1023 SLX TS that I've had for a long time and has been fantastic
I have the 12" Jointer (the model with 4 blades) great tool again
Finally I have the horizontal boring machine.
All been great buys and would fit my very modest budget.
I can't speak about their DC as I've got a SEEKO that I've had for eons (tiwaneese)
If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it.
And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
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