Dust collection

[Linda Miller]

I just bought a thickness planer and realised that I need a dust collector to use it properly. It's not in the budget and so really want to get one at a reasonable price. Is there a CFM minimum that I should consider? Any brand better than another? My local CL has a Jet 3/4hp dust collector. 650 cfm, 120v 4" Dia. hose listed for $125 obo. This sounds small, but maybe it is ok??? Any thoughts or advice?

[Jamie Buxton]

How much DC you need depends on the size of the planer. I'm guessing that this is a 12" lunchbox, right?

[Linda Miller]

How much DC you need depends on the size of the planer. I'm guessing that this is a 12" lunchbox, right?

Yes. It is a Dewalt 733.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Harbor Freight has a 2HP collector that can be had on-sale (with 20% off coupon?) for $139. A very good deal.

[johnny means]

IME planers are a little more forgiving than other machines when it comes to dust collection. They usually direct chips towards a chute, instead of requiring you to catch everything with good suction. I ran my 20" J/P for a long time with nothing but a 1 HP Delta. Of course, I had to use the bare minimum of hose, but it never clogged up unless I was taking really deep cuts in 15"+ boards at a high feed rate. That little 3/4 machine should be able to keep the chips flawing away from your cutter.

[Jamie Buxton]

When I had a lunchbox planer, I had a 1 1/2 hp bag-type collector from Delta. It would suck up all the shavings from the planer, so something like it should do for you. Sometimes planer manufacturers will suggest a cfm rating for an appropriate DC. (IRRC, the Delta was rated at 600 cfm, so I'm a little skeptical of that Jet 3/4 hp collector being rated at 650 cfm. Oh well, cfm ratings seem to be a little ficticious anyhow.)

[frank shic]

the planer and the jointer when face jointing definitely need good dust collection - i learned this the hard way when the hose accidentally fell off!

[Jim Sebring]

Unless you like the idea of dumping the DC bag about every ten seconds, you might want to use an intermediary big chip collector between the planer and the DC. I use a metal garbage can with a vortex-type top. Most of the sizeable chips get caught in the can with only the dust particles going on to the DC bag. Dump the garbage can when it's about 1/2 full or the DC will start to suck the big particles out of it into its bag.

[Linda Miller]

Thanks for all your good input.

[Joseph Tarantino]

the HF unit may be a little noisy, but it is definately superior to the jet you mentioned. check out this site for info on separators that will really help maximize the effectiveness of your DC:

http://www.cgallery.com/jpthien/cy.htm

[Linda Miller]

Thanks. I will check it out.

[Michael MacDonald]

minimum spend I could recommend would be to get the $100 1 HP HF blower (the red one) plus a $35 garbage can lid for separation... when I got the DW735, I couldn't use it until I got the separator because my mini dust collector would get clogged right away. once I put a Thien baffle in front of it, worked fine... I just upgraded recently to the 2 HP HF collector, and now it works even better... but the 1 HP model is cheaper and much smaller if space is an issue.

[Joe Leigh]

To answer the OP question directly, YES, a 650CFM dust collector will easily handle anything a 12" lunchbox planer can throw at it.

[Ole Anderson]

Will the 2 hp HF require a 220 volt circuit? I presume so. Could be a deal breaker, depending.

I use a 1 hp Penn State 2 bagger for my Delta 580, If I let the bag fill up, I can clog the hose, otherwise has worked well for me for years.

[Linda Miller]

I am going to try to get to HF this week to check it out--got the 20% off coupon from the paper this week too and that will help.