I started with a £100 HPLV Draper drum extractor with a universal motor. This was ridiculously loud and the relatively small collection bin soon filled up when used with my bench top P/T but it served for the time and as the P/T was also really loud the extractor didn't really make much difference.
Following a hearing test at work I decided to gradually replace all my tools with those using induction motors. Extraction being the first on the list. I sourced an induction motor and HVLP blower from Gumtree and built myself a Thien separator machine, this is a lot quieter and also uses a 70l black bin which increased the capacity immensely. My intention is to pipe the exhaust of the machine outside the workshop so any small particles that bypass the separator are blown outside, currently the exhaust just blows out of an open door.
I also use this for cleaning the workshop, I usually place the pipe on the floor and then brush the debris across the floor to the pipe which sucks it up. I will make a dedicated floor sweep hood once the workshop is finished and permanent rigid pipework with blast gates are installed.
The Draper unit performed well despite the noise so I have reused it. I have installed it inside a mobile mitre saw cabinet that is fully lined with sound insulation and a secondary panel filter. This sort of filter is usually used in commercial HVAC systems, I have mounted it in the door for filtering out any small particles that make it past the filter inside the extractor unit. I control the extractor manually from a switch mounted on the side of the unit and when coupled to the custom dust shroud behind the MS blade removes the majority of the dust at source.
One thing that you should be aware of is that unless you spend a fortune on Festool products the standard extraction points fitted to a lot of tools a woefully inadequate, the Axminster TS200 table saw springs to mind. To get good extraction from these usually requires redesigning/replacing the dust ports with something not restricted by tight bends and grills and of a larger diameter. For example, my TS200 has had all superfluous holes sealed up, the standard blade shroud removed and a large mouth dust hood mounted beneath the saw feeding straight into a 100mm pipe.
In short, dust extraction can be a bewildering subject but your right to recognise that is isn't one to be ignored. HVLP / HPLV doesn't really matter, the choice is yours as they both have pros and cons, the real differences between good and bad extraction come down to; the design of the dust shrouds, the level of filtration/exhaust point, minimising the length of runs or bends and maintaining your chosen system regularly.
