New Oneida Pro 1500

[Bill Maietta]

As always, thanks for all the information I gathered reading archives as I decided on a new DC system. It came down to a very close choice between Clearvue and Oneida, both of which seem to make excellent DCs. The folks at Oneida asked if I would write them a note on the advantages I've seen in my new system, and I figured I'd share it here (and a few pics, so we know it did actually happen). Let me know if you've got any questions.

take it easy, Bill

What I sent to Oneida:
My wife came home yesterday after a three-day business trip. I had been working a good four hours straight. Mainly on my planer, but also on the jointer and the table saw. We had our little hug and kiss "hello," and the only thing missing was the usual wood dust aroma. There was no discernible dust in the air. Even after working two hours more the same was true. That would not have been the case three days prior.

I installed Oneida's Pro-1500 two days ago, and this was my first chance to use it for a full day's work. I could not have been more impressed. Having read about the serious hazards associated with fine wood dust, this was my top level concern when I chose a new dust collection system. If you have read any woodworking magazines or online blogs in the last few years, you are probably also aware of the issue. Dangers not just to the worker him or herself, but to those who breathe the dust nearby. My shop is attached to our house, so my wife is definitely in the line of fire. Also, my wife is a physician as is one of my best friends. Both have verified to me through first hand experience with patients that fine wood dust can lead to serious pulmonary disorders and even lung cancer. The greater and longer one's exposure, the greater your chances of getting very sick.

So the solution, according all I've read, is a combination of improving point of source collection and getting more powerful suction throughout your dust collection system. I'll leave the formulas to the engineers, but you need to reduce resistance and increase flow. I have an extremely simple system. My Festool sliding compound miter saw and smaller machines (sanders, biscuit and domino joiner) work off of a Festool shop vacuum, which has excellent efficiency. I then have one main duct line down the center of my shop. Here are the main features:

• the duct pipe is all spiral pipe, which reduces resistance
• most of this duct is 5", as that was the inlet to my former collector
• from the new Oneida Pro-1500 through the first wye drop is 6" spiral pipe (about 6 feet length)
• first drop goes to the bottom of the Table Saw (5" port), with a carabiner connecting it to the back of the jointer/planer to keep it out of the way for wide pieces
• reducer at end of first wye transitions to 5" spiral pipe
• second drop is to a Shark Guard blade cover for my table saw (4" port, immediately expanded to 5" flex hose to the spiral pipe)
• third drop is to jointer/planer combo (5" port)
• on all drops I keep the flex hose as short as i can and it is all 5" hose
• the runs between the first three drops are quite short, less than 3 feet
• then an approximate 20 foot run to my bandsaw (also 5" port)
• in the middle of this run I put a capped wye ready for future expansion
• the flex hose to the bandsaw also reaches my router table which wheels right in front of the bandsaw when in use
• the overall length of the main pipe is a little under 30 feet

Granted, it's only been a few days, but it seems to be working great. Static pressure on the Pro-1500 with a new filter was 0.1 - 0.2" W.C. with any one blastgate open, and 0.8" W.C. with two gates open. I only use two gates at the table saw. Actually, one and a half are open. The lower has to be half open or there is too much suction to keep the Shark Guard on a workpiece as I push it through the blade.

If I need to, I will change all the spiral pipe to 6". As long as suction is as good as it has been so far, and most importantly, there is no discernible dust in the air, I'll keep it as is.

[Jeff Hamilton Jr.]

Very nice looking set-up; thanks for the shop peek!

[ian maybury]

Nice job Bill. I should show my cards by saying that I'm almost finished building a Pentz system - very similar to the Clear Vue.

One basic I guess about these systems apart from the need you've mentioned to capture the dust in the first place is that they recirculate the air back into the shop - so the million dollar question is alway how good a job the cyclone does on dropping out the very fine dust. Quickly followed by how good a job the filter does on trapping any carryover.

The very fine sub micron dust that poses the real health risk is reckoned to be effectively invisible, with the result that it takes a test instrument to detect whether or not the air is clean.

These guys reportedly do a reasonably priced particle counting instrument: http://www.dylosproducts.com/ It'd help a lot if the manufacturers of the various systems would publish some numbers....

ian

[Bill Maietta]

Ian,

Thanks for the reply. Sure, I've read the Bill Pentz site and most of his posts here. He gets a lot of the credit for me cleaning up my shop, which really happened in two phases. When I first came across his writings (about 3 years ago) I got a Wynn Environmental filter for my old Delta 1-1/2 HP DC and a Wynn ambient filter. I also made my own cyclone from a 55 ga. drum attached to the Delta. All of these efforts helped, but it just came down to needing more power. When I finished working on any of my major power tools, even for shorts periods, I would smell the dust, feel it in my nose and see a fine coating on horizontal surfaces.

And of course, I know of the microscopic nature of this insidious dust. This stuff and alveoli just don't get along. If you can feel it in your nose, imagine fine tissue structures deep in your lungs. Not good. However, I'm not sold on the dylos meters. I'm sure they do their job, although I've read some not too stellar reviews of their less expensive models. Aye, and there's the rub. How much do you spend for a testing device to get at the microscopic particles? Do I need the $400 model?

It comes down to levels of perfection. That's always true of any individual's safety calculus. Since I've installed the new system I see no layer of dust on machines, benchtops, slabs of beautiful wood in process. Plus, I don't smell the stuff. I'm pretty sure that even microscopic particles would build up over two of three days of cutting, planing, jointing so you would see a layer and smell it.

It's only been four days since the new system went in, but two of those involved heavy machine work. I'll keep watching and sniffing, but so far a 3 HP cyclone DC seems to be the right size for my small shop.

Have a Guinness for me,
Bill

[ian maybury]

Will do Bill! I'm a big fan of Bill Pentz's work too - he seems to have done great things to raise awareness, and hence the standards required of manufacturers. His DIY approach is a pretty cost effective way into an industrial standard system. Since I'm only about to commission my system I've no practical handle yet on the very fine dust situation. Is it for example even visible in the air, or on a surface? Can you smell or feel it if it's doing you harm, or is the very fine stuff more insidious than that?

I'd many years of health problems and fatigue caused by an under functioning thyroid, including years of chronic sinus troubles. I'm not in bad shape since it was removed and I got a decent hormone replacement regime sorted, but I've a residual tendency to react to wood dust and other materials. I struggled for example with sore eyes and a runny nose with the stock bag filter type mobile unit I had for years, but got by because I wasn't spending a lot of time in the workshop.

That's about to change, so I guess I'm really hoping that the system performs as anticipated. Much like yourself I'm toying with the question of whether or not to buy a particle counter and some airflow measurement kit...

ian