Looking at dust collectors?

[Anthony Whitesell]

Better off with the built-it-yourself version from Phil Thein.

[Shawn Stennett]

Would one be happier with a smaller cyclone @1 1/2 hp unit or a larger bag type 3hp one with a seperator like the one mention by Phil Thein?

[Stephen Edwards]

Does anyone have any experience with the Grizzly 1030, 3 hp model.

I don't have experience with that particular DC unit. However, I can tell you that it's very simple and very inexpensive to make your own very efficient separator using a 55 gallon plastic or heavy duty card board barrel to work with that DC unit. That's what I did for my 2HP DC unit. For all practical purposes, in my opinion, it makes your single stage collector a two stage collector. It takes about two hours to make the separator using the barrel and $20 bucks or so in fittings.

The barrel catches all of the heavy chips, any metal pieces and blocks of wood such as Rob mentioned, etc. The only thing that goes through the blades and into the bag is fine dust. Everything else drops to the bottom of the barrel. Generally speaking I'll empty the barrel two or three times before I have to empty the fine dust in the bag. With this method you can use a floor sweep and a floor drop with the Grizzly DC unit you asked about.

Feel free to PM if you want more details.

[Shawn Stennett]

Has anyone built a preseperator like Phil Thein's and still regreted not buying a cyclone?