I have moved and while my old basement shop was seriously overcrowded at about 260 sq-ft, the new one is about 6 times that size and I was finally able to lay things out in a usable configuration (as opposed to "clear a space; get stationary tool X out of storage; use it there; return it to storage" ... it's a long story and I'm glad the problem is gone).
So I now had room for a real dust collector that I could install in a permanent location (FINALLY!), and I didn't have to use the shop-vac+separator trick for everything any more.
It actually arrived a day early (Thanks! Amazon) and honestly the only difficult thing I had to do was move it down a 39% incline to get it into my basement's double doors (I had NO intention of taking it down some very steep stairs inside my house). A hand truck really helped, and I got it down and into my basement with nothing worse than a lot of sweating and more than a little wishing I had someone to help me with the move. Having gotten it into the basement and moving it into the shop, I decided to wait until the next morning to do the assembly.
The assembly process took roughly 2-3 hours (interrupted by lunch, large dogs who wanted to play and/or "help" me, phone calls, etc.), and I suspect that I could have done it in well under 2 hours without the interruptions. That being said, you should read the really excellent review written by Michael Lugousz because he is right on the money in his review.
Now most of my other stationary tools (bandsaw, table saw, jointer, and planer) are now 240V but they came as 120V and I rewired them. But this was the first tool I have bought which came wired for 240V from the factory, and I had not expected to have to provide my own wall plug. I understand the reason for that situation, but a note on the web page would be nice so that anyone buying this dust collector will know about it and can prepare accordingly. (After assembling the dust collector, I had to wait until late that evening to go to the hardware store to get an appropriate plug, so I couldn't test the collector until the next morning.)
Here are some things worth noting from the assembly process.
- You really don't need a second person to help you (or a large dog), but when you attach the plastic bag I had to use painter's tape to hold it in place while I installed the strap which holds it in place.
- The bag is supposedly good down to 2.5 microns (I'll be adding an aftermarket filter from Wen (about $125) which gets that down to under 0.5 micron, and since I have asthma, I think it's worth the cost.
- The bolts, nuts, etc. are not that hard to differentiate, and some people have had problems figuring out which is which on the nuts/bolts. The 25mm bolts are noticeably longer than the 16mm length so there really easy to tell apart. I was missing (IIRC) 8 or 9 8mm washers, but as it happens I had several in my shop (for building jigs, etc.) and that wasn't a problem. But I would recommend that you lay out the parts and separate them (and ice tray or an old egg carton is good for this), and you shouldn't have any problems.
- The main construction is steel and it's heavy and durable. For some reason the supports for the bag are aluminum, and some people have commented that they seem "flimsy." UNLESS you plan to move the unit around by pushing it along at the ring which separates the two bags, that is a non-issue.
- The impeller is STEEL, not plastic. 3 cheers for Shop Fox - I don't think it will wear the way a plastic one would, but you need to keep hands, feet, fingers, toes, your head, children, dogs, cats, and everything else AWAY from it. You could loose fingers if you hit the impeller with them while the machine is turned on.
- The dual hose connections are useful (and yes, a cap is provided for one of them. I currently am only using one of them with a flexible hose <https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013EI04A/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1> but once I finish setting up my shop, I will use both - one for each side of my shop in 2 lines and using 4" solid pipe (which should cut down on losses caused by corrugated hose (air friction maybe?).
As I said earlier, the assembly went very quickly (compared for instance to a table saw or a jointer), and the following morning when I added the plug and could try out the dust collector I was really impressed. Now I have 4 20-amp 120v circuits and 3 30-amp 240v circuits in my basement (basement is about 2100 ft-sq, and was completely unwired when we bought the house. So when I had it wired I specified what I wanted and got just that. If you do this, assume that you're underestimating and add at least one more 120v and one more 240v circuits if you can afford to (It turns out that I needed that 3rd 240v circuit after all).
I was and still am impressed with the quietness of this dust collector. It seems only a little louder than the (Ridgid 1.5 HP) shop vac which I had been using, and I can still hear a radio, etc., unless I'm using the bandsaw which is about 3 feet from the dust collector. (YMMV).
TESTING THE COLLECTOR...
I connected my table saw to it, and except for the fact that my table saw "leaks" sawdust out of several extra openings in its chassis it did a great job of pulling the sawdust out, but I had expected that and decided to give it a rougher test. So I connected my planer to it and ran about 40 scrap pieces of scrap pine/fir (about 100 BF) and it collected a lot more of the dust/chips than my shop vacuum had. But I'm going to have to devise a method of picking up the chips which are kicked out the back of the planer since not all of them would get picked up by its internal dust collector even in a perfect world.
I decided to give it a better test and took two old (used and not suitable for anything visible) 2x6's which were about 6' long and "jointed them" down to a thickness of about 3/8". Now I do use a garbage-can-top separator (which I found on sale at Woodcraft, BTW), and when I was done I had an almost completely-full 30 gallon can of wood shavings, a little bit of dust in the clear plastic bag, and NO DUST OR SHAVINGS ON THE FLOOR (or in the air that I could tell).
I was VERY impressed. Previously I had a neighbor with a jointer (Grizzly) and I had used it quite a bit (he didn't have a planer so we "cooperated" and that arrangement worked really well for us). So I was familiar with the mess a jointer can make, and the performance with this one was a VERY pleasant surprise. (BTW the jointer I have is "Ridgid JP0610 Planer, 6-1/8-Inch Jointer" <https://www.amazon.com/Ridgid-JP0610-Planer-8-Inch-Jointer/dp/B0015BG3O0/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1542993965&sr=8-4&keywords=RIDGID+Jointer+planer> and it has a 4" exhaust port which was very easy to connect to the dust collector.
PROs:
> EXCELLENT product at a very reasonable price
> Its 2 HP does a MUCH better job than the 0.75 HP of the collector with which I'm familiar. Its suction is excellent
> Assembly was fairly easy and the hardest part for me was moving the box around to get it to my basement.
> It's relatively quiet, and if you can hear the telephone ring or even listen to music or the radio unless you're working right next to it.
> As delivered it filters down to 2.5 microns which is pretty good (just not perfect) as many collectors filter down to only 5 or even 10 microns.
> It's on wheels and can be moved around in your shop.
> It has a safety key which can be used to prevent children and/or others who shouldn't be using it) from turning it on and possibly getting hurt.
> It has a STEEL impeller which will far outlast the plastic impellers found in many lower-priced (and less powerful) units.> For that matter almost all of its construction is steel, not plastic or aluminum (the bag supports excepted, and if they become a problem - which I expect they won't for me, but YMMV - they should be easy to replace with steel and a little creativity), and I expect this thing to hold up for many years.
> Two dust ports are better than one (IMHO anyway, and yes, YMMV).
> This dust collector has excellent reviews and head-to-head comparisons on the web. After reading about a dozed comparisons between this dust collector and some costing almost twice as much, I picked it over the others, some of which were less expensive and one of which even came with a 1-micron canister filter.
> MAJOR DUST PROBLEMS ELIMINATED (see con's below)
> EASY to get used to, HARD to do without now that I have it.
CONs:
> It's heavy. While to me this is a non-issue, the wheels are small and can have trouble getting over debris in your shop. If you're going to move it around A LOT, you might want to replace the wheels with something like the "Steelex D2608 3-Inch 150-Pound Swivel Double Lock Polyurethane Plate Caster" >https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000DD1EG/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1> which are wonderful but are far from cheap.
> Its dust filtration is good (2.5 microns) but the recommendation is for 0.5 microns or smaller if you want to work without a filter mask. A good aftermarket (try Wen) will cost you $125 to $200. But how much are working lungs worth to you? (I'll be adding this next month).
> If you are doing a large project and you do not separate sawdust from chips (I'd recommend that you do so, but this is in case you don't) then the bag will fill up rapidly. Unless you use something like magnets or painter's tape to hold the bag in place while you're attaching it to its' frame, you need at least 3 or 4 hands to secure it correctly.
>It costs more than $35. (I know that's a pretty weak complaint, but my old neighbor bought his dust collector on eBay for that price, so I mention it if you prefer to shop for used or super-cheap equipment. Of course he immediately had to replace its impeller and motor - at a cost of about $225 - but he still thought this one was expensive.
It requires a 240v AC outlet (single phase). If you don't have one, adding it can be *very* expensive. (I don't know whether this collector can be reconfigured for 120v AC, but that info may be available on line somewhere.) A 120-240v converter may not help as many of them are sold with a warning that they do not work well with electric motors (and as always, YMMV).
> It isn't available on Amazon Prime, so you will have to pay shipping.
FINAL OVERALL IMPRESSIONS -
I initially thought that the thing that impressed me the most was the way this dust collector easily swallowed ALL of the dust and shavings from my jointer. While that performance was really impressive, I realize in writing this something which impressed me more was the way it handled collecting debris when I cleaned up my shop. It gleefully gobbled up small pieces of 2x4, particle board, screws, nails, and even other scraps which were far too large for my shop vac's hose even using a wide nozzle. OTOH it also picks up screwdrivers and other small tools which may have fallen on your floor as well. While I haven't had that happen yet, I don't want to think what might happen if I were to suck up a small piece (for example) of angle iron. So I have to be careful to limit its "picking up" to things I actually want to pick up - and going thorough a 30-gallon garbage can full of shavings to find a lost 4" #1 screwdriver can be very frustrating, so be forewarned.
I would definitely recommend this dust collector to anyone with a woodworking shop, and that group includes family, friends, and co-workers. I would also buy it again even though it now costs about $39 more than it did when I bought it.
And finally, I've only been using it for a few weeks, and I haven't done any really large projects. But I'm still setting up my shop, and when that is done I have at least 4 large projects and after I finish them, I will update this review either to correct information here or to confirm that I'm still very happy with this Shop Fox W1666 2 HP 1550 CFM dust collector.
| Brand | Shop Fox |
|---|---|
| Special Feature | Bag, Portable, Wheels |
| Included Components | Includes: 1 x SHOP FOX W1685 1.5-Horsepower 1,280 CFM Dust Collector |
| Wattage | 1849 watts |
| Form Factor | Cannister |
| Color | White |
| Model Name | Shop Fox W1685 1.5-Horsepower 1,280 CFM Dust Collector |
| Product Dimensions | 22.2"L x 37"W x 22.5"H |
| Noise Level | 66 dB |
| Manufacturer | Shop Fox |
| Number of Items | 1 |
| Motor Horsepower | 1.5 |
| Style | 1.5 HP, 1,280 CFM |
| Part Number | W1685 |
| Item Weight | 93 pounds |
| Country of Origin | Taiwan |
| Item model number | W1685 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Size | 1 |
| Material | Steel |
| Pattern | Dust Collector |
| Item Package Quantity | 1 |
| Measurement System | Metric |
| Special Features | Bag, Portable, Wheels |
| Batteries Included? | No |
| Batteries Required? | No |
| Warranty Description | 24 months limited parts / no labor. |
