Customer Reviews

JET 708660 DC-500 Dust Collector

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a great portable unit. Very easy to assemble. I especially like the way the bags fasten without tools or clamps. Very innovative. Runs very quietly and easy to move around. Keep in mind this is a small portable unit so the bag doesnt handle a large amount of dust and chips. My only complaint is the 4" hose that is included. It is not good hose at all. Its not a wire reinforced hose like you expect on a dust collector. It does collapse into about an 18 inch length but usually it is kinked from stretching it out and you have to reach inside to pop the kinks out to get it compressed back together. It also does not include any clamps to fasten it to the unit. Altho the hose fits snug, it does pull off fairly easily. Be prepared to invest in another piece of hose to suit your needs and clamps. Overall a great unit for the price if you are working in a small space or need portability.

The Jet DC-500 I purchased must have been built on a different planet than those of the other 2 reviewers. Here is my experience:
Chips from my 13" Rigid Planer (removing as little as 1/64" per pass), Delta 6" Jointer (set the same) and my GMC Handheld power Planer cause the unit to clog after about 20-25 seconds making it useless for anything larger than saw DUST. It has proven barely acceptable for use with my Delta 14" Bandsaw, I managed to acheive "barely acceptable" with my Jet PROSHOP Tablesaw only after plugging all the air gaps on the saw. It seems to me this dust collector would be OK for use with handheld Sanders, but really nothing else. I am totally dissappointed with this product from Jet and am not surprised that Jet is already planning to discontinue this product. In the meantime, I'm saving for a better machine and, if you still want one, I have one for sale, CHEAP!

I've used this on my table saw, 13" planer and 6" jointer. It works good if you do two things: First replace the cheap 4" tubing that comes with it with a better quality tubing. Second the inlet port has a crosshair shaped guard desinded to protect the impeller from large items that causes it to clog with chips from the planer or jointer. I cut that out and decided I'd use a little common sense to protect the impeller. That stopped the clogging problem.

This dust collector works well for most of my tools, however, it lacks two things that would have made it superb. The first one is a large chip collector. Too often, the larger chips hit the blades of the collector and, I fear, they will eventually make it ineffective. The second is the ability to connect to other 4" hoses. There are few connectors available that fit this machine's hose and it must be glued on or connected by gluing before it can be relied on to stay connected. However, for my small shop, it is compact, fits in and collects the materials as I want it to.

I purchased this for my small one-man woodworking shop. It seems to do exactly what I needed it to do. It will keep up with a 16 inch planer exhaust running ash lumber. The biggest drawback to the whole system is the overly stiff hose that I purchased to use with it. The stiffness and weight of the hose makes moving it around a real nuisance.

I bought this dust collector because the price was right, what a mistake that was! I have had to replace the plastic impeller 3 times now. The impeller is the fan inside the machine that creates the suction. This part should not be made out of plastic! I am spending more money for a better machine, and my advice to you is to do the same.