I second the Wen dust collector route! I’m very impressed with this little unit. I’d encourage this dust separator. I’m using blast gates and a floor sweep area too
how are the powertec blast gates? Im a little weary.
No problems thus far and they work well.
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where did you get the curly cord for the router?
What Wen is that? I dont see a wall mounted model at their site or Amazon.
Thanks!
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It’s this one https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001GLUOQ2
I used Powertec plastic gates for a few years. They are passable, but not great. My thoughts:
- They don’t create a very good seal. If you only have a few connections, it’s probably not a big deal. But the more you add, the more suction you lose. In short, they leak.
- They quickly collect dust within the cavity at the closing edge of the slide. This dust compacts after each use (closing the gate) and the gates will soon be unable to fully close. It’s possible to clean them out with some effort and the right tool, but I’ve had more than one simply fall apart when doing so, and it’s generally an annoying problem. The ones that allow the gate to slide all the way through do not suffer from the same issue — I have not used these particular gates, but it illustrates a better design, in my opinion.
- After repeated use, the slides get very loose. This means the gates won’t stay open or closed unless oriented sideways or flat to prevent the weight of the slide from acting on itself. Or, as previously mentioned, they eventually just fall apart.
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That one works good for just the cnc? I was looking at that 350 dollar one but it’s a lot bigger. I have a shop vac for shop clean up but if I can get away with the little wen I will!
I’m very happy with it. It SUCKS 
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So I got the separator and got the smaller wen that was linked. I’m leaning sketchup to build out my desk before it arrives. Lot of hidden costs in this business haha.
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Hey Preston, hey all,
a dust collector with a carbon-brush motor? Didn’t know that this exists. Isn’t it too loud?
Apart from the fact that its impeller is plastic and, at 15 cm/6 inches, a little small (in fact much smaller than its big housing), this device definitely works like a dust collector by principle, which means that the chips and dust go through the impeller (unlike with the workshop vacuum cleaner, where the impeller sits behind the dust bag).
But one major advantage of dust collectors like the Harbor Freight 97869 or the Felder AF 22 is that they use induction motors motors, which are very quiet and can be very powerful while usually not driven fast. Induction motors also have excellent efficiency, which means much power with less power consumption. Induction motors are considered the workhorse in industry. Induction motors are familiar to many here: The so-called “spindles”. By the way, the induction motors offered for single-phase current as in the dust collectors are called capacitor induction motors, recognizable by the capacitor on the side. The capacitor produces the auxiliary phase so that it can start rotating at all, without needing three-phase current.
But this WEN DC4301, to which you link, has unfortunately no induction motor, but only a universal motor, recognizable by the carbon-brush commutators. This is a completely different type of motor, also called commutated series-wound motor, which is above all by principle much louder and has a much poorer efficiency, i.e. less suction power with more power consumption, and those are often also operated at higher speed (the latter seems not to be the case with your device). Such motors can also be found in workshop vacuum cleaners, but where they are usually better shielded acoustically. Nevertheless, I often read that people complain that their workshop vac is louder than their CNC’s milling motor and is very annoying. That’s why I think, on principle, I wouldn’t buy a machine which has to run all the time if it is equipped with a carbon-brush commutated motor that is by design noisy. For this purpose I would always try to use a dust collector with an induction motor.
But I don’t know Preston @newbiee how loud your machine actually is, I just mean that in principle. You seem to be very satisfied with it 
In the manual, it says 71 dB(A). That’s the noise that my Festool Workshop Vac makes.
You know that WEN also offers one model with an induction motor?
By the way I would strongly advise against using a bag filter in a room where people or animals are present. Bag filters can only be dust class “L” at highest, which is not suitable for wood dust (even if they sell it for wood dust). Not even with an upstream dust separator. A dust separator will not catch the finest particles, and those are the most dangerous. Those are the ones you can’t see. If it’s wood dust, you always need a filter of dust class “M” or higher. I would always recommend a dust collection system with a pleated polyester filter cartridge with dust class “M” for reasons of health. Wood dust is cancerogenic.
I heard that for the Harbour Freight, people buy a Wynn filter however I did not see mentioned whether they comply a IEC 60335-2-69 dust class.
Further Reading
Difference between a Workshop Vacuum Cleaner and a Dust collector
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I’m finishing up an enclosure for the dust collection bag that has 8, 3M 20x20x1" merv12 filters that will surround the bag. I, also, have built a 3-sided “sound box” since the picture above.
Incredible write up. You really know your stuff! I appreciate you and everyone else so much. I’m going to look more into this m rating bag. I did a quick check on Amazon and can’t quite figure out where it says if it’s L or M. Maybe because it might be out of my price range I’ll keep looking. I was looking at the 350 dollar wen on Amazon
WEN DC1300 1,300 CFM 14-Amp 5-Micron Woodworking Dust Collector with 50-Gallon Collection Bag and Mobile Base, Black https://a.co/d/cSVw3Rk
Bigger, but I think the same thing as before it’s just an L. Worst case I may have to just leave the small garage when it’s doing it’s thing. However that filter you linked says it’ll fit anything so maybe I go with the big one for more power and get the filter upgrade with it or would you still recommend that harbor freight over the wen? Thanks again for all the information. Incredibly helpful. I have 4 weeks or so before delivery so plenty of time to work through all the extras.
In theory not ideal, but more than enough, in the practical sense. It is slightly loud but personally, I do not operate any DC, combined with secondary piece of equipment, without hearing protection, anyways. It is more than livable - could be better, but hard to beat for the price and the size - a great first or entry level DC. In terms of suction, I have the suckit dust boot pro and it performs very well coupled with the WEN 660cfm DC. I’ve uploaded a video cutting MDF on the FB page, with minimal dust left behind for this cheap and simple setup.
3m worktunes are a great option for Bluetooth hearing protection, for those looking.
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That WEN with the induction motor has this in the troubleshooting section of the manual:
Problem:
Unit has sucked up your favorite dust bunny.
Cause:
You weren’t paying attention.
“Solution”:
How could you do such a thing?
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No dust boot pro… the one that comes with the machine works just fine. And they give you 2 options, one for the front and one that goes threw to the rear of the z axis…
Bits…i purchased all my bits from IDC WORKSHOP. GARRETT has everything you need plus video to follow…
Extension… your going to want to decided if your going to run a drag chain or not…
The drag chain keeps wire management clean. Modification is going to be needed, but well worth it.
Touch screen, yes!
Joystick, yes!
Z probe, yes!
And you got the forms with navigation and help when needed…
Good point about the lighting…
I purchase a white halo 12 volt and stuck it to the bottom side of the clear shield and ran the wires to a very small 12 volt battery turn on and off switch and zip tied it to the base of the dust boot. It works great and i can see perfect even in the dark…
Depending on your layout of your shop a wet vac from home depot and a cyclone and dust filter for the wet vac can go along way. My shop size is 12’x24’ very small! Im using 2" pvc pipe as a manifold with 45’s ran along the floor to each station with wooden blast gates i made controlling what station gets suction…
Try to have a plan for where things are going to stay put and what can move around. My x50 is stationary and my saw, planner, band saw are on wheel with lock’s…
But this is what works for me.
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Thank you for your post, I have roughly the same space as you. Also, by the looks of it, I have the same equipment as you I was looking at upgrading to the jobsite tablesaw but I kind of like your little cart idea. I was considering making a cross cut sled, for it. I went with the smaller dust collection I heard the shop vac may have too much suction so I went with the 660 wen. I’m gonna check out the bit website as I bought the two moose design bits off the website but would like to get some extra bits that the set didn’t have. Thanks for the pictures I’m going to steal the carts! I also bought my first set of 36” parallel clamps, some of the spring hand clamps. I don’t know what other clamps I need. And I’m considering getting a 10 or 12 inch bandsaw. I’m not sure yet. I don’t think I need a drill press as of yet. Although it would’ve made it easier for my laser footholes but I just did that by hand with a spade bit and it came out fine. Any other tools that you might recommend that are useful?