Shop Fox W1685-1-1/2 HP Dust Collector,White

I got my Shop Fox today. I started assembly. THe first thing I noticed was I was short on bolts per the manual. The manual called for 14 M8 bolts and it only came with 6. These are for bolting down the motor mount and impeller housing. Don't panic, the base plate has threaded holes in it so they must have changed the design but not updated the manual yet.The motor mount holes in the base plate lined up nicely by the impeller housing holes were 1 3/8" too close to the motor mount holes. One othe impeller mounts lined up with a caster bolt so I replaced that with a 1/4" x 1" bolt, 2 flat washers, a lock washer and nut. I had to drill a hole for the other impleller housing foot. I used another 1/4 x 1" bolt and washers to secure it. There are zero lock washers with this unti, just flat washers. Check the unit perodically to ensure all bolts are tight. If they tend to come lose add a lock washer.A hex wrench and 2 cast open ended wrenches (8 & 10MM and 111 & 13MM) came with the unit. A nice touch but you don't use the hex wrench and at some point you will need a second 10 and 13MM wrench to tighten the bolts. ou will also need a phillips screwdriver.Assembly was a breeze once I got past the missing impeller housing holes. The unit runs fairly quiet and it's certainly easier on the erars than my shop vac. Suction is good. The colloector was able to pull planer shavings from my open hand at 4" from the duct. I will rate the collection performance after I've had a bit more time to use the machine with all my tools.Based on advice from reviews on the Woodstock W1049 large dust collector seperator I will install one as a precollector to the Shop Fox. As one reviewer mentioned it reduces the pucker factor should a large chunk of wood get sucked into the dust collection. I have no desire to be replacing my impeller or housing any time soon. :) Reviewers note that the precollector catches most of the shavings and reduces the frequency of emptying the Shop Fox bag.The unit is on casters for ease of movement but be wary of where you grab the unit to move it. I pulled on the bag support arm and it began to bend. It seems like the seperator unit is the best place to push or maybe push the base with your foot. It would be nice to have a definate solid handle to grab for mobility.Overall I rate this a 5 star fine machine.

Shop Fox model W1685 arrived yesterday and I immediately opened box to be a bit worried, the Styrofoam packing materials had been broken by the weight of the motor. Upon inspection the only thing I could find is one of the motor mounts was slightly bent. I began assembly and felt the instructions were very clearly written and easy to follow. The biggest thing I was impressed with during assembly was the quality of the nuts and bolts supplied, everything went together flawlessly without having to fight threads and alignment, by far the easiest assembly process I have experienced in a long time. Assembly by yourself is easy if you think things through and the trick to installing the plastic collection bag is to use painters tape to hold in place while you put the bag clamp on.This beast does draw a good amount of power at startup, I was using a 12 gauge ceiling mounted cord to test it and it 'popped' the cords integrated 15amp breaker consistently at startup. Once connected to a dedicated circuit it worked flawlessly. I hooked it up to my miter saw and cut some wood and was amazed at the power and suction. I will be testing my surface planer and table saw in the next few days but have no worries that this will handle anything I have in my shop! Very happy with my purchase so far!!!

I would give it a five, but no instructions in the box just like many others have commented on. The card board box was destroyed as many others have commented. All Styrofoam inside the box was destroyed. I was worried about the contents when looking at the box, but all parts inside were OK. Very noisy in operation, but suction power is tremendous. Seems to be well made. Easy to put together, but need 2 folks or duct tape for the plastic bottom bag. All needed fasteners in the box. No bolts twisted off. Did not have to tap any threads. No burrs or sharp ends on any metal parts. Runs smoothly. Rolls around very easily. Cyclone and bags have some wobble due to the 3 rod supports and a little flex in the base. I hope it last 20 years like my old Penn State Industries which was still running very well when I sold it. I chose this Shop Fox dust collector over the Grizzly 2 hp Polar Bear series for two reasons - it has a steel impeller vs the aluminum on the Grizzly AND the W1665 and W1666 were mentioned in many, many dust collector reviews. I hope it was a good choice in the end. I will let you know in 20 years.