Compact Power - The Wall Mount Dust Collector

Last week, we introduced Rockler’s Dust Right dust collection components. This new system of integrated fittings and attachments is designed with the hobbyist woodworker’s dust collection needs specifically in mind, and we think has the potential to become the standard in smaller woodshops everywhere. This week, we’d like to direct your attention to the Dust Right system’s perfect companion: The Rockler Wall Mount Dust Collector. This portable dust containment solution offers true dust moving power in a uniquely compact and affordable package.

We say “true” dust and debris moving power to emphasize an important point, namely that a dust collector and a shop vacuum are not two “sizes” of the same thing. In a quest to find an affordable, compact solution to their wood dust woes, woodworkers time and time again test the fact, only to find that even the best  shop vac simply isn’t up to the task of keeping up with almost any piece of stationary woodworking equipment. 

The reason is a matter of physics. While these two types of machine do essentially the same thing, they do it in fundamentally different ways. A vacuum is designed to create a high level of suction – enough to compensate for a low volume of air movement and sufficient to keep small amounts of debris moving through the narrow space of a vacuum hose. By contrast, a dust collector uses a powerful induction motor to move comparatively huge volumes of air through much larger ductwork or dust collection hose at a sufficient speed to keep dust and debris aloft and on its way.

But there’s more to it than that. In designing dust collection systems, woodworkers confront another bare fact of physics: the effect of friction on air movement. Long runs of ductwork, changes in air flow direction and steps down in the pipe diameter can quickly reduce a hefty volume of air movement to a trickle. The answer in commercial shops is simply to design a system of ductwork as logically and efficiently as possible and then throw at it whatever air moving power is necessary. Not all of us have that luxury. With steps up in air moving capacity come commensurate steps in cost, electrical power requirements, noise, and demands on precious shop space.

Instead, many small-shop owners opt to bring dust collection to each machine only when they are using it. Hooking up to each machine individually using a shorter, single run of dust hose allows them to use a smaller, less expensive portable dust collector, without sacrificing the air volume necessary to service stationary woodworking equipment. In exchange for the small amount of work involved in moving the dust hose connection from tool to tool – a task the Dust Right system greatly simplifies – they are rewarded with more shop space, less cost, less noise and reduced power demands.

The Wall Mount Dust Collector is simply the next step in this move toward compact, efficient dust collection. At 50 lbs. it’s one of the lightest on the market. Its low-profile wall mount design gives it the smallest footprint attainable for a machine powerful enough to service typical stationary woodworking tools. In a typical hobbyist woodshop, the unit is more than up to the task of servicing a core group of tools from a single up-and-out-of-the-way location. Given reasonably short runs of  4” dust hose, its 650 cfm capacity will provide ample air movement for all but the most industrial-sized power tools. And for larger shops or more remotely located tools, a tool-free z-bracket mounting system makes moving the Wall Mount Dust Collector from location to location not only possible, but a simple matter.

Together, the Wall Mount Dust Collector and the new Dust Right system of components make up an ideal dust management system for smaller shops. With the Dust Right’s tool-free dust ports, moving dust collection from one machine to the next takes only a couple of seconds. An integrated floor sweep and bench nozzle let you apply your dust collector’s powerful air moving capacity to the shop floor and other surfaces with equal ease. And with the wall mount Spring Clips included in the Dust Right Master system, you’ll be able to keep the whole works up organized and out of the way.

Better still, you can have the whole system – the Wall Mount Dust Collector, hose and a complete set of Dust Right components – for less than you could easily spend on a dust collector alone. Together, the Wall Mount Dust Collector and Dust Right system are our answer to a call for a dust management solution that makes sense for small woodshops. And considering cost, versatility, compactness, and self-containment, we feel confident that we’ve met the challenge with exceptional success.