The Agony and Ecstasy of Purchasing a New Tool

Most people get excited when it comes time to buy a new tool.  Me, I experience both sides of the emotional spectrum.  By profession, I am in the tech industry.  I started out as a hobbyist/enthusiast building my own computers…it grew into building computers for friends and then into an actual career.  So I spend a lot of time looking a spec sheets, reviews, etc.  In my professional life, I match the computer to the workload.  In my private life, it’s all about bragging rights.

For some strange reason, this does not translate into my woodworking life.  Oh, I still read all the specs and drool over the really high-end equipment out there.    And when I am in the market for a new tool, I save up as though I am going to buy that big, fancy, powerful, way-more-than-I-need piece of machinery.  Then buyer’s remorse sets in…and that’s before I’ve made my purchase.   I guess it has something to do with my inexperience in woodworking and how that makes me feel way out of my comfort zone in the decision making process.

Here is my latest agony and ecstasy:   I purchased a small, used dust collector about 3-4 yrs ago.  It works as advertised, but it just doesn’t do a good enough job.  It has a 5micron cloth filter, gets clogged when used with a jointer, leaves about 50% of material inside my table saw, and all around leaks dust.  The worst part of it is that it does not accept disposable bags.  This means I have to empty the bag every so often and inhale all that dust I’m trying to get rid of.  Sounds like time for a new dust collector, right?

I bought a book on dust collection, read lots of magazine articles and reviews, perused many websites, and finally came to the conclusion that I need a cyclone style dust collector.  Except I don’t.  But I do.  Not really.  ARGH!!!!

This vacillation has been going on for over a year now.  Just when I think I’ve made up my mind, some new info comes in and I change my mind.  The term for this is “Paralysis through analysis”.  The fear of making the wrong decision causes you to keep analyzing the existing data over and over again and looking for new data before committing to a course of action.

What I finally decided on was that I just needed something to deal with the complaints that I have about my small dust collector.  It actually simplified things a bit (just a bit).  My requirements are:

• 1 micron or better filter.  Preferably HEPA or MERV rated without going aftermarket
• Lots of CFM and static pressure so that it can deal with my jointer and table saw
• Uses disposable bags
• And while not listed above, mobile.  Everything in my shop has to be on wheels.

These requirements narrowed down my options quite a bit.  In the cyclone family, it left only the smallest units from a few manufacturers.  For single-stage units, it also eliminated a number of manufacturers.

I added another area for analysis that further reduced the field. That bit of info was that I really don’t get much shop time.  I live in Arizona and work out of my garage.  No air conditioning and no heat other than what nature provides.  That means I only have about six months out of the year for woodworking.  Throw in other interests, time commitments, and such which leaves me only about 30hrs a month for woodworking.

Given that little amount of shop time, I decided to go the frugal route.  Which dust collector met my requirements at the most reasonable (to me) cost?  I chose to go with the Grizzly G0548zp.  I’ve recently been reading about people having problems with Grizzly tools, but I have a Grizzly bandsaw and have been very happy with it so going with Grizzly was not a concern for me.

I placed my order and four days later, the dust collector arrived.  Ecstasy time.  And then I opened the box.  As I started to unpack the components, I noticed that part of the Styrofoam shipping material was in pieces.  Ruh Roh Shaggy.   No cause for alarm yet because things still looked good.  Then I got to the motor and its connected component.  One corner is bent over 45 degrees out of shape.  Agony time.

I looked at the box again and noticed that that particular corner was scuffed.  I didn’t think anything of it when I received the unit because I have never had a box arrive from anyone that didn’t have some sort of scratch, discoloration, whatever…just the nature of shipping.   Well, I pushed in on the scuffed area and it just collapsed.  Obviously something crushed that side of the box, but it (the box) bounced back.

Being the weekend, I can’t call customer service to discuss a course of action.  More agony. More agony.  More agony…with potentially some ecstasy in sight.

Here are some photos of the damage.