shop vac vs. dust collector

[Cootling]

You should have both.

They work differently.  The shop vac has high pressure, but low air volume.  It will connect to hand tools and grab a lot of the stuff they throw off, but it won't move enough air to capture fine dust from larger power tools.  The dust collector moves a lot of air at low pressure.  It takes a lot of power to move enough air at sufficient pressure to capture airborne dust.  

My setup has evolved to a 3HP Oneida cyclone dust collector with HEPA filter, a shop vac for small tools, and a Jet ceiling mount air filter.  The ceiling mount doesn't get the really small stuff.  I run the Oneida to get the small stuff, and I wear a respirator, too.  I would like to have a 5hp Oneida, but I don't have the space.

Don't trust CFM ratings for dust collectors, or horsepower ratings for shop vacs.  A 1000 CFM bag-style filter is not moving 1000 CFM at the tool, where it counts.  If you can exhaust air outside, great... but then you've got the junk going outside.  If you exhaust inside, get a HEPA canister filter.

This stuff is expensive and a dust collector is certainly less fun than, e.g., a new table saw... but it's pretty important.  I wish I had gotten one sooner.

[eflanders]

I have 3 units for handling dust in my shop: 3HP Delta dust collector, Fein shop vac with HEPA filtration and a home-made ceiling mounted dust collector.  The big dust collector works great for the big machines (table saw, planer, router table, jointer, band saw, etc.).  The shop vac works great for really fine clean-up chores and the ceiling fan unit does too.  I do a lot more than just make bows though and if it were just for bow making, the Fein vac would probably do the trick by itself.  The Fein vac is the quietest and most efficient shop vac that I know of that is also HEPA approved.  It is not inexpensive, but it's quality, noise level and efficiency made it more than worthwhile to me.

  Dust collection is extremely important as I know many a person that developed issues later in life by working in a dusty shop.  Yes, a good unit and ducting is not cheap, but isn't your health and finish quality worth it?