Recommendations for Next Tool

[Paul Shaffer]

Creekers,
I have the enviable problem of having to spend part of my yearly bonus on wood working. I am looking for ideas for useful tools to expand/simplify my hobby. I currently have a Craftsman Contractor table saw with a new arbor, outfeed tables, BenchDog cast iron router extension. I am actually quite happy with it and would only upgrade to a SawStop. I have a Reliant 6 inch jointer, 12 inch Delta lunchbox planer, 14" Powermatic bandsaw, delta bench top drill press, Craftsman 10" miter saw, a couple single speed routers and various hand tools. Dust collection is currently done with a shop-vac equipped with a oneida dust deputy. I am generally happy with this equipment except for maybe the planer, which snipes a lot and has limited capacity, but leaves a surface that is nearly finish ready. My shop is in a one-car garage that "theoretically" is supposed to be able to have the equipment moved out of the way and a car parked in it, to mobility and space efficiency is key. I am currently building cabinets for our kitchen remodel and then plan to move on to period reproduction furniture for our bedroom.

Budget is around $1000. What do you think would be most useful? I have thought about a new 15" grizzly planer or perhaps a new/used drum sander. What else should I consider that I haven't thought about? I know there will be as many answers as there are responses probably, but I am just looking for ideas from people with much more experience.

Thanks,
Paul

[Cary Falk]

I got a Grizzly 18/36 drum sander on CL. I use the snot out of it. I don't know if I would ever give it up. That being said, you will need a real dust collector to keep up with it. Myy CL is littered with 1.5 hp dust collectors. The HF one is well respected. If you can find a sander on CL that would be great. I have the Grizzly 15" planer with a spiral head. It is great from a noise perspective but is a little harder to tuck away in you small space. Also be aware that a stationary planer won't leave quite as good a finish as a lunch box.

[Karl Stowe]

I second the drum sander. I have a bunch of small figured walnut and the planer chunks the grain. The sander takes longer to get down to size but thats were a nice resaw on the bansaw helps.

[Don Jarvie]

Bigger jointer. The reliant is ok (I have one) but want at least an 8 inch or bigger. Second upgrade the planer. Rough wood is much cheaper and to mill it right you need bigger tools. Look on Clist for a planer. My Belsaw works well and can handle 12 inch boards.

instead of tools buy more clamps and other shop items.

[Mike Heidrick]

dust collector - real one with decent filter. BEFORE a drum sander.

[Dave Zellers]

You've got the basics, machine wise.

I'd think about really useful hand tools like a good shoulder plane, quality chisels, a good vise, etc.

Wouldn't take much to hit the $1000 mark.

If you already have planes and chisels, consider a means to sharpen them like a WorkSharp 3000.

[Bill Space]

Hi,

[edit] You do have a jointer...so I don't know the answer to the question!]]

I don't think you mention having a jointer...

A jointer can take the twist/bow out of wood before thickness planing it.

Maybe a jointer would be a worthwhile addition?

I have done some nice work (to my eyes) with a Craftsman contractor's table saw and a Craftsman 6" jointer...

Ready to retire I upgraded to a Grizzly 8" jointer and Grizzly 10" cabinet saw. The saw is still in the assembly stage as I just got it a couple days ago.

So seeing that you may not have a jointer, I say consider buying one. If you do have one, like my 6" Craftsman, the long bed 8" Grizzly is SO MY NICER than the short craftsman! Bed on the Craftsman is the same length as the fence on the Grizzly.

Just a though...buy something that you do not have if you are satisfied with what you have.

[Denny Rice]

Creekers,
I have the enviable problem of having to spend part of my yearly bonus on wood working. I am looking for ideas for useful tools to expand/simplify my hobby. I currently have a Craftsman Contractor table saw with a new arbor, outfeed tables, BenchDog cast iron router extension. I am actually quite happy with it and would only upgrade to a SawStop. I have a Reliant 6 inch jointer, 12 inch Delta lunchbox planer, 14" Powermatic bandsaw, delta bench top drill press, Craftsman 10" miter saw, a couple single speed routers and various hand tools. Dust collection is currently done with a shop-vac equipped with a oneida dust deputy. I am generally happy with this equipment except for maybe the planer, which snipes a lot and has limited capacity, but leaves a surface that is nearly finish ready. My shop is in a one-car garage that "theoretically" is supposed to be able to have the equipment moved out of the way and a car parked in it, to mobility and space efficiency is key. I am currently building cabinets for our kitchen remodel and then plan to move on to period reproduction furniture for our bedroom.

Budget is around $1000. What do you think would be most useful? I have thought about a new 15" grizzly planer or perhaps a new/used drum sander. What else should I consider that I haven't thought about? I know there will be as many answers as there are responses probably, but I am just looking for ideas from people with much more experience.

Thanks,
Paul

Get that router table off the saw and build or buy you a good router table! JMHO

[Bob Turkovich]

Creekers,
I have the enviable problem of having to spend part of my yearly bonus on wood working. I am looking for ideas for useful tools to expand/simplify my hobby. I currently have a Craftsman Contractor table saw with a new arbor, outfeed tables, BenchDog cast iron router extension. I am actually quite happy with it and would only upgrade to a SawStop. I have a Reliant 6 inch jointer, 12 inch Delta lunchbox planer, 14" Powermatic bandsaw, delta bench top drill press, Craftsman 10" miter saw, a couple single speed routers and various hand tools. Dust collection is currently done with a shop-vac equipped with a oneida dust deputy. I am generally happy with this equipment except for maybe the planer, which snipes a lot and has limited capacity, but leaves a surface that is nearly finish ready. My shop is in a one-car garage that "theoretically" is supposed to be able to have the equipment moved out of the way and a car parked in it, to mobility and space efficiency is key. I am currently building cabinets for our kitchen remodel and then plan to move on to period reproduction furniture for our bedroom.

Budget is around $1000. What do you think would be most useful? I have thought about a new 15" grizzly planer or perhaps a new/used drum sander. What else should I consider that I haven't thought about? I know there will be as many answers as there are responses probably, but I am just looking for ideas from people with much more experience.

Thanks,
Paul

Paul,

I started reading your post and thought, "Wow, who's been looking into my shop?" The only differences are Jet vs. Powermatic bandsaw, DeWalt vs. Delta miter saw, no jointer and basement vs. garage shop (oh, i don't have $1000 to spend). Here's what I would suggest (given you have limited shop size...)

1.) Table saw fence - you didn't say how old your saw is (mine is 20 years) but most of the Craftsman's have poor fences - I upgraded mine to a Delta T2 and saw a significant improvement in saw performance. There are other fence upgrade options but the T2 is still the least expensive option.

2.) Router table system - Sorry, Denny - I hate to disagree with a fellow RedWing fan but I think the Bench Dog table is a great piece if he's keeping the saw. I can't imagine what more you would want from a table. Besides the space benefit, the added mass of the cast iron table really helps to dampen table vibration. What I would add, however, is a router lift mechanism and a dedicated variable speed router motor. ( I added a Rockler FX lift and VS PC router motor last summer and have, so far, been happy.) However, if you decide to follow Denny's advice and you're in the Detroit area, send me a note and I'll take it off your hands as my son has an identical saw to mine that he inherited from his grandfather.

3.) Dust collection - while I'm satisfied with the Dust Deputy for reducing the number of times I have to dump the shop-vac, it doesn't do much for airborne dust. If you've got the space, this is the next area I'd look to improve (especially if you eventually want to get a drum sander.)

[Matt Meiser]

dust collector - real one with decent filter. BEFORE a drum sander.

+1, and not a cheap one either. Drum sanders generate a lot of really fine dust. Don't collect it and you'll burn up wraps real quick. Collect it without good separation of some sort and you are going to clog up a good filter real quick, or just circulate it around your shop with a bad filter.

[Paul Shaffer]

My tablesaw fence is a stock Craftsman, but I have the generation that was the basis for the current Ridgid models and the fence is straight and clamps square every time (measured using A-Line-It). So it works for me. I really like the Benchdog set up, but would like a lift and bigger VS router sometimes.

I was leaning towards a drum sander.. but I understand the recommendations for a real dust collector, but have a few reservations. First, as Matt mentioned, bad ones might actually be worse then good ones because they just aerosolize the fine dust. Second, the ShopVac/DustDeputy pretty much fits in the knee well of one of my benches when not in use, I have a hard time figuring out where to put a "real" dust collector. The ShopVac has a HEPA filter on it, which I noticed makes a HUGE difference in the amount of dust that settles on surfaces in the shop. I understand one will be needed for a drum sander and is one reason I have been hesitant to pull the trigger on a couple of used drum sanders I have come across on CL.

So I guess the question I have is, can someone recommend a good, quality, fine dust collecting portable dust collector that has the capacity to handle a drum sander? I look at even the single bag units and have to wonder where it will go in the shop. For example is the Grizzly0548Z (2hp with cartrigde filter) on sale for about $400. How are the Grizzly cartridges? Should I bypass them and go straight to Wynn? A footprint of about 3x2 with 6 foot height just seems massive in my shop. Plus I will have to build a baffle or pre-seperator. So any "out of the box" suggestions are welcomed. Restrictions are that it can't be placed outside or in another room the since it is a basement garage, the ceiling is just 7 feet. I can't run dedicated house in a mobile shop, so it will only need capacity for one machine at a time.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[Matt Meiser]

I'd suggest that a better value might be something like http://www.grizzly.com/products/Cycl...-2-Stage/G0703 though admittedly I've never read the reviews on that particular model. Over the Grizzly you mentioned with the cartridge filter and a pre-separator it saves you some space, saves you the effort and (not terribly big) expense of building a separator, and comes with extras you'll probably end up buying like the remote control. And if you ever decide to upgrade to a big cyclone, I'd guess significantly higher resale.

[Jeff Duncan]

I'll suggest what I always suggest when these threads come up....forget what everyone else is suggesting and buy what YOU NEED! What good is a bigger____ if you don't use it that often? What good is any tool you don't use often? If you honestly can't figure out what to spend it on based on your needs, then you probably shouldn't spend it. Put it away until you do know what your shop will benefit from

good luck,
JeffD

[Sam Stephens]

for dc, i'd recommend the delta 50-760. it's mobile (on a cart w/ wheels). the reviews are good, + i've been really pleased w/ mine (~2yrs). though the supplied filter bag is 1 micron rated, I upgraded to the wynn cartridge filter which is far superior in terms of performance. Also b/c of how the motor/impeller is mounted, you can hook up a trash can separator under it and keep the whole setup on the cart:
DSC01979-1.jpg
though i'd hate to discourage you from the planer upgrade, b/c i'm sure it would be awesome, snipe is usually a setup issue regarding the infeed/outfeed tables. i have a 2-speed 13" delta and mine is snipeless.

[Brian Kincaid]

You will need a solid dust collector before your drum sander or industrial planer.
Keep the dust deputy though, you will want it for hand held work (palm sander, etc)

-Brian