A small footprint, rigid air-tight design, superior dust and debris separation and decent size waste bucket make this an excellent choice for small workshops or jobsites.
Controlling dust in your shop is critically important to your health and the on-going enjoyment of your craft. You need to keep your lungs as dust free as possible – in particular from the very fine dust that is known to produce various respiratory aliments, which typically occur after years, if not decades, of exposure. It also helps to reduce the accumulation of fine dust throughout your shop – a real boon when it comes to applying a finish to your projects.
Manufacturer: MULLET
Price: $398.99
Made In: USA
Warranty: 1 year
Source: stockroomsupply.com
Key Features:
- Made of rotomolded HPDE (high density polyethylene) plastic
- Rigid, air-tight design
- Parabolic, curved cyclone design
- Integrated 5-gallon dump bin
- 29-1/2″ height
- Universal vac compatibility
- 1 year warranty + 30 day buyback
- Made in USA
Not every woodworker has the luxury of a huge workshop. If you work in a basement, single car garage, or back porch workshop, floor space is likely to be one of your most important considerations. Where feasible, compact machinery is the way to go. This is particularly important when it comes to dust collection, as small shops can have a lot more concentrated dust in the air. You really want to collect as much of that dust as you can at source, as less will end up all over your shop, on your projects, and in your respiratory system.
Those who work in small workshops often choose to dispense with a traditional dust collector and opt for a space-saving shop vac (aka dust extractor). This can be a viable option, especially if combined with a cyclonic separator. Connected to a shop vac, a separator uses the suction power of the shop vac to extract fine dust and wood chips and deposit it into the separator before sending the fine dust to the shop vacuum. You’ll get much better suction power from the vac.
I’ve been using the MULLET high-speed cyclone dust collector in my shop for the past month and am very pleased with it’s performance.
The MULLET is a single-piece, seamless parabolic shaped cyclone that connects to virtually any shop vac or dust extractor. The cyclone and the waste bin are all one unit, contributing to an air-tight design. Connecting the MULLET to your vac is pretty straightforward – it took me under 10 minutes. The unit comes with a black 1-1/2″ diameter 2′ length of PVC pipe, a 1-1/2″ “T”, and a beige coloured coupling adapter – it’s a simple matter of cutting the pipe to fit the height of your vac and using the “T” and adapter to connect the MULLET an your vac together. Once connected, the two units can be quickly separated for cleaning. If your vac is on wheels (mine is not) you can easily pull both units around the shop without without the risk of the two separating – the connection is rock solid.
The MULLET has a 5-gallon waste bin. Sure, it would be nice to have a larger bin, but that would sacrifice size – the unit would have to be taller or wider. As it is, I love the small, compact size as it takes up only 1 square foot of floor space and is barely 30″ high.
The waste bin is translucent so you can gauge the sawdust level at a glance. To empty the MULLET you disconnect it from your vac (which takes about 5 seconds), remove a 5″ clean-out lid, turn the MULLET upside down, and let gravity do the rest.
I use the MULLET connected to my router table or with power sanders, track saw or Domino jointer. The results have been impressive. The parabolic design does wonders – the company claims that the MULLET separates out over 99% of dust and debris. I have no way of testing this claim other than practical observation – and I can see that it does work as claimed. Where previously I would empty my CamVac dust extractor every 7 or 8 days, it now sits practically dust free. I empty the MULLET once every 4 days or so and it’s easier and quicker to do than emptying the CamVac. This means that the CamVac filters are going to last much longer now before needing to be cleaner or replaced.
The MULLET high-speed cyclone dust collector (I suppose more aptly described as the MULLET cyclonic “separator”) is an ideal upgrade to any small shop. One that I can highly recommend.
I added a Thien baffle to the garbage can I use as a pre-separator to a shop vac with HEPA filter. It made a WORLD of difference. Almost nothing makes it through to the shop vac now. I use this for all machines- planer, BS, RAS, etc. (Google “Thien baffle” for details)
Carl, I got a CamVac from the fine folks at Stockroom Supply and added their NanoMax CV cartridge filters, which provide MERV 15 efficiency. Consequently, I don’t see the value that adding a separate cyclone unit would bring to my setup.
I’d love to hear your opinion on this. Thanks
Hi JP. One of the benefits of a separator is that it removes heavier debris before it gets to the filter in your CamVac. Fewer chips in the filter means improved filtration and efficiency. The CamVac filters will last a long time before needing to be cleaned (and eventually replaced). However, if you’re satisfied with the performance of your system no need to change anything. Regards.
I expect the Mullet works well for medium to small dust loads and based on my experience with my own dust collector chip storage capacity is small. My dust collectors storage capacity is 25 gallons and one big project will fill it up. The Mullet does have a place though. If you have a very good shop vacuum and a small shop and do mostly small to mid sized projects it may just fit the bill. $400 is expensive IMO but a larger unit would cost considerably more. i say very good shop vacuum or dust collector but no separator because my experience tells me that most shop vacuums are good for clean up but not so much so for dust collection and when you put a separator in line with them, they loose some of the power that would otherwise go to dust collection.