Reviewed by Keith Oxford, Master Cabinet Maker & Joiner
Robland D1500 Dust Collector
The D1500 extractor leaves the factory flat packed in one large heavy box, so if assembly isn’t your thing try and buy one that the dealer has already put together. If you do buy one that needs putting together you might find the instructions a little wanting, my own method with this type of assemble is to layout all the nuts bolts and other fixings in piles so I can see how many of each size and type of fixing there are, this gives me a good indication of what bolt goes where, and working by a process of elimination things generally go together without to much trouble.
Once assembled it is apparent that this is no lightweight machine, with all the pressed steel being of a good gauge the extractor stands nice and rigid. There is the facility to use the extractor as a push about Hoover; this can be done by connecting the hose to the push fit spigot on the base plate directly below the fan housing.
But enough of the novelties and on with the serious stuff, noise levels can be affected by the acoustics of the workshop and I feel that some of us find a particular pitch more unpleasant than others, personally I found the noise level to be quite expectable.
With the supplied 3m hose connected directly to a thicknesser the extractor kept up with wide boards without a problem. When connected to a series of ductwork the air movement was still sufficient to pull dust from distant machines. Collection capacity is 100 litres but bag changing is real fiddly, some small hooks to hold the bag in place while the steel band is lined up and fastened would be nice.
If assemble isn’t your thing try to buy one that the dealer has already put together.
I find by sorting all the components into groups it helps reduce the chance of fitting the wrong bolts in the wrong place.
Once the extractor is assembled it stands ridged and wheels about nicely.
Connecting the hose to the lower spigot the extractor can be used as a push about hoover.
After about fifteen bagfuls of mixed waste from most of the machines in the workshop my only criticism is with bag changing. But Robland are not alone in this criticism, most extractors are left wanting when it comes to the fixing of waste bags.
Small hooks like these make bag changing so much easier.
Well as it is an extractor there is not a lot more to say, so to sum up the Robland D1500, it is strong, well built and easily manouverable, quiet running with good capacity, the only down side is with bag changing, (some little hooks please) and with a rrp of £299.00 it’s not bad value, especially as it is so robust in comparison to some of its more light weight similarly priced competitors.
Keith Oxford