Air filtration system? She says "Buy it!"

[Don Alexander]

i've got a Jet 1000 and i have to say it works GREAT combined with the dust collector there is significantly less dust in the air in my shop
and therefore in my lungs i don't have any way to measure it specifically but its definitely a very noticable difference worth every cent at twice the price IMO

[Aaron Rowland]

Air filters are a bit controversial. Some say if you need one, your sawdust pickup is no good and up date it. Others say they catch a lot of dust and go for it. My opinion is the filter looks just like your lungs. A lot of dust on the filter and you have the same amount deposited on your lungs. Cough, hack. However I have a shop built one which is really easy and better them anything you can buy. It uses a 20 x 25" 3M furnace filter, the expensive high end one , in front of a 20 x25" x 6" deep HEPA filter. These are available from various manufactures and very reasonable. Used in clean rooms. Mine is very old and the pressure drop is the same as new. The 3M catches the main dust . I change the 3M every couple of years so its really not catching much dust. I ran a clean air duct to the opposite end of my shop where it right angles into another duct with a slot cut the entire length. so the air sweeps across the shop area.

The hard part is the blower. Best source is a HVAC service company. You can get one for free or close to that from most. However they come out of old furnaces and pump a huge amount of air. That means noise and a huge draft. I pulled the motor out of mine and adapted a shaft and pulley to slow the RPM by 2/3's to get the CFM I wanted.

Robert Witter the owner of Oneida is against them, or used to be, as unnecessary. I have a lot of respect for this guy and when he speaks I listen. If it hadn't been for him and Bill Pentz this industry would not exist. ( cyclones and dust control).

A really good article from Robert Witter is at www.finewoodworking.com/item/30960/problems-with-our-air-cleaner-article I hope this is a good URL. Please correct if it is wrong. I won't paraphrase the letter but Witter is dead on. The FWW was the worst and so typical of magazine articles on dust control. I saw one article recently where the writer claimed a cyclone would flow more air then a single stage two bagger. These guys have no idea what they are talking about and they hire College Professors who know less then they do about air. If you want bad info on dust collection read the mags. They refuse to publish how their tests were run which means to me they are bogus. End of rant and I hope it's not censored.

[Phil Thien]

Air filters are a bit controversial. Some say if you need one, your sawdust pickup is no good and up date it. Others say they catch a lot of dust and go for it. My opinion is the filter looks just like your lungs. A lot of dust on the filter and you have the same amount deposited on your lungs.

This is an often repeated misconception ("your filter looks just link your lungs").

In reality, the air cleaner very rapidly scrubs the air. In short order the air you're breathing is much cleaner than it otherwise would be without the air filter.

I suppose if you were breathing 800+ CF per minute, your point would be valid.

[Bernie May]

If you don't have one, get a Dylos DC1100 air quality monitor for $200. It will change the way you work in your shop. You can monitor how well your various dust collection and air filtration are doing. I wish I had bought this earlier. It is the first thing I turn on when I do anything in the shop.
-bernie

[Thomas Bank]

My opinion is the filter looks just like your lungs. A lot of dust on the filter and you have the same amount deposited on your lungs. Cough, hack.

In reality, the air cleaner very rapidly scrubs the air. In short order the air you're breathing is much cleaner than it otherwise would be without the air filter.

In my case, if I'm doing something particularly dusty I'll wear a dust mask or respirator. The filter will clear the air much more quickly, allowing me to take the mask / respirator off again, compared to just letting the dust settle on its own.

[Rob Cunningham]

Ken,
I have the Jet AFS 1000B and it works great. One look at the filter shows how much dust I'm not breathing in. I also notice a lot less fine dust settling on my bench and other flat surfaces.
The only issue I have is that the remote does not work when the florescent lights are on. I believe it has something to do with the frequency of the ballasts. I just use a long dowel to reach up and push the buttons.

[Aaron Rowland]

If your filter is showing a lot of dust there is a problem in dust control in your shop. While the high CFM by the filter does not equate with the amount of air in your lungs a dirty filter still means you are breathing stuff that maybe could cause problems latter in your life. At least that's Bill Pentz claim and whom am I to argue with that. I like my filter in the spring because it helps my allergies. When running the shop air is better then the living room according to my Dylos.

From all the posts here about dust in the shop a lot of work is needed my some to get rid of it. A low CFM cyclone or a centrifugal separator just won't get the job done. Did you read Witters letter on shop dust? I thought it was well done.

[Keith Avery]

I have 2 Jet AFS-1000s. It was considerably cheaper than the 1700 and combined has higher capacity. I bought both on Amazon for less than $250, they changed the price regularly for a while about a year ago. I also see what appear to be almost new units on craigslist for less than 200 almost every month. They work great. I had one in my last house garage and the buyer specifically wrote into the contract he wanted my air cleaner to stay, so I have bought 3 over the last 10 years.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Well.............the great group of guys I worked with attended my retirement dinner and gave me a very generous gift. Woodcraft has a Jet sale going on right now....and since the Jet AFS-1000B can use the Wynn filters, I elected to buy 2 AFS-1000 B's and I installed both of them yesterday with a little help from a 19 year old grandson visiting us from his home in Phoenix. I installed them pointing in opposite directions with the intent of getting air to circulate in a CCW direction. The one closest to my hangning furnace will hopefully clean the air before it gets pushed through the furnace in the winter time.

I had a contractor roofing my house and we discovered some facia that needed replacing. I purchased some 1x6 cedar and milled it in my shop. As I was putting away tools, I decided to blow out the bag on my ROS. When I did, the dust flew everywhere. Two clicks of the remote and within 2 or 3 minutes the air was clear. I was impressed!

[Jim O'Dell]

Ken, reading through the whole thread, you did exactly as I would have done. If the 2000 was twice as expensive, I would think 2 of the 1000's would do a better job at the same price. Glad my logic works!!! Jim.

[Jim Neeley]

I've picked up my 2 AFS-1000B's over time, inexpensively ($75 for one, $100 for the other), on Craigslist. I use one of them purely as designed and the second is mounted right next to my "sanding station". That way most of the dust the vac on my sander misses (and no matter what, there will be some) gets picked up by that 1000B. I just use the washable electrostatic on that unit and wash or blow it off after sanding.

This isn't to say I don't also use it for general woodworking too. It's just not at ceiling level. I don't think I'd do that if I only had one but I think it was $75 well spent. Now if the Dylos deal goes through I'll measure just how much it's helping but, from cleaning the filter after about an hour of Padauk sanding, it got quite a bit!! <g>

Jim

[Dick Holt]

Ken,
Last December, my 7 year old Jet AFS-1000 died (motor bit the dust). I tried to get the JDS, which Wood mag.rated the best, but delivery was months out. So I bought the Powermatic, which by the way was not included in the Wood review. I like it very much. The remorte is a RF type which means it trannsmits a radio signal, not infrared like most others. This means that you don't have to aim it directly at the unit. Powermatic has been having an anniversary sale and may still have it on sale.
Dick

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Hey folks.....I bought 2 Jet AFS-1000Bs and just installed them.

[David Nelson1]

Cool! I'm still trying to get my homemade one installed. 12 foot ceiling and a 10 foot ladder by myself is no joy.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Cool! I'm still trying to get my homemade one installed. 12 foot ceiling and a 10 foot ladder by myself is no joy.

My youngest grandson, age 19, is visiting. I enlisted his assistance to install them. He's supposed to paint some facia for me today too.