Harbor Freight 2 HP Dust Collector

[Stephen Edwards]

As you see by my questions I have no experience with DC's.Are those canisters so much better that they justify a $170 price tag?

You can buy the DC unit, as is, and buy a canister later if you think it's worth it. After you've used the DC unit for a while you'll have a better idea of the value, or lack thereof in your situation, of the canister.

A few folks have mentioned the switch going out on the HF unit. I got one of the remote control switches. That's certainly worth the 40 bucks or so. It'll save you a lot of steps and, one would think, prolong the life of the switch on the unit itself.

Good luck with your decision. For the money, the HF DC unit is a very good value.

[Dave Cav]

Also, FWIW:

If anyone lives near enough to a Grizzly to travel there rather than having it shipped (though shipping is just $10 it appears), Griz does have a canister that SHOULD fit the HF collector:

http://grizzly.com/products/Extra-Ca...48-G0562/H5783

According to this guy on amazon, it fits the HF collector just fine:

I have the Grizzly filter on my HF dust collector. Works fine. I also have a Thein seperator. I am running 4" PVC drain pipe to 2 table saws, 2 RAS, a jointer and a shaper (with blast gates). No problems. Next year the dust collector is going to go outside and the filter will go away (dust will just vent to atmosphere) and the seperator will take care of the chips.

[Robert Malone]

As you see by my questions I have no experience with DC's.Are those canisters so much better that they justify a $170 price tag?

Carl, Wynn filters are make and shipped from Lancaster, PA, so shipping won't be bad for you.

[Wes Bischel]

Carl, Wynn filters are make and shipped from Lancaster, PA, so shipping won't be bad for you.

I think they are over in Warminster, PA - which is an 1-1/2 hours away from Lancaster. (note area code and zip) May not make a difference in shipping, but just in case you were local and thinking of picking it up.

Just FYI, Wes

[Josh Reet]

Carl, Wynn filters are make and shipped from Lancaster, PA, so shipping won't be bad for you.

The wynn paper filter is also much cheaper than the spun poly one.

[Mark Rios]

Just to help alleviate some confusion, I actually went to the HF site and saw Two 2hp DC's listed. One is listed as "2 HP Industrial Dust Collector" which is 14 amps and the other is listed as "2 HP Industrial 5 Micron Dust Collector" and draws 20 amps.


hth

[Ron Carlton]

Carl, my local Lowe's still has the Oct issue in their magazine rack.

Here is a 20% off coupon. Looks like it will work.

http://www.harborfreight.com/hftusa/...mos/popsci.pdf


Used the coupon today...no problems!

[Mark Rios]

The coupon says that you have to use the original and that copies won't be accepted. I printed the coupon and it very much "looks like a copy".


I don't want to be arrested and convicted of fraud and go to jail for fifty years for using a fake coupon at Harbor Freight so I probably won't use it.

[David Hostetler]

It's coming up at $249, not $140? Rockler is selling the Jet Dc-500 for $100 on black friday.Anyone have one?

They have a coupon in November's Wood Magazine for $139.00 for the #97869 2HP Dust Collector.

I wouldn't bother with the 1HP dust collectors. While the HF 2HP is overstated, it is a MUCH better DC than the 1HP jobs are...

[David Hostetler]

As you see by my questions I have no experience with DC's.Are those canisters so much better that they justify a $170 price tag?

Look at it this way. Air has to go through a semipermiable membrane (your filter element, either a pleated canister, OR a bag) at a certain level of filtration, meaning a given area of filtration media, is going to allow only so much air through at once... So which would provide more air flow, a filter media with 25 square feet of filtration surface at 1 micron filtration, or 250 square feet of filtration surface at 1 micron filtration.

Since air flow, and filtration capacity are key, it would make sense that the filter that provides more surface area would provide superior air flow for a given filtering level. And it's the pleats in the canisters that give us those numbers...

When you add up the cost of a Wynn canister, on top of a HF dust collector, you have $175.00 (what mine cost with shipping to my door) and $150.00 (what my DC cost including sales tax) you end up with $325.00. I **COULD HAVE*** ended up with a Delta 50-760 DC used for that money. But no cartridge filter. Arguable the Delta is a superior dust collector by design, but the lack of the 1 micron or better cartridge swung my dollars to the HF DC, and I do not have the least bit of regret over it...

[Carl McGaug]

I believe the penalty is 30 years.Take a chance.

[Jason Hallowell]

The coupon says that you have to use the original and that copies won't be accepted. I printed the coupon and it very much "looks like a copy".


I don't want to be arrested and convicted of fraud and go to jail for fifty years for using a fake coupon at Harbor Freight so I probably won't use it.

If you sign up for the mailing list (either e-mail or paper) you'll get one of the 20% off coupons a couple times a month. I get mine by e-mail and print them out, and I've never had a problem even when the printer was running out of ink.

[Alan Zenreich]

Recently they've switched emailing to 15% off coupons.

Not that big a change, but times are tough all around.

For the motorcyclists out there, Cycle World magazine has a 20% off coupon in one of latter pages of the magazine.

[Mark Rios]

FYI, I went to my local HD and found both October and November issues of Wood Mag still available. Both had a "Harbor Freight" ad page with the coupon for the 20 amp DC for $139 and change and a 20% off coupon as well as coupons for other tools.


I hadn't picked up the magazine for a while so I bought both issues.

[Jeff Springer]

From all I've read it's a good value. I have the penn state 1.5 (looks comparable) and added the thien internal to the ring and it has kept my filter much cleaner.