The v-weave filters clog way to easily with a plastic bag on the bottom. The collected dust spins and migrates into the upper portion and cakes into the filter's many crevices. Use a cloth bottom bag and the problem is minimized. The only reason the manufacturers are putting plastic bags on at all is because it's cheaper and some suckers replace the bags each time they dump them... as if that makes the process of changing bags any cleaner!

Easy to assemble, nice power, you'll be amazed how quickly the bag fills with chips. Product was short-shipped some of the non-essential hardware, i.e., the knobs to hold the cannister in place and the nut to hold the handle on top of the cannister. WMH had to guess at the part numbers and ended up shipping me ALL the small hardware pieces over multiple shipments over about 3 months. But I have all the hardware now and am pleased with the unit. All is well that ends well.

I purchased my Jet DC1200K dust collector a few months ago (about a bag of sawdust). I am pleased with everything but the dust filtering canister. The unit has plenty of power and is relatively quiet. I can recommend this unit highly, but suggest you consider a bagged version rather than the canister filter if you use it more than a day or so a week.

The dust filter has the same filter clogging problems as a shop vac only bigger. While the paddles are a good idea, they don't get the job done and some messy disassembly is required every couple of weeks or so. A thorough cleaning results in about a bucket of sawdust the paddles and thumping the canister miss. I recently decided to abandon the canister and go with a bag filter. I needed a bag retaining strap and a bag. Jet customer service told me the retaining strap was on backorder and not expected for a month and a half. (I wonder if there is a reason why Jet is out of stock on this item?) A Jet filter bag is priced at $138. I bought a Woodtek 20"x 36" 1 micron bag for $29 and used a Pony band clamp for a retaining strap. The revised dust collector works noticeably better than it did before with a freshly cleaned canister. The bag still requires cleaning, but a few slaps on the bag results in clearly visible quantities of sawdust falling into the collection bag. Air flow doesn't degrade as quickly as with the canister and cleaning is much easier.

I've been using the DC1200CK in my shop for almost 10 months and I'm very happy with it. It has plenty of power, even through my less than optimal duct system. The motor on this unit is 2HP and seems to be more than ample for the size and cfm of the blower. Its runs all day and is only warm to the touch. I have only two small complaints. 1) The bag is a bit tricky to remove and install. The top of the bag must be folded over a cloth covered spring band and inserted into a groove on the the inside edge of the collector. It takes a while to get a good technique for doing this and it can be a little frustrating at first. I doubt this connection method is unique to JET, and I cant suggest a better method, but I thought it was worth mentioning. On the plus side, though, there are absolutely NO leaks where the bag connects which is the most important thing. Also, the bags are very robust and can be used at least 4 times...maybe more! 2) The filter canister. First let me say it works great! It seems like nothing gets through it. It's the cleaning that is a bit tricky. The paddles that you rotate dislodge most (70%) of the dust. The remainder must be removed by gentle rapping all around the canister with the palm of your hand, followed by a blast of compressed air. This probably removes 95% of the dust. Most of the dust falls into the collection bag but a huge ring of dust falls onto the top of the cyclone. This dust is harder to deal with. You can beat on the side to get it to fall down into the bag but that still leaves alot on the cyclone. I find you have to partially remove the canister and manually scrape the pile of dust into the bag. If you leave the dust there most of it blows back into the canister. You dont have to do this very often, but its still a hassle. JET should somehow extend the paddles to scrape off the top of the cyclone to eliminate this problem. In spite of these minor points I'm very pleased with the DC1200CK and would recommend it without reservation.

The unique design and filtration capacity of this unit is quite impressive and appears superior to anything else on the market. The only real problem is the location of the power switch. It is located on the side of the motor, about 8 - 10 inches off of the floor. This would be awkward to reach down to even if the unit was sitting unobstructed in the middle of the shop. When you have other equipment nearby, it gets worse. It would have been nice if Jet had located the switch on the collar ring supporting the canister and collection bag.