Dust Collection

[Bruce in Oakville]

Forgive this long winded post...My shop is in my basement (13x22)...and from a convenience perspective it has been great. For dust collection, I bought a 2 1/2 piping system with gates that hook up to my tools and is powered by my shop vac. This has worked ok up until I bought the planner, and I find I fill the shop vac in no time. I think I need to take the next step in dust collection and move to a 4" pipe and perhaps a 2hp dust collector. I have been looking at a couple of systems..some of which ahve a 1 micron bag...some have a 50 micron bag......at the end of the day, I want to minimize the dust that may circulate throughout the house...as well as minimize the noise that will be in my shop. Being a normal human, I am ok with a system that allows using one tool at a time. I am more concerned about the volume of chips from my planner as well as the overall dust level in the shop itself. Your advice is greatly appreciated.

[Jim in Burlington]

My shop's a similar size 12 x 32. I use a King 3108 which is a 2 hp dust collector and using the planer/jointer fill's it every 35 bf or so.

[Bill Howatt]

I would go with the 1 micron bag. I would also add a garbage can separator for the planer shavings. They can get caught in the web at the input to the DC and plug it up; unless you break it out. The garbage can is also a lot easier to empty than fooling with a DC bag.
A 2HP DC isn't real quiet but it is a deeper whine than a shop-vac and IMO less irritating.

Bill