New dust collector from erwin products

[mcQ]

I am afraid my first impression of this manifold collector my not be as positive as that of other members. I have spent a lot of time thinking about the dust collection problem and may be more critical than most. This collector appears to be made well but I have to wonder about the large distance from the bit to the intake. Other manifold type collectors attempt to get the intake as close as possible to the dust source. If the dust initially gets away and sticks to the machine, it will not be collected. Fine dust sticks to nearby metal as the air vortexes around and large chips have enough momentum to escape on their own. With the intake so far away, the flow rate will have to be very large and that could mean a turbulent wind storm throughout the machine. The fine dust which escapes could, after awhile, be everywhere in the machine.


It would be nice if we could have some independent testing of the, now many, manifold type collectors. How about a competition at the next conference?

Although the ERWIN PRODUCTS dust does preform as the video shows when using a 2hp or larger dust collector I have added a easily removable extension which places the intake as close as possible to the cutter. This extension mounts using the existing threaded holes in the machine and requires no additional modifications. This extension will greatly improve performance with smaller dust collectors or when cutting difficult materials such as PVC. As a test I ran some parts from PVC sign board with virtually no dust left in the machine and only a small amount left on the project which is a huge improvement. If you have ever ran PVC sign board you know how bad it clings to everything so keeping PVC dust out is a excellent test.