Chips, fines & air · review
The only machine here to publish its impeller — ten inches of steel at 3,450 rpm — and the only one with two inlets.
The end of it The most air on this shelf, from the only impeller anyone publishes — through a five-micron bag.
Every figure below names its source. Each one is a manufacturer specification read off the listing itself. The judgments are ours.
The only impeller published on either half of this shelf.
A ten-inch impeller at 3,450 rpm has a tip speed near ninety miles an hour, and the volume it moves follows from the diameter and the speed together. Steel rather than cast aluminum also says what happens the day a screw goes through the port.
Thirteen listings on this shelf. One gives either figure.
It is also the one claim on this page that cannot be inflated, because the geometry is fixed.
Two four-inch ports, stated to take two tools at a time.
That is the difference between a collector and a collector plus a trolley: a table saw and a planer both stay connected, and the blast gate decides which one is live rather than which hose is on.
Nothing else on either half of this shelf publishes a second inlet. Whether two inlets is the same thing as two machines depends on the duct, not the machine.
Chips on the floor are a nuisance. The dust that matters is the part that never lands.
Wood dust is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the IARC, and the particles that reach the deep lung are below about ten microns — which is to say, invisible in a shaft of sunlight through a workshop window.
So the number that decides what a collector is worth is not its airflow. It is what its filter stops. A machine that moves a great deal of air through a coarse bag is a machine that measures the room’s dust and puts it back.
Better than the thirty-micron bag on the Rockler here. Worse than the two-micron upper bag on the Bucktool.
Five microns catches everything larger and passes everything smaller, and the fraction that reaches the deep lung is below about ten. So a five-micron bag returns a real part of the harmful dust to the room it just collected it from.
The European half of this shelf answers the same question with a letter: a class M machine returns about ten times less fine dust than a class L. No machine on either half publishes both.
The largest motor on this shelf, and a figure to read before buying.
Fourteen amps at 115 volts is a circuit most garages have exactly one of, and running a table saw on the same one is how a breaker is found.
The maker publishes no wattage and no horsepower, which on this shelf is the honest position — the Bucktool here publishes 6.5 A and 1.2 HP, and those two do not agree.
Read on the day this page was built: $392 at the American Amazon shop.
Read from Keepa on the day this page was last revised; stock and price both move without notice.
Prices quoted in this text were read on 2026-10-07. The live price is at the top of the page.
| Airflow | 1,300 CFM, published — about 2,210 m (7251 ft)³/h, the highest on this shelf |
|---|---|
| Motor | 14 A, published · No wattage and no horsepower are claimed |
| Impeller | 10 in steel, turning up to 3,450 rpm — the only impeller size and speed published on either half of this shelf |
| Filtration rating | 5 micron, from the title · No dust class is published, where the European half of this shelf publishes L and M |
| Inlets | Two 4 in air inlets, stated to take two tools at a time — the only dual-inlet machine on this shelf |
| Capacity | A vertical collection bag holding up to 50 gallons — about 189 liters, the largest on this shelf |
| Mobility | A mobile base with four swivel casters |
| Part number | DC1300 |
| Amazon reference | B09XX61YD6 |
| EAN | 0044459913009 |
Because it is where the airflow comes from, and almost nobody publishes it. A ten-inch steel impeller at 3,450 rpm has a tip speed of about 90 miles an hour, and the volume it moves goes with the diameter and the speed together. Steel rather than cast aluminum or plastic also says something about what happens when a screw goes through the port. Across thirteen listings on both halves of this shelf, this is the only page that gives either number — and it is the one claim on it that cannot be inflated, because the geometry is fixed.
For one machine, yes. A 4 inch port on a table saw wants about 350 to 400 CFM to keep the dust moving in the duct; a planer or a wide belt sander wants more. What 1,300 buys is two machines at once through the two inlets, and margin for the losses that long flexible duct and a half-blocked bag impose. The published Scheppach HD12 on this shelf publishes 1,150 m (3773 ft)³/h, which is about 680 CFM, and its page calls that genuine chip-extractor performance.
It is better than the thirty-micron bag on the Rockler on this shelf and worse than the two-micron bag on the Bucktool. Five microns means particles larger than five are caught and everything smaller passes through into the room, and the fraction that reaches the deep lung is below about ten — so a five-micron bag returns a meaningful part of the harmful dust. The European half of this shelf answers the same question with a letter instead: class M machines return about ten times less fine dust than class L. Neither half publishes both.
A workshop with a table saw and a planer that both need a 4 inch port, on a dedicated circuit
Amazon reports what buyers took in the month before this page was last checked: at least 100.
The figure is a floor, rounded by Amazon, and read through Keepa — it says what buyers picked, not what a maker claims.
Specifications: the manufacturer sheet for woodworking machines and the matching Amazon product page. Prices and availability: Keepa. Every figure on this page names its source.
1,200 W · dust class L · semi-automatic filter clean
The professional L-class vacuum with semi-automatic filter cleaning — the feature that stops suction fading halfway through a job.
Best for: Site and workshop extraction where suction has to stay constant all day
750 CFM · 2 micron upper bag · auto-start outlet rated 7 A · CSA listed
The finest bag on the American half of this shelf at two microns — and the only auto-start outlet here that publishes its limit.
Best for: A sander, a router table or a band saw on auto-start, where the fine bag matters more than the volume
≈ $270
HEPA · semi-automatic filter cleaning · tool-activated · anti-static hose · 6.5 HP claimed
HEPA filtration and semi-automatic filter cleaning on a shop vacuum — and six and a half horsepower claimed from a domestic socket.
Best for: A sander, a track saw or a router connected by hose, where the fine fraction is the whole point
≈ $130
