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I am just getting started in this hobby. I have built two loft beds and all of the furniture for kids rooms but am looking to get into some nicer furniture for our home. This is the start of my one car garage shop. I'm looking for a lower price alternative for dust collection and also a planer and then a jointer. I have a friend with a jointer and planer but it is very inconvenient to travel to use his equipment. Any comments or suggestions are welcome 

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You can skimp on the dust collection and get a pretty decent DC at Horror Freight for $200.

I wouldn't skimp on the planer and jointer...and really one without the other is a great restriction. So, I would save and buy once cry once for good machines. At a minimum, I would go with a DW735X for the planer and a 6" or 8" Powermatic Jointer, but there are a lot of other good options as well.

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The Harbor Freight DC is on sale for $170 for the next couple of days.  A lot of people have success with it, especially when a cyclone is added.  I need to add a DC to my shop, but for now my large, strong shop vac with a separator works well enough (it's not sufficient for my planer or jointer, though)

Get as big of a jointer as you can, though with your space and budget considerations I'm sure you'll be looking at 6 inchers.  Avoid benchtop jointers.  The Grizzly, as stated above, is a good option for a good price if you buy new.  I have a 6 inch Rigid that I found for a good price on Craigslist, it's good enough for my skill level.  You can learn to use hand tools for wider stock.

Be cautious if you buy used planers...the first planer I bought used worked great but the knives weren't available anymore.  I re-sold it for a loss and bought a new DW734.  The 734 works just fine.

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The best cheap dust collection is a shop vac with a HEPA filter. Next step up from that is a 2 HP or more unit with a fine particle filter cartridge.

In my basement shop, I use the shop vac solution, except on the jointer and planer. For those, I use a 1 HP unit with bags to collect the chips. It doesn't collect dust, rather it recirculates it in the air. A shop vac can't keep up with the chips these machines generate, and they clog easily.

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I think others have nailed the dust collection side of things.

For the jointer/planer, I still stand behind my recommendation of the Jet 12" Combination Jointer/Planer on a mobile base for a small shop. I have a two car garage shop and the space savings are still incredibly nice. I'm passing the one year mark on mine and am still very happy with the decision. I just recently traded some PM's with someone about some of the drawbacks of the unit and I've been meaning to get a full review posted but I keep forgetting to post it. To recap what I sent to that user:

Pro:

  • Smaller footprint than two machines.
  • 12" jointing capacity
  • Transition from jointer to planer takes almost no time at all.
  • Dust collection is good - captures 99% of what the machine throws out.
  • If you upgrade to a helical cutter head, you upgrade two machines for the price of one (I'm still using straight knives).

Con:

  • Short beds. Infeed/Outfeed support rollers are absolutely needed for long stock (6' ). This is the biggie, but could be a non-issue depending on what you build. It sucked pretty hard when milling material for the split-top Roubo. I won't have many instances where I'm jointing and planing 9' long boards, though.
  • European-style guard on jointer (I've adapted to it, but still would prefer a porkchop style).
  • Grooved tables. Slightly annoying to keep clean and waxed. Minor annoyance.
  • Requires 220v. I just see this as a cost of doing business with moving into larger machines, but it could be a deciding factor for some folks.

The above does not apply to any of the smaller combination units. From everything I've seen they're inferior junk. Avoid benchtop jointers as others have mentioned if you can. 6" capacity on most of them means more ripping and glue ups. You also have to deal with even shorter beds than on the machine noted above.

The DeWalt 735X is a great planer as well. My old man has one and loves it. He pairs that up with a 8" floor-standing jointer and is happy. I thought about doing the same, but ultimately decided that I didn't want to constantly be lugging the 735X out and on top of a work surface to use it and if I built a dedicated stand for it, I would be soaking up more space than the Jet 12" combo would take up when factoring in the floor-standing jointer.

I'll stop babbling now. Good luck in continuing the shop set up.

 

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8 minutes ago, jerkface42one said:

I think others have nailed the dust collection side of things.

For the jointer/planer, I still stand behind my recommendation of the Jet 12" Combination Jointer/Planer on a mobile base for a small shop. I have a two car garage shop and the space savings are still incredibly nice. I'm passing the one year mark on mine and am still very happy with the decision. I just recently traded some PM's with someone about some of the drawbacks of the unit and I've been meaning to get a full review posted but I keep forgetting to post it. To recap what I sent to that user:

Pro:

  • Smaller footprint than two machines.
  • 12" jointing capacity
  • Transition from jointer to planer takes almost no time at all.
  • Dust collection is good - captures 99% of what the machine throws out.
  • If you upgrade to a helical cutter head, you upgrade two machines for the price of one (I'm still using straight knives).

Con:

  • Short beds. Infeed/Outfeed support rollers are absolutely needed for long stock (6' ). This is the biggie, but could be a non-issue depending on what you build. It sucked pretty hard when milling material for the split-top Roubo. I won't have many instances where I'm jointing and planing 9' long boards, though.
  • European-style guard on jointer (I've adapted to it, but still would prefer a porkchop style).
  • Grooved tables. Slightly annoying to keep clean and waxed. Minor annoyance.
  • Requires 220v. I just see this as a cost of doing business with moving into larger machines, but it could be a deciding factor for some folks.

The above does not apply to any of the smaller combination units. From everything I've seen they're inferior junk. Avoid benchtop jointers as others have mentioned if you can. 6" capacity on most of them means more ripping and glue ups. You also have to deal with even shorter beds than on the machine noted above.

The DeWalt 735X is a great planer as well. My old man has one and loves it. He pairs that up with a 8" floor-standing jointer and is happy. I thought about doing the same, but ultimately decided that I didn't want to constantly be lugging the 735X out and on top of a work surface to use it and if I built a dedicated stand for it, I would be soaking up more space than the Jet 12" combo would take up when factoring in the floor-standing jointer.

I'll stop babbling now. Good luck in continuing the shop set up.

 

Thx the mini review

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I have a related question to the DC topic in this thread. I bought the Harbor Freight DC from some XMas money. I have been using a 1 HP Jet DC for years. I did introduce a cyclone into my Jet setup. So I will use this same setup, replacing the 1 HP Jet with the 2 HP HF DC. My question, possibly dumb, relates to the use of a HEPA filter on the DC. Given I am using a cyclone which knocks out MOST of what is in the vacuum stream AND given the setup I have sits next to an outside wall in my garage, what would be wrong with simply piping the 4" exhaust from the DC straight out the wall through a dryer vent? Completely elimniates the issue with dust fines in the exhaust. I ask because I do not recall seeing anyone, over the years I have been woodworking (10), doing or even proposing this. Seems logical to me. But..............

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25 minutes ago, vlrice said:

I have a related question to the DC topic in this thread. I bought the Harbor Freight DC from some XMas money. I have been using a 1 HP Jet DC for years. I did introduce a cyclone into my Jet setup. So I will use this same setup, replacing the 1 HP Jet with the 2 HP HF DC. My question, possibly dumb, relates to the use of a HEPA filter on the DC. Given I am using a cyclone which knocks out MOST of what is in the vacuum stream AND given the setup I have sits next to an outside wall in my garage, what would be wrong with simply piping the 4" exhaust from the DC straight out the wall through a dryer vent? Completely elimniates the issue with dust fines in the exhaust. I ask because I do not recall seeing anyone, over the years I have been woodworking (10), doing or even proposing this. Seems logical to me. But..............

I've seen it discussed elsewhere.  The consensus is it will work just fine.  The factors you have to consider are your heating/cooling in your shot, and your neighbors.  If your shop is well separated from the rest of civilization so that your neighbors house and cars don't get covered in your sawdust, and losing your climate controlled air isn't an issue, you should be fine to pipe directly outside.  I didn't skip over that you will use a separator also, perhaps the danger to any neighbors would be negligible. 

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1 hour ago, vlrice said:

I have a related question to the DC topic in this thread. I bought the Harbor Freight DC from some XMas money. I have been using a 1 HP Jet DC for years. I did introduce a cyclone into my Jet setup. So I will use this same setup, replacing the 1 HP Jet with the 2 HP HF DC. My question, possibly dumb, relates to the use of a HEPA filter on the DC. Given I am using a cyclone which knocks out MOST of what is in the vacuum stream AND given the setup I have sits next to an outside wall in my garage, what would be wrong with simply piping the 4" exhaust from the DC straight out the wall through a dryer vent? Completely elimniates the issue with dust fines in the exhaust. I ask because I do not recall seeing anyone, over the years I have been woodworking (10), doing or even proposing this. Seems logical to me. But..............

I run my DC through a separator and the fines through the wall to the outside.. Works beautifully!

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Excellent. Thanks for the replies. My neighbor's house is  100 ft from that side of my house. With the separator I have in place the stream leaving the garage/shop should APPEAR clean. As it is now, I can go months before I noticed any appreciable fines in the DC bag. Most everything ends up in the trash can separator.  Hadn't even considered the increased performance angle. Thx again all.

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On December 28, 2015 at 9:48 PM, treeslayer said:

  my suggestion is to get a cover on that wall outlet before it gets filled up with sawdust, and visit the forum often, great words of wisdom from the folks here

At your/our age, you've got pretty good eyes!

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I have a related question to the DC topic in this thread. I bought the Harbor Freight DC from some XMas money. I have been using a 1 HP Jet DC for years. I did introduce a cyclone into my Jet setup. So I will use this same setup, replacing the 1 HP Jet with the 2 HP HF DC. My question, possibly dumb, relates to the use of a HEPA filter on the DC. Given I am using a cyclone which knocks out MOST of what is in the vacuum stream AND given the setup I have sits next to an outside wall in my garage, what would be wrong with simply piping the 4" exhaust from the DC straight out the wall through a dryer vent? Completely elimniates the issue with dust fines in the exhaust. I ask because I do not recall seeing anyone, over the years I have been woodworking (10), doing or even proposing this. Seems logical to me. But..............

I have an oneida v system and it is vented outdoors. Its awesome. Very clean air, much quieter and more power.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

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5 minutes ago, shaneymack said:

I have an oneida v system and it is vented outdoors. Its awesome. Very clean air, much quieter and more power.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

@shaneymack are you losing a lot of heat from your shop?  How is your shop heated?

As I recall you have the v3000 like me but maybe you have the older model (with 6" inlet port?) while I have the newer with 7".  I works good on the machines but I'm still finding more dust at the filter than I would like to see.  I'm considering direct venting but I'm worried about losing too much heat now that it's winter.  I have a ceiling mounted radiant heating (natural gas) so maybe my concern about heat loss isn't realistic since it's the surfaces that are warmed rather than just the room air itself...?

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Well I never run it for super long periods of time. Since its been cold I haven't run it longer than 10 minutes and noticed the air got a little cooler but nothing that would make me regret my decision. I have a 5000w electric ceiling heater. You would be fine with what you have!

It is totally worth it for the increased performance, cleaner air and noise reduction. I can deal with a bit of a temperature drop.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

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