# Second hand dust extractors, good or bad idea?



## Shesho (Jun 12, 2012)

Can anyone tell me whether they think its a bad idea? Do these kinds of machines have much of a lifespan? I imagine perhaps the finest dust can damage parts over the years?

The type I'd like to get is one of the smaller vac drum types.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

I do not think the machines are damaged with use.

The filter components may be clogged, but this is normally reversed by a good cleaning with compressed air.

I think a second hand machine can be a good value.

Some may not have the original manual.

Check that they run on the voltage you have available.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*terminology*

There are dust collectors, shop vacs and dust extractors.
The Fien and Festool brands are the best known extractors here.
Their filtration is excellent, but they are on the expensive side.

If they fit in your budget then by all means get one. I prefer to use a shop vac for collecting the fine dust on the floor, dust coming off the table saw blade, from the random orbit sander, from the router table and the bandsaw which makes a great deal of fine dust. My shop vacs are Rigid 6.5 HP and were on sale for around $70.00 or so.

I also use a dust collector for the larger chips and shavings from the jointer and thickness planer and the bottom of the table saw. The table saw cabinet is large and require considerable volume of air flow to keep it free from dust build up. A shop vac will not keep up it that because it is a higher suction pressure at a lower volume compared to a dust collector.

I don't think a dust extractor would be financially a good investment in my operation. I clean the filters on the shop vac regularly as well as the cannister filters on the dust collector.
This works for me. There are cyclones and Thein baffles that can be used before the shop vac and DC that will reduce the dust build up on the filters. I would recommend those over a dust extractor. JMO. :smile:


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