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I recently bought a relatively small 1 HP, 825 CFM dust collector. I thought it would be a big upgrade from my shop vac but now I'm not so sure. The reason is that most of my tools are of the bench top variety and have 2.5" dust ports so I have to reduce the 4" line from the dust collector down to 2.5" at the tool. Yesterday when reading up some more on dust collectors I came across some discussion wherein a fellow that used to edit for Fine Woodworking Magazine stated that if you have to reduce down to 2.5", you might as well stick with the Shop Vac because the dust collectors, when throttled that much, don't really offer any advantage. So now I'm thinking that a Shop Vac, Dust Deputy combination might have been more suited to the tools I have and be simpler to work with. I only attach to one tool at a time and maneuvering a 2.5" line around from a Shop Vac would be easier than maneuvering around the 4" line from the dust collector. I've already cracked the inlet to my drum sander from the weight of the dust collector line (I have to think of a better way of supporting the line).

Can anyone offer any advice on this? I'm now considering selling the dust collector in favor of the Shop Vac, cyclone idea but I'd like to be sure I'm not missing something that would tell me this is a bad idea. Certainly, when I first started looking into dust collectors, mostly I saw people talking about what a big upgrade they are from a Shop Vac. I must admit, I haven't seen any big advantage so far. Perhaps it's just the way I use them.

Thanks,
Pat

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There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Don't know what to tell you. I have both. I find the biggest Ridgid with dust deputy to be highly effective, but it's only a matter of time til I get a multi horse cyclone. If you're stepping down a 4" regular bag collector to 2.5", I suspect you're severely reducing its effectiveness, which is probably overrated anyway using a free fan reading. Getting a canister over a bag definitely helps, but I suspect you're likely getting around the same thing with a good shop vac. But there are techs who can give specs who will hopefully chime in.

Anyway, you can get a cyclone attachment for your collecter too...

I also use both - the 1 HP 4" unit is dedicated to the drum sander and 2 x Ridgid 4500 with Dust Deputy - one in the shop for the bandsaw, tablesaw and oscillating sander, and one in the house.
The Dust Deputy works great at keeping the shop vac filter clean.
The one in the house is fitted with the reusable Hepa filter from LV...

I have both, the Jet 2HP is hooked up to the band saw, thickness sander, jointer, and edge sander, with blast gates.
I use the Ridgid Industrial shop vac for the table saw and oscillating spindle sander as well as general cleanup.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Dust collectors are meant to move larger amounts of dust/chips at a lower velocity, and can do it for longer periods of time than a shop vac. If you ran a shop vac all day, it would burn out quicker. Plus the dust collector is quieter.
Try connecting the dust collector with the shortest hose possible to your 2.5" ports, and see how well it does. 1hp collectors are sometimes a cheap source for TEFC motors, so if you paid very little for it, it might be worth keeping.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

I also use both, my 1 1/2 horse cyclone for the thickness sander, tablesaw, bandsaw, drill press, and router table. I have a dust deputy with a shop vac and a 2 1/2" hose for the other room where I do my finish sanding, binding routing, hand planing, etc. But because of how the shop is laid out, I use the shop vac/dust deputy with my DeWalt Planer. The bulkier chips fill up the Dust Deputy quickly, but it handles the volume surprisingly well.

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

Thanks for the responses. The dust collector is quieter, that's for sure. Also, I do keep the 4" hose right up to the tools. It's actually the small side of the reducer that I connect into my tools - my table saw, drum sander, disk sander and oscillating sander.

It's interesting to me how many of you have both. I have to ponder this some more.

Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.