Yea I have read some previous topics on dust collection here. It can be a bit confusing. I purchased a 3XXL received Jan 8th…still in the box…working on getting table built. I have a chance to buy a Grizzly Cyclone collector…GO703 1.5HP…775 CFM…for $600…new is a bit over a grand…its in excellent shape…Is this over kill?? I have no other tools needing dust collection at this time…but hope to add more toys. I was going to purchase a Fein Turbo ll …thats nearly $500 alone…Thanks for your advice!
A small shop vac will work fine — I use a Festool CT Midi and Oneida Ultimate Dust Deputy — some folks use larger dust collection systems. The Fein Turbo II is a popular choice.
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I have a Jet DC1100 with a 4" Onieda Super Dust Deputy. But I have a shop full of wood working tools. If I were to buy a new dust collector from scratch it would only be a cyclone type dust collector. The Grizzly G0703 is a 775CFM collector. This is adequate to run one large tool at a time. It is not big enough to run multiple tools at once. I have searched for dust collectors on craigslist.org many times and if you can get this one for $600.00 it is a good deal. But it is only a good deal if you need one that big. As others have stated a shop vac WITH HEPA is adequate for a CNC. But if you plan on adding more machines you need a bigger dust collector over a shop vac. Just remember that you can always offer $400.00 and go up to the asking price and get a better deal.
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Agreed. For just the cnc it is a bit over, but I do crank my DC up and it works well. If you think you will add Any more wW tool, such as jointer, table saw, or planer, I would buy it. Otherwise, no
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Get a Fein Turbo 1, less than $300, works great coupled with Dust Deputy/5 gallon bucket, quiet too. No need for the larger Feins, you just need the suck, not the capacity. Shop dust collectors are made to move lots of air through large ducting. Shop vacs move less air, but at higher velocity through small hoses. Unless you plan to put the mother of all dust boots with a 5” hose on your SO3, the dust collector isn’t going to be the right path. I own a big collector for my table saw, planer, lathe, etc… On my XXL I have the Fein Turbo 1, dust deputy, 5 gallon bucket. Right tool for the job is what shines in this case.
Dan
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Thanks all for the advice! I do have a table saw that I rarely use and am hoping this S3XXL will force me to get back into a hobby I love…just never time to do it. The reason I was looking at the Turbo ll is I understood it could be HEPA equipped…maybe I misunderstood and the Turbo l can also. I think this is a good deal for $600 and appears in great shape…but I think I will take everyone’s advice and go with smaller and quieter…for now. Thanks again!
From the description of the HEPA filter on Amazon it appears to fit either model, but comes standard on the HEPA version:
Fein HEPA Filter Hepa Filter https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K74NB1E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_W5JlEbCF13A2A
Expensive little filter. I run mine with a dust deputy inline and have the fleece bag and standard filter. I’ve dumped my 5 gallon bucket several times, but have never had much more than light dust inside the Fein itself. I also have a whole shop ceiling mounted fine dust collector so your mileage, and health, may vary. The big bag dust collector I have produces lots of fine dust though. I really want to add a filter to that, until then I wear a mask (especially on my wood lathe, even with the whole shop filter).
Dan
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I wouldn’t buy the Fien units anymore based on the new cheaper festool that came out last month. https://www.festoolproducts.com/festool-574831-ct-15-hepa-dust-extractor.html?utm_source=google_shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2_2d6IGj5wIVCYizCh0lYQ_3EAQYASABEgJCE_D_BwE
Basically, if you don’t care about the “festool system” and not having a hose garage, that’s the same motor as the $600 MIDI and it’s got HEPA for under $500 (FIEN).
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I’m only about a month ahead of you on ownership of my S3 so take this with a suitable amount of Newbie-salt but I’m using a Ridgid Shop Vac rated for 144 CFM and a DustStopper. It’s a $40 dust collector that snaps onto a HomeDepot Homer bucket. So far, my only complaint is that the shop vac is LOUD!!! I’m going to end up building an enclosure for it because when it’s running, I couldn’t hear a cannon go off next to me. SWMBO has scared the pants off me a couple of times trying to get my attention. That said however, dust collection with this setup works very well. The DustStopper works a treat with anything from gravel and floor grit to MDF dust from my S3. Oh, and you can get HEPA filters for that model shop vac as well.
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Yeah, it was the noise of a shop vac which resulted in my purchase of a Festool CT Midi — the Dustopper is brilliantly engineered, but unfortunately wasn’t available when I purchased.
One person on the Festool Owner’s Group forums designed a cart to hold a Festool vac and bucket with Dustopper and received a cease-and-desist from Festool — probably shouldn’t have called it the “Festopper”.
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That kind of corporate attitude is an excellent way to guarantee that I’ll never even consider buying one of their products.
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It’s not so much a matter of attitude as the legal requirement of maintaining a trademark — it will be invalidated and transferred to the public domain if a company fails to protect it with such actions.
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@jcoxen I own a lot of Festool stuff, I also swore it off to until I bought my first Tracksaw; it’s truly a cut above no pun intended. Now I do all sort of ridiculous sh*t like buy their Cyclone CT on ebay because “it’s cheep” (for $100 off the normal $375).
Alternatively I coulda probably had 85% of the performance going with the plans for the Festopper
The reason I do it… it makes my workflow so much better. Instead of 3 trips up and down the stairs; I stack all the tools i need on top of the vaccum and carry it up once. AND it extends my health… not only in-terms of my ears and noise and lungs, but I also haven’t gotten a “woosh” of dust in the face emptying a shopvac into a trash can, in over 2 years. If you do these things on a weekly basis, there are certain $$$'s that can’t be quantified.
Then there is the intangibles like having a conversation next to your CNC while it’s running.
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The Dust Deputy is one fine solution I use one and with an old vacuum cleaner motor and as I am in the country I blow the remaining air outside. I put the Dust Deputy on a 5 gal bucket first but soon went with a 30 gal. plastic barrel.
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I understand the legality of it…and I agree with it in principle. I’ve just seen too many companies unleashing heck on some unsuspecting person just because some corporate legal eagle wants to earn brownie points with his boss. It’s become a bit of a twitch-point with me.
I’d just prefer to see Festool co-market the DustStopper as a Festopper and send the guy some swag as a thank you for the idea. Or maybe license the guy’s design and sell it themselves. Seems like a much better response from a PR perspective.
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@jcoxen A router speed control has worked quite well for me with my Ridgid vac. I keep the setting at about half or a little more–and it’s still plenty of suction–along with being able to actually hear myself think.
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@MarkDGaal I understand. I try to buy the best quality tools/electronics/whatever I can afford under the assumption that it will work better and last longer. But I also try to research everything (to death) looking for a less expensive - as opposed to “cheaper” - solution. So, if I can get 90% of the performance and quality for 50% of the price, I go for less expensive. 'course, I’m looking at CNC accessories and addons from a newb hobbyist point of view, not from a pro or semi-pro woodworker point of view. That changes things, too.
I don’t really have anything against Festool other than I can’t justify the expense. By all accounts they make excellent products and I’d love to have a shop full of them. I’d also love to have a bottle of The Mccallan 25 but that’s not gonna happen anytime soon, either. 
You can use shop vacs as some have mentioned, but for me my machine runs 20 hours a day. Dust collectors are just much quieter and designed to run long hours. I picked up a small 1hp unit for a couple hundred, and it works great for my small shop.
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