Dust collector

If you are considering this product, you more than likely like me have reached the limit of what you can do with your 2.5" shop vac setup, even with your cyclone lid on that trusty 5 gallon bucket. While my 12 gallon shop vac is great for small tools like my hand sander, it just can't hack it for the dust generated by the router table, jointer, table saw, drill press etc, especially if you want to use a dust hood, floor sweep or built in bench vents to capture chips and dust. Additionally, like me, you may be working in a shop of tiny-home proportions (in my case 6'x20' with doors smack in the middle eating up precious wall space). As such, even the smallest floor model dust collectors, alas, including the much lauded harbor freight collector, were all too large and or too power hungry for me to accommodate in my shop. Enter the many wall mounted options in the 500-650 CFM range. After reading available reviews, I took a chance with this unit because it could ship quickly and because it seemed after reading that since the Actual CFM of any collector is significantly lower once hoses etc are attached, that it made little difference from one to the next as long as you get a decent unit and take the appropriate steps. This is to say, in the end, the promised 650 CFM of one model, functionally isn't that different from this model at 537 CFM. So spake the Internet. Moving on. I got lucky. The unit arrived well packaged with no damage to the box or the contents. As you can see in the picture, per the mounting instructions, I mounted a small set of cross bars cut down from scrap to the studs, and then mounted the plate to those. While attaching the opposing plate to the dust collector itself was a bit of a chore (see other reviews), it mounted quickly and easily to the wall plate, and with cantilever weight distribution this thing, heavy as it is, is going nowhere. It powers on well and easily with no concerning machine noise. In fact, as many note, it is Much quieter or at least more low pitched and as such less invasive, not to mention cooler-running than a shop vac. My biggest concern with the PowerTec collector was from reviews (and similar reviews plague all of the wall mounted units in this price range) that talked about the ease with which large chips from a planer or similar tool could rapidly clog the intake. However, thanks to the floor space afforded by the wall mount, I was able to easily add the pictured 20 gallon Rubbermaid trashcan with a cyclone lid that makes large chips a trivial issue. Virtually no sawdust makes it to the filter bag. Which is great, because the filter bag can be cranky to get on and off. Additionally, in this setup there is very limited loss of suction. This has been a game changing space saver. I will add that I have not purchased a HEPA drum filter yet, but regardless even with 2.5 micron filtration and little dust going to the bag, I still wear a mask when I am working around saw dust. I am using a 15' hose to connect to virtually every tool in the shop. I lose some efficiency because no tool is over 10' away, but I kept the extra length to make it easier to position the hose as needed at each tool, or on the end of a moving dust hood that I use for things like the drill press and router table when I need to do freehand or pattern routing. This is still absolutely fine. While I'm sure that a higher HP unit would pull more air more evenly, the comparably lower CFM just means that I have to be a little more thoughtful about where the hose or attachment is placed to most efficiently capture the dust. While no collection system at this size will prevent All dust from escaping, the amount of fine particle dust settling on tools and shavings on the floor is Significantly lower than when trying to control all dust with my shop vac. Moreover, as I am the only person working in my shop, I am only using one tool at a time, making it easy and efficient to move the hose from tool to tool without the need of a centralized PVC system with blast gates, which I was considering but dismissed eventually as pure vanity in my current setup. I will also say that a tool's dust collection is only as good as its mfg installed dust port. Frequently I have found it better and easier to simply mount my mobile dust hood strategically to things like my router table and spindle sander. Is this a tool for a large shop with people running multiple tools? No. Is it for long and complex runs? Probably not. Will this keep your air squeaky clean? No. Is this the tool for master woodworkers? No. This IS a great tool for a journeyman woodworker in a small shop who is trying to eliminate mess and save literal hours of time over the course of a project. It has created efficiency and speed for me, making my entire setup more manageable. I will add, I still keep my shop vac handy especially for quick access to the crevice tool and floor wand. Plus, it's still a hum-dinger when it comes to quickly vacuuming the cars in the garage adjoining the shop. That said, buy with confidence knowing that this may not be your ultimate solution if you plan to expand your operation, but for me, this is the perfect fit for what I need most for keeping my shop clean and tidy through an array of small to medium sized projects.

I have this in my shop and have been slowly getting it put together. The photo of the dust deputy was obviously before I had it connected in the system (waiting on more 4" dia hose). I now have it all put together and am very happy with it. I used the Dust Right quick connector to be able to move the hose easily around to the different tools. I used the DC this week on my jointer and it worked perfectly, no clogging to be found. I have yet to try it on the surface planer but I think it will be fine. The sound made by the DC is not too bad, it is definitely lower than the shop vac. Many have asked about the fan blade in the questions so I have a photo showing that it is made of metal and it is a significant blade, looks very heavy duty and much heavier than I was expecting. I have used this for general clean up for saw dust on the floor and top of tools and it works really well. It will not pick up a metal washer or screw but I see that as a benefit. Vacuum up the dust and all your hardware is right where you left it. I wired this to run on 220V so I could plug into a dedicated circuit and, of course it uses half the amps of the 120V setup. The wiring diagram in the switch left a little to be desired but I first made my best guess and then contacted an electrician I know and he agreed with my assumption. So I made the change in the switch housing and a different cord cap for the plug. I think the extra money for the Dust Deputy (DD) was the way to go. I use the DC without it for a couple of times and the dust in the bag was clinging to the inside and I worried that that would reduce the efficiency of the system. With the DD in place I have not been able to detect any dust reaching the bag, although I am sure some does. You can see the barrel I used for this that I also purchased from Amazon and the install was simple. I cut the appropriate sized hole in the lid, drilled holes for the 12 bolts, but I did make a flange of 1/4" plywood as the lid is not flat and I worried about the sealing surface not being large enough to be reliable. I bolted it together and ran caulking around under the gap of the plywood flange and the lid. Mounting the DC on the wall was simple enough, I cut a piece of 3/4" plywood long enough to span the 16" O.C. studs and bolted that in place and screwed the mounting plate to that. I lifted the DC up and hooked it on the mounting plate. The DC came packaged in a box and inside that was the Powertec box with Styrofoam formed around it. Nothing was damaged, all the parts and pieces where there. They even provide a wire nut inside the switch housing for the wiring change to 220V! The fit and finish is quite good and everything seems sturdy and well made. I would have to say that the other brands of wall mounted DC are probably made at the same place and just branded for different companies, so I went the the lowest priced one and couldn't be happier. For Cons: I am not sure I can come up with much. Without the DD I don't think the 2.5 micron filter bag would be all that good of a solution. There is a zipper on the bottom of the bag but I would imagine emptying that would be a bit of a mess. The wiring diagram could have been made much clearer.

Let me be clear, for the price this thing is amazing. My complaints are really just small issues, I have had with the collector. First off the mounting hardware included is a bit of a joke. This thing tries to throw itself off the wall every time it starts or stops. I remedied this by simply putting aboard over the top of the mounting location and wedging a piece of wood between the board and the metal mounting plate. Not the most elegant solution, but it has reduced the vibration on my wall and I feel confidant that it will not be taking a dive to the floor now. Other than that, the suction is not bad, maybe a little less than what I had experienced before with other brands, but again for the price, I cant really complain. Lastly is the noise. this guy is pretty loud, not jet engine, but I would saw it is on par with my table saw. I made a small box on the outside of my shop and mounted it out there along with the dust separator, so I can eliminate the floating dust from the filter and some of the sound. Overall a good buy and even if this review sounded negative, I still rate this thing highly and would buy again, especially for the price.

This is a fine addition to my small shop, but you need to stay within it's limitations. It pretty much needs a four inch hose with only short lengths of step down for attachment or it loses suction rapidly. If you come off a four inch hose with say ten feet of 2 1/2" hose you will be sorely disappointed. I tried hooking this up to my standard size dust deputy just to see what would happen, nope. The inlet and outlet sizes are just to small ( about 1 5/8" ) for this to work with any efficiency. It's kept up with everything I've hooked to it. My planer and jointer can really make some chips and it just takes care of it, works just fine on my table saw, sanders and router as well but be aware it's hooked up one at a time. I doubt you could use this as a central system. You'll want to watch the price as it fluctuates by as much as 25%, also I believe the "Grizzly" and "Shop Fox" model of this is exactly the same just a different color. Assembly and installation were simple and straight forward with no surprises. (It plugs into a standard outlet) A few words on hoses and clamps, the Powertec hose POWERTEC 70143 4-Inch x 20-Feet Flexible PVC Dust Collection Hose, Clear Color is far superior to the generic brands, better fitting, thicker gauge wire support and plastic as well. I used these clamps Big Horn 11741PK 4-Inch Key Hose Clamp, 5-Pack, Colors may vary which makes connections easy compared to trying to use a screw driver upside down and backwards. For me the big plus with this unit is the noise. On my phone app Db meter it is 62db vs 74db for my shop-vac at about six feet. Thats a huge difference in noise level! Overall this is a nice dust collector that'll make your shop a much nicer place to be in. Highly recommend.

Buying the Powertec has taken my small workshop (~150sf) up a notch in professionalism. What I like about the Powertec; • Its' wall mounted and out of the way, no vacuums taking up floor space. • Its a single solution, versus my cyclone feeding my Festool vacuum, which got cumbersome and too many hoses. • Its bag is big and re-usable. The cyclone in my previous point prevented my Festool vacuum bag from filling up as much, but this bag is even larger, and is fine (micron level). • It filters well. No dust being kicked up back into the room. • Works with my Ridgid table saw, Festool track saw, dewalt chop saw, router, and sander so far. Of course, you need to work out the hose adapter situation. And as mentioned below, for smaller tools I step the hose down from a 4" to 2" hose. • Its not too loud, I don't mind it staying on between cuts for a minute or so. • The wattage it uses is reasonable, which is an issue for some who have it on a single 20amp circuit with their other tools. Which leads to the only complaint, you will spend time coming up with a vacuum hose system. There's a lot of ways to do it. In my case I have a 10' 4" hose from the vacuum that connects directly to my table saw, OR that 4" hose connects to another hose thats 2" that in turn connects to smaller tools. The smaller hose makes it easier to use adapters for the smaller 1-1/2" or 2" ports. Last, I have this hooked up to a little remote that lets me turn it on/off from my pocket.

I am the kind of woodworker who believes every machine has a specific job and I always do my best to research about which brand of machines do that specific job the best. Obviously this machine is designed to suck up dust. In short, it does it very well. The quality of build is excellent. All the parts are metal. From the impeller to the outer housing, all of it appears to be either machined steel or solid cast iron. It's reassuring knowing I can suck up the occasional chunk of wood and not worry about it causing catastrophic damage to the internal components. The motor is a beast. It's not deafening like many shop vacs, but definitely creates a satisfyingly powerful hurricane of suction when it's running. The bag attached is made of thick fabric and can hold large amount of chips/dust without becoming cumbersome or too bulky. It also appears to maintain its suction even when the bag is almost completely full. I am excited to create an overly elaborate dust collection system in my shop with this dust collector at its heart. It's a great deal for what you get and even though it's not mobile, it'll still go above and beyond my needs in my shop. I absolutely recommend it.

Came boxed with cloth bag, wall mount bracket w/bolts and clamp. I have a 12 x 16' recently built shop. With this vacuum I will be assembling a interconnecting pipe. In the world of pipes plumbing and dust collection do not play well together at all. I will record here progress I make on what works and doesn't work. Pros 1. Seems well constructed and a nice paint job. 2. Suction seems to be adequate prior to assembling my vacuum plumbing. 3. Collection bag is thick and has a window strip to see fill level. Has draw string around the neck to hold the bag on while you connect the clamp. The bag has a zipper on the bottom for removing saw dust. I like the on off switch although I have mine plugged into swiitched wall plug. Cons: 1. Loud but to be expected. 2. Removable wall bracket seems to be at odds with hard to connect/remove bag and clamp. 3. Bag clamp is very poor quality and difficult to connect but after you first clamp once aluminum shapes to the neck of the outlet making it fit better but still not adequat for removing bag frequently. Had to use drop of wd40 to get clamp to slide under itself without bending. 4. Thought the shipping box could have had better padding inside the box than the syrofoam padding it had. The inlet side had insuficient padding ( less than 1/2 inch) of styrofoam padding. 5. Lack of inlet diameters online on amazon and the manufacturers site is a big downside for me. If connecting this to a vacumm system wouldn't you think inlet and outlet i.d and o.d. dimensions would be helpful. Gave 3 Stars because of the packaging. I will revisit rating after I finish my shop vacuum system and test how well it functions. ------ update 10/6/18 Setting up a 3 inch T shaped overhead vacuum system (12' x 10') with a blast gates at the junction of each leg. ' Powertec 70149 rubber clamp connects perfectly with the 4" o.d. inlet of the vacuum. It also fits perfectly with the 4" o.d of standard 3 inch ABS plumbing elbow. Powertec 70149 also connects nicely with both ends of Taytools 4" Blast Gates. Powertec 70149 fits okay with slightly smaller SawStop CNS-DCP Contractor Saw Dust Collection Panel 4" outlet. All of these were clamped with a Big Horn 11741PK 4-Inch clamps. Next steps are purchasing more ABS pipe and flex hoses. I will update aain with finished vacuum system. ------ update 10/23/18 Increasing the rating to 4 stars. Not 5 because I think the shipping packaging was insufficient. System is about 50% complete. Using 3" ABS pipe and pipe joints for the system. The POWERTEC 70111 4-Inch tubing and Ultra-Flex 2 1/2" tubing connect perfectly with POWERTEC 70190 Y- adapter. The Y adapter will connect to my sawtable bottom suction and blade guard. The main pipe needs 3" couplings to inter connect Taytools 4" Blast Gates and Powertec 70149 rubber couplings. Sound is substantially reduced when connecting a part of the piping system. Next update will include final parts and decible rating with pipe connected and without. Completed system will have copper wire to ground the pipes to the vacuum when completed. Search youtube for downtoearthwoodworks on excellent tutorial about grounding vacuum piping.

I own and operate a small woodshop and this wall mounted dust collection system was a perfect fit for my shop. Sometimes space is tight in my shop and I really like the idea of having this permanently near the tools to be used opposed to wheeling a mobil unit around. It works flawlessly and is quiet, way quieter than a screaming vacuum with a clogged filter. Assembly was straight forward and effortless. I used a 25' flexible drainage pipe for my hose (the kind that is not perforated) and that is working just fine. Size, cost and performance are as advertised with this model. Highly recommend for other shop owners that just want to get to work. I wanted to try before I purchased another, and I will be purchasing another to add to my tools at the other end of the shop. Don't be deterred by reviews stating bag was hard to put on or empty, it wasn't. There is a zipper on the bottom of collection bag for easy emptying.