Best dust collector, downdraft vs ringneck

[texasinmi]

Oh great guru's,

For us newbies, which is considered the best dust collector, Ringneck or downdraft, or both or something else altogether?

texasinmi

[TerryT]

I used downdraft for years. The electronics area under the machine was always filled with sawdust and the machine was never very clean. The wider the project board the less it worked.
Either the Dust Devil or the RNB version would be great addons.

[dehrlich]

I use a home made scoop that works well. Same principal as the others, just cheaper lol. Key is moving lots of air, need a good collector. I use a 2 HP machine that is close by the CW and generally the entire flow is concentrated on the CW.

[cnsranch]

Look here - I love this thing.....

http://forum.carvewright.com/showthread.php?13433-Dust-Collection-the-final-answer&highlight=final+answer

I might add that I have a stranded copper wire running thru the hose, attached to the machine where the DC is attached, and grounded at the DC itself.

Checked all areas of the machine with a continuity tester, and all areas are properly grounded.

[Capt Bruce]

Nice photos of your machine and your crafted DC hood. But that is just shameful having your machine and set up that clean and dust free. Obviously you are not running it enough or else it really isn't that clean everyday. Just pulling your leg . . . And I do envy your open space in your shop.

[SteveNelson46]

Oh great guru's,

For us newbies, which is considered the best dust collector, Ringneck or downdraft, or both or something else altogether?

texasinmi

I'm with TerryT on this one. I used the downdraft method for years also before other types of DCs were available. I don't think exposing the electronic parts underneath to all that dust is a good idea when there are other methods that actually work better.

[ladjr]

I used the Ringneck for a year before I upgraded my other two machines. The only problem I have is it keeps the machine so clean, I forget to do my maintance

[Digitalwoodshop]

Here is my first collector in 2008 made of 2 sided copper circuit board material. I cut a slot in the bottom to hang over the lip edge and even with the foam seal lost some collection ability. I switched to the RNB all metal collector and love it.

AL

[fwharris]

If your dust collector has enough capacity I suggest adding a down draft box to complement a top mounted collector. The down draft comes in very handy when doing cut outs in boards to suck the dust out on the final pass. On my first rotary carve it also helped with picking up dust that fell below the carve.

Al's original collector design was my inspiration/model for my DC-INSERT.

[texasinmi]

Is the dust devil offered by CW based on the "final answer" design? They look similar.

texasinmi

[tcough3475]

I've been using the RNB dust collector since the beginning of the year and can't say enough about how well it's working. Very little dust evades the inlet and I only need to use the shop vac after about 10 hours of carving, mostly because I feel guilty about not doing the required cleaning of the machine. I can't say the other collectors are better or worse, but you won't go wrong with the RNB version.

[jab73180]

Here is my first collector in 2008 made of 2 sided copper circuit board material. I cut a slot in the bottom to hang over the lip edge and even with the foam seal lost some collection ability. I switched to the RNB all metal collector and love it.

AL

That's nice Al, you put your machine out to get a tan!