Yet another dust collection question . . .

[Bill Borchardt]

I have a small enclosed basement shop (w/ no HVAC inlets or outlets in shop). Due to small shop size some of my tools (18" drum sander, router table, JBOS oscillating sander) stay outside the shop and are moved in when needed. (All my tools are on mobile bases.)

I only use one tool at a time and will move the dust collector/tool close to each other to keep the hose length as short as possible.

I'm about to pull the trigger on the Oneida 3HP Portable Cyclone ( http://www.oneida-air.com/portable_3hp.php ). The unit has a 6" inlet, then a 6" to 5" reducer, then 15 feet of 5" diameter flex pipe. Oneida says it gets 780 CFM at the end of the 15 foot 5" dia. flex pipe. I will have a 5" to 4" reducer at the tool (which will further reduce the CFM the tool "sees").

In lieu of the 5" diameter, 15 foot long flex hose that comes with the Oneida Portable I am considering going to a 1.5 foot piece of 6" diameter flex pipe at the inlet, then a 4 foot, 6" diameter smooth snap lock pipe, then a 2 foot long piece of 6" diameter flex pipe (with a 6" to 4" reducer at the tool).

Would going from a 15 foot 5" diameter flex hose (with a 4" reducer at the tool), to a 7.5 foot long 6" diameter hose/pipe/hose combo (with a 4" reducer at the tool) increase efficiency? (More CFM)

Or should I forget it and use the 5" flex hose the unit comes with?


Billbo
Smyrna, GA

[Cody Colston]

Would going from a 15 foot 5" diameter flex hose (with a 4" reducer at the tool), to a 7.5 foot long 6" diameter hose/pipe/hose combo (with a 4" reducer at the tool) increase efficiency? (More CFM)

Or should I forget it and use the 5" flex hose the unit comes with?


Billbo
Smyrna, GA

It would probably give a bit of increase but I don't think it would be enough to make it worth the trouble. I'd just stay with the 15' of flex hose.

FWIW, that's a lot of DC (and a lot of money) for for still having to move the hose from machine to machine. I'm a fan of Oneida and actually have their 2hp commercial cyclone but for what you will be doing, the Harbor Freight 2hp DC with a Wynn Environmental filter will work about as well for a fraction of the Oneida cost.

In the shops forum, there is more than one thread about souping up the HF DC. You might want to check it out before taking the plunge with the Oneida.

[Greg Peterson]

Bill - I have the Harbor Freight single stage unit fitted with a Wynn Environmental cartridge filter. Its inlet is 5", to which I use a 10' x 5" flex hose, reduced to 4" at the tool. I'm pretty please with the performance.

I have a Dylos particle counter that monitors particles in two ranges, 2.5 micron and .5 micron. The TS and router table generally do pretty good in DC, but I still have some work to do on the top side DC on these units.

On my RAS, and old Dewalt unit, I have a dust collection port located directly behind the blade and a vac hose hooked up to the blade guard and I'm getting everything there is to get. It's a joy to use.

Keeping the line its native diameter and as turbulence free will yield the greatest performance. Reduce only when necessary, and then keep that reduction as short as possible.

[Alan Schaffter]

Whooa big fella- That DC is ridiculously over-sized (in capacity and especially footprint) for your size shop and needs!!! If money is not an object, and you want to plan for the future, go with a piped, fixed-installation, cyclone-based unit vented outside. If at all possible I would put whatever unit you decide to buy outside for noise, cleanliness, and space considerations.

What strikes me about that unit it uses twin reduced-sized cyclones so is not as tall as a typical unit for low ceiling shops, but is wide and really eats up floor space!! Also, the fan curve is not great. Claimed free-fan CFM is 1650, which drops off to 1000 with filter, and further to 800 with 10' of ??? (probably pipe) "actual working cfm". It will be less with 10' of flex. Those specs don't match up with the table accompanying the fan curve. You would do better with a fixed unit piped to the machines in your shop with one blast/gate outlet dedicated to a short hose that you could connect to your movable machines. With a 3 hp or larger unit, I would go with 6" pipe and flex (keep flex to a minimum) from the DC to the machine. In a small shop with short runs there is no need to reduce to 5" and especially not 4" which kills CFM.

Another thing about that unit- the filters are relatively small (sq. ft. of filter area) for the claimed CFM and have integral "crank style filter cleaners" (beater bars)- which says to me the cyclone doesn't separate the way better units do so the filters clog and must be cleaned of cake often- beater bars do exactly what they say- they literally beat the crap out of filters, damage the teflon coating, and severely shorten the useful life of the filter.

[Bill Borchardt]

I have seen the light!

I'm now convinced to get a stationary cyclone. I just ordered the Oneida V-3000. Oneida will help me get the proper pipe, wyes, and blastgate layout.

Thanks for the inputs . . .

Billbo
Smyrna, GA