I am also of the opinion that a larger DC would be much better. The
650-800cfm models will not perform that much better than your shop vac and
will still leave you moving the DC from machine to machine with a short
legnth of hose to be effective. In use, the smaller DC will fill up,
especially when hooked to a planer, pretty quickly and adding a trash can
separator would be difficult with a smaller unit that must be moved often.
Personally I use a Jet 1100 w/canister and have it plumbed in. I used the
PVC sewer and drain pipe that is only about $6 or so for a 10 ft. legnth.
The trash can separator catches the larger chips and extends the time the DC
needs emptied. I've probably got about $700 total into my DC system, but
I've tweaked a few things, like adding a remote and larger impeller, metal
blast gates, etc. However, I just looked at Rocklers site and it looks like
the Jet 1100 CFM DC with canister is $399. Add in a trash can and separator
($50) and some blast gates/plumbing, ($100) and you'll have a DC system that
will work so much better. Hopefully you can stretch the budget to $550 or
so! --dave

P.S. If you want to know more about DC in general, check out
http://www.billpentz.com/ and click on "dust collection and cyclones"


"Ron" ronaldjangelATcomcastDOTnet wrote in message
. ..
I've definetly decided to replace my shop vac with a DC unit this spring.

I'm also just about 100% convinced to go with a canister model w/
$300-$350
being my price range.

The local Rocklers has the Jet DC-650 canister for $299, thru April. I'm
also considering the PSI DC1BXL canister unit.

The PSI unit will be about $350 when s/h costs are considered.

They both have 1hp motors, the PSI unit moves 850 cfm vs the Jet's 650.
Jets canister is rated at 2 microns vs PSI 1 micron filters

The PSI unit also includes 8' of pipe & 15 bags.

They both seem like good values and what PSI gives you for the extra $50
is
probably worth it as well.

That said..
I'm planing on using it mostly with my Delta 13" planer, router table
and
14" bandsaw. The BS and RT shouldn't be problems, but,
I've read where the planer many need closer to 800 CFM to do a good job.
I normally plane a lot of WOak, ROak and Cherry

I'm hopefully going to replace my table saw with the newer Ridgid model
next and I'd like to be able to hook that up as well.

I'd appreciate and real world experience with either of these units or
others in the same price range.

ThankX in advance,
Ron