Customer Reviews

Rousseau 4550 Down Drafter

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

 

 

Although I have dust collection on my table saw and other woodworking machines, the corner of my garage where my chomp saw resides is a mess. Sawdust on the floor, the walls, the shelves nearby, everywhere. The DownDrafter has reduced fugitive dust to near zero.

It is a simple, well designed unit that easily adjusts to fit behind your saw. I have a Dewalt 12" sliding compound miter saw and the DownDrafter snuggles up to the back of it nicely. When adjusting for angled cuts, the DownDrafter easily moves left/right on its wheeled stand. The hood swivels on top of the stand, independent of the hose, so movement of the hood doesn't make the hose twist.

I have the DownDrafter connecter to a Jet DC1200CK canister dust collector with 12 feet of 4" hose. There is plenty of airflow to capture most cuts. Rapidly cutting through 8" of MDF 1 1/2" thick, a dust nightmare, was a little more than it could handle. Slowing down the cut slight solved the problem.

Overall, this

The DownDrafer has performed very well collecting most of the dust produced by my miter saw. I recommend it highly.

My new downdrafter is saving me money. My air handler filters run about $50 each. I was going through one a month before the downdrafter. Now I get about 3 months use out of one. That's $400.00 a year that stays in my pocket. The downdrafter will pay for itself and then some in a years time. I also suffer from sinus headaches. The downdrafter reduces the amount of dust on my compound miter saw to almost nothing. I'm feeling good and my production level has increased due to feeling better.

The downdrafter is a excellent help, I have to wear masks all the time when I work specially with vinyl or plastic material, Now I can fell the difference is less dust especially if I use the downdrafter in conjuction with a vacum

I had high hopes for this dust collector. Unfortunately, it takes up too much space behind the saw and always has to be adjusted when making angle cuts.

I have been using this unit for about two months now and rate it 4 stars because it has made my dust and chips situation much better than previous with no collection device at all. I have been doing crown moldings and using an 80 tooth blade on a 10" saw. It is an Amana Blade with a very wide carbide tooth so it generates a lot of dust and chips. This unit collects most of the debris but certainly not all of it. I use a 5 HP Shop Vac on a 4" hose extension about 8' long from the bottom of the unit. I expected it to create more of a downdraft/suction than it does and probably need to experiment to see if I can get a better pull of debris into the unit. I was surprised to see saw dust laying in the bottom of the unit instead of getting pulled into the exit hose.
The Rousseau unit itself is well consructed and the mounting stand is sturdy and easily adjustable and very flexible to install and move around the various saw setups.
I think the price was a little high for what it is but I really needed something to control the saw dust and debris output and this was the only thing I could find that even looked like it might work.
So 4 stars means I am happy with it but could be happier.

This is a horror story.

My first order was returned by UPS to Amazon as "undeliverable" for reasons never explained (fault: UPS). The replacement for that order (order #2) was received with the dust hood completely shattered. The replacement for this order (order #3) was lost (fault: UPS). The replacement for this last order (#4) was received with the dust hood broken AGAIN.

Rousseau's packaging, which is used for these shipments, is not adequate to prevent damage in shipping. Too many large parts are loose in the box, which damages the dust hood and pokes holes in the box. Considering the cost of this item, there's no excuse for poor packaging.

I wish I could evaluate the actual performance of the Downdrafter, but since I can't get one unbroken my single star is for Rousseau's poor packaging and Amazon's unwillingness to ensure that the item is better protected for shipment. Good luck if you decide to order this.

UPDATE: After contacting Rousseau about this problem, I have learned that the supplier of the plastic for the dust hood used the wrong material. Some unknown quantity of Downdrafters had already been shipped to retailers, including Amazon, and there is no way to tell which ones have the defective plastic dust hoods from the outside of the box. Rousseau offerred to ship me one without charging me for shipping, so maybe now I'll be able to actually put one to use.

Too highly priced to be worth while. It's a $75 max item that has been inflated to $150 plus. Analize the product yourself...the stand, the hood etc and it's not worth the price and will never be fully effective due to the nature of miter saws and specifically, sliding bevelled miter saws.

We bought this in an attempt to deal with the sawdust from a compound miter saw. It's probably the most useless item I have ever bought. I didn't even try to sell it, it went straight into the dumpster.