Professional Cyclone Reviews Any New Ones Out?

[richard poitras]

There has been a lot of talk and people getting cyclone dust collectors as of late and I was just wondering if there have been any new reviews/comparisons out lately on the new 3-5 hp cyclone units? I have done some research via the web and such but most of the reviews I have found/been reading are from a few years back (about 3-4 years). Most of them seem to rate the Oneida and the Grizzly’s as some of the better ones in that range. (Sorry Clear Vue I don’t want to put a kit together) So if anyone can direct me to some new reviews of these units or any information on them it would be great. Basically I am planning to install one in my shop this year. It will host 12 drops. I did have Oneida do a pipe lay out all ready so lay out and size is basically already established.

Thanks Richard

[Philip Rodriquez]

None that I know of. With that said, I do not think you can go wrong with an Oneida or Griz.

I have an Oneida and I love it. It is an amazing upgrade and I would expect the same results from Griz.

[Thomas Hotchkin]

1+ for Oneida 3HP Cyclone, Tom

[david blakelock]

Richard, I started a thread about cyclone dust collectors a few weeks ago. There are a lot of Clear Vue fans on this site and they brought up a lot of good points. I am with you in that I am not keen on building a kit, but from what everyone said it is not that big of a deal and they are supposed to be very good. I have narrowed my selection down to Clear Vue and Oneida. I doubt we can go wrong with either one, I think it is a preference of do you want a system that is pretty much turn key vs. a kit. Although as was pointed out to me you have to put together the Oneida as well, it just is not quite as much work. I am about a month away from pulling the trigger as I am waiting for my shop to be finished. I will post what I buy and my experience with it. Let us know what you decide and your experience.

David

[Matt Meiser]

I don't think you can go wrong with any of them.

Its a long drive, but if you are ever down this way and want to see the Grizzly in person, feel free to contact me about visiting.

[Gerald Senburn]

It's also a couple years old, but the Wood Nerd seems to have taken a close look at all three systems. He also found them quite close, but came down (narrowly) in favor of the Grizzly because even Oneida said it performed better with long runs. He thought the ClearVue was cool, but didn't like the MDF parts and the assembly process, which looks (to me) far more complicated than the others.

[David Hostetler]

As far as the cyclones are concerned, you may have trouble laying your hands on a Clear Vue. I thought the company was shut down a couple of months ago. The guy that owned it retired and couldn't find a buyer for the company. Pity... They were well regarded machines.

[mreza Salav]

ClearVue has a new owner and they are still selling.

It appears all top three (Oneida, Grizzly, ClearVue) are good machines.
If you think the first two are ready to go and are "non-kit" take a look at their manual. They still require quite a bit of assembly and the pieces are MUCH heavier to lift/hold while doing that.
The surface area of the filters you get with ClearVue is several times more than the other two (grizzly 3hP is 113sqf, Oneida 3hp is 110sqf, ClearVue is 600sqf). That is a big factor many people don't consider much.

[Paul Johnstone]

Richard, I started a thread about cyclone dust collectors a few weeks ago. There are a lot of Clear Vue fans on this site and they brought up a lot of good points. I am with you in that I am not keen on building a kit, but from what everyone said it is not that big of a deal and they are supposed to be very good. I have narrowed my selection down to Clear Vue and Oneida. I doubt we can go wrong with either one, I think it is a preference of do you want a system that is pretty much turn key vs. a kit. Although as was pointed out to me you have to put together the Oneida as well, it just is not quite as much work. I am about a month away from pulling the trigger as I am waiting for my shop to be finished. I will post what I buy and my experience with it. Let us know what you decide and your experience.

David

The Clearvue can be assembled and done on a Sat afternoon, easily.
The nice thing about it is that you can see when the bin is full. No worries about debris overflowing into the filters. That's a nice feature, IMO.

Although Bill Pentz has a design for a simple device that can send an alarm when your dust bin is full , that cost about $40 or so in parts. Other people have put viewing windows in their dust bins, etc.. There's other ways to solve the problem.

As merza points out, no matter which cyclone you pick, you are going to have to rig up a stand or a way to hang it from the rafters. Thats' the longest part of assembling the clearvue (and I imagine the other brands too)

[Matt Meiser]

Uh... the Griz has built-in wall mounting and I'm pretty sure the Oneida does too. That assumes you've got a sturdy enough wall to hang it from, of course.

[Dick Sylvan]

It certainly seems strange to me that woodworkers would have a problem with assembling a kit. When I make a piece of furniture it's like making my own kit and assembling it. So what's the big deal, especially since the Clear Vue is an excellent dust collector?

[John M. Smith]

Bought an onieda 3 hp 5 years ago. It works really well. I would definately recomend it.

john

[richard poitras]

It certainly seems strange to me that woodworkers would have a problem with assembling a kit. When I make a piece of furniture it's like making my own kit and assembling it. So what's the big deal, especially since the Clear Vue is an excellent dust collector?

Dick, I agree from my research that the Clear Vue is an excellent dust collector. But in regards to assembly there is more to putting it together than like the other manufactures units and like you said kind of like making furniture and that’s what I would like to do make furniture projects, not tool projects. In which a cyclone is going to take plenty of time between the cyclone and accessories and duct work alone.

Basically from what I can tell from the research I have done is that I would be happy with the Grizzly or the Oneida. But I am trying to ration out is if Balder motor, smaller foot print (Oneida width not height, I have 10ft ceilings) more CFM’s per size, along with a few other things is worth the extra price?

For those of you that have the Grizzly how well are your motor’s holding up/working on your systems. Also how well do you like the cable that you use to clean the filter? Does it work well? Any trouble with the small bag at the end of the filter? Did you get the noise filter for it and does it work? Is it true that with the remote you need to point right at the system to make it work? And if so is it that big of deal? How well does the bag holder work? (If you have one)

For those of you that have the Oneida how well do the remotes work?
How about the bag holders? And does anyone have their new warning strobe light system to say when the system is full?

Also for those of you that have a Grizzly or an Oneida how well did they go together and did you need to go back for parts or did everything seem to fit well? Basically the fit and finish of the machines?


Thanks Richard

[Dick Sylvan]

Richard,
If the only reason you don't want the Clear Vue is the "kit" aspect, forget about that. It doesn't take long and mine has worked great for the last 2 years, so go for it. AFAIKR, it is cheaper than the Oneida , but I don't know about the Griz.

[Steve knight]

ClearVue has a new owner and they are still selling.

It appears all top three (Oneida, Grizzly, ClearVue) are good machines.
If you think the first two are ready to go and are "non-kit" take a look at their manual. They still require quite a bit of assembly and the pieces are MUCH heavier to lift/hold while doing that.
The surface area of the filters you get with ClearVue is several times more than the other two (grizzly 3hP is 113sqf, Oneida 3hp is 110sqf, ClearVue is 600sqf). That is a big factor many people don't consider much.

This is a bit of an illusion. it sounds cool but in the end it just causes issues in the torrit type filters. the pleats that give so much surface area cause sawdust to cake in them and they plug faster.
The filters on the oneida are made for the job and tend to work better and don't need as much cleaning. I wanted to buy them for my clearview but they were very costly.
so in realty surface area makes more of a difference on cloth bags.


The torit type filters are not really designed for the use they are put too on a clearview.