JET Cyclone Dust Collector, 2-Micron Filter, 2 HP, 230V 1Ph (Model JCDC-2)

A review of my new Jet 2 HP DC. I decided to make it a two part review. First covering shipping, crating and assembly, then after actual use review its performance. Rather than delay the first part and forget or leave out my impressions I will complete part one and update later.Shipping: I ordered using my Amazon account (nothing could be easier) on Monday (1/25/16) and it was delivered on Friday morning. (5 star). Delivery another 5 star (ABF frieght) called on Thursday to schedule and I told them to bring it out and they did the next morning. The driver called to alert me that he would be at my house in 20 minutes. I have a tractor with a front end loader with forks. He opened the doors and I picked it up. No more than 5 minutes. At first I thought it was the wrong unit. The crate was so small, but I verified the information on the box and signed for the delivery. Crating another 5 star, I can't imagine how they could have reduced the size or squeezed everything into a smaller package. The crate had NO damage, not even a scratch. Everything was put in an orderly and logical fashion. Large Styrofoam blocks surrounded the main housing and the frames were neatly packed into the exterior of the Styrofoam. Assembly (another 5 star) removing everything was logical for verifying the contents and comparing it against the parts list in the manual. It broke down into manageable pieces with the heavy motor and impeller unit alone on the pallet. Following the instruction manual step by step I assembled the unit in about 3 hours. I did not hurry and verified each step. (More than once in the past I have had to take things apart and start over and did not want to make any mistakes). The manual warns that attaching the motor and impeller unit to the frame is a two man job. I guarantee that is a minimum requirement. I had the tractor and front end loader and it was very simple for me. I just lifted it a little over 6 feet up and rolled the completed frame under and took my time attaching them together. Warning - you can't do this part without a hoist, lift or two helpers. The biggest problem I encountered was fitting the accordion boot or tube that connects Jet JCDC-2 2 hp Cyclone Dust Collectorthe collection barrel lid to the dust collector funnel. They got the steps wrong there. I found that I needed to attach the lowering handles to the lid to hold it in place and work from the inside pushing out and onto the flanges of each one. The final step was attach it to an outlet and see if it works. Plugged it in and used the remote to start it up. It ran perfectly. A note about the sound. This is my third dust collector. A Jet 1 HP, a Grizzly 1.5 HP and this Jet 2 HP. I haven't used it, only listened to it run without load, but I would place it between the 1 HP and the 1.5 Grizzly. Finally, the remote control is RF, so it can be turned on from anywhere in the shop. Unlike the Grizzly with a IF remote that you had to be in direct line of sight for it to work, too small a window and one of the main reasons I upgraded to the Jet.Performance (after using it for a month or so)Part 2.I have added a dust collection system or ductwork connected to the dust collection unit and I am very happy. It is better than I had hoped for.First, the unit is very quiet. Adding the ducting dampened the noise. I am able to carry on a conversation and don't need hearing protection using my table saw for other than very hard wood. Both running at the same time (no load) and I barely hear the Jet unit. Under load the saw drowns out the dust collector 20 feet away in a open space.Next, the suction is much better with the ductwork. I had been using a 4 inch flexible tube into a separator, then out into the collector with a second 4 inch flexible tube. About 35 feet total. I needed that to connect to each machine spread throughout my shop. This unit is much stronger than the 1 1/2 HP Grizzly and much quieter.A bit about my ductwork system. I used 6 inch PVC DVW for the main trunk line and branched out to 4 inch drops for each machine. The blast gates are good quality aluminum and fit inside the 4 inch pipe very snug. Just a little gentle tapping with a rubber mallet to set it home. Grounding with stranded copper wire from each blast gate to the unit and from the blast gate to the machine with a static resistant 4 inch flexible tube. I used the DVW PVC because of the weight. Drain pipe is much thinner and easier to manage than schedule 40 PVC. My supplier (Southern Pipe and Supply) was very helpful in getting me exactly what I needed to make all the connections.John Curry asked for photos, the black flexible tubing is the anti static tubing. It works.I just completed the last two drops and haven't straighten up and everything is moved out of place and stacked on the floor, tables and equipment. Rearranging for access is a lot of work. The opaque plastic barrel is a preseparator to catch the large volume of chips created from my plainer, jointer and router units. They can fill up the collection barrel pretty quickly. Chips caught in the drum are much easier to dump rather than the additional handling of dumping the collection barrel into a container to transport to the sawdust pile.

The media could not be loaded. 2 year check in: The whistling noise still happens but only when my basement shop cools down to around 55F. The filter catch bag will fill up after about every 5 fills of the main drum. This machine's short cone does not do a great job of separating chips. I stopped using the included drum bag after the first fill because extracting the inner cage was a hugely messy operation.My biggest complaint about the machine is the crappy remote control and its tiny buttons. Only after lots of practice can you find them without looking at the remote. The on/off buttons should be much larger, not the same size as the timer buttons.7 month check in: After about 6 weeks something in the motor would emit a loud whistling noise that would last for ~20s upon startup. 2 calls into Jet didn't help any, and the noise went away after about a month. Really weird. But it's been working great otherwise, it has no problem keep up with planing a 10 inch wide board. Plus it's nice being able to vacuum up turning shavings that would have quickly plugged my old single-stage machine.The first photo I have attached shows the amount of debris in the filter catch bag after the second barrel. There was quite a bit of stuff in there because of vacuuming up some wet turning shavings.. I think they formed some tight wads that didn't agree with the cyclone. I'd say the bag was about 1/3 full.Initial review:So far so good on this dust collector! I've been using it for 3 weeks and am really happy with it. It's a lot more quiet than my old collector (Grizzly G0548ZP) and I'm looking forward to any easy cleanout the first time the barrel fills up. It has lots of power too, the same amount as the Grizzly.I'll update this review as time goes by. I'm particularly interested in how quickly the filter catch-bag fills up.