Plastic Super Dust Deputy

[Troy Turner]

Contacted the nice folks over at Oneida last week about the metal version of their SDD. She told me that if I could hold out, they have a new molded one coming online. Got this email last night. Looks pretty interesting.

I'm going to put it in front of my Jet 1 1/2hp (with Wynn filter).

Any thoughts?

axd002030a_lg.jpg

[paul cottingham]

Wow, I am seriously considering one myself, and now this comes along. I wonder what motivated them to go this route. I also wonder if it is as efficient as the metal one.....

[Cyrus Brewster 7]

Any word on price?

[Mark Welte]

Had to be manufacturing costs and lead time. When I ordered my metal one they were 6 weeks behind schedule on getting them built and shipped. Also because of the issues with working with metal I bet there are some trade offs made between being able to manufacturing and efficiency of the cyclone. It would be interesting to see if there are any notable performance differences between the plastic and metal Super Dust Deputies.

[Troy Turner]

Any word on price?

That's what's got me. When I talked to them, they said it would be cheaper than the metal for the sheer fact that it's plastic. But it's an intro price of $169 with $199 crossed out. That was the price of the metal one. I'll give them another call and see what they say.

[Troy Turner]

Ok, so I called and asked them about the price. He wasn't too sure, but did say the metal may actually go up in price, but he doesn't think the plastic one would go to the $199 mark.

What I took from the conversation was "order it now because this is the cheapest it will ever be".

[Ben Hatcher]

Very interesting. I have the 2009 version of their metal SDD and I'm not sure if it has an inlet ramp like this one has. I wonder how to two compare in terms of separation.

[Wade Lippman]

I looked at their website. They show it attached to the DC with flexible hose with two tight 180 degree bends. Wouldn't that radically reduce the air flow?

[paul cottingham]

Yes. I would never hook it up like that, all of the pipe in my shop is solid PVC, all running into my 1.5 HP steel city unit. works pretty well, and rolling the unit around won't work in my shop.
Smooth pipe works way better than flex. Big surprise, eh?
i recognize that my setup is way less than ideal, but these are the compromises we make sometimes.

[Alan Schaffter]

Manufacturing with plastic is soooo much cheaper- materials maybe a wash but labor costs nothing compared to metal fabrication and manufacturing speed- lightning compared to metal fabrication. Frankly I am totally surprised the DC manufacturers haven't made plastic cylones for years. I can see some sort of OSHA restriction on plastic commercial units, but not on consumer grade units.

And did you notice it appears to have a spiral inlet ramp like the ClearVue? Hmmm, what does that say about other Oneida designs that don't have it? Wouldn't they benefit from the same "innovation"? How does the saying go- imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

[Wade Lippman]

And did you notice it appears to have a spiral inlet ramp like the ClearVue? Hmmm, what does that say about other Oneida designs that don't have it? Wouldn't they benefit from the same "innovation"? How does the saying go- imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

The Griz I just got has a spiral inlet and they have been making it for like 6 years now. Maybe they all do and you just don't see it in metal?

[Peter Aeschliman]

I have a 3hp Grizzly four-bag unit, modified with integrated Thien Baffles and Wynn environmental filters. I was looking at adding this to my setup and going away from the Thien Baffles. But the thing that keeps me from pulling the trigger is the 5" inlet. It seems really odd that it has a 5" inlet and a 6" outlet. Why not do 6" for both?

I've run 6" ducting in my shop and it sure would be a shame to choke it down to 5" like that. So I think I'm going to pass.

[Alan Schaffter]

The Griz I just got has a spiral inlet and they have been making it for like 6 years now. Maybe they all do and you just don't see it in metal?

I have not looked inside a Grizz, but are you sure it has the "spiral inlet ramp", not just a sloped inlet which they call a "ramped inlet" in their catalog? The spiral inlet ramp is a "warped"* helix that wraps completely around the central tube. It ensures when air has completed one rotation around the central tube it cannot impact the side of the (slanted) inlet nor strike the incoming air from the side where it can generate turbulence. (I believe you can clearly see it in pics and videos on the ClearVue site.)

A spiral inlet ramp looks something like the one in the pic below taken before installation. It wraps around the central tube and is usually attached to the tube and the cylinder wall once installed. Again, I haven't looked inside a Griz, but I can't see any indications in their website and catalog photos that one was spot welded to the main cylinder and there is no mention of "spiral" in the product description, just "ramped inlet." To me that means it has a slanted inlet that likely just extends to the central tube and not something that wraps the central tube (if so, it would be classified as a neutral vane, a misnomer). The reason I say this is that it can be costly and difficult to manufacture and install, because a helix must not only be cut correctly it must be warped- * a true helix cannot be made from a flat sheet without warping it- trust me this is a geometric FACT! In fact, the dimensions provided on Bill Pentz's site (which he got from a Cornell math prof) are for a helix approximation only.

I could be wrong, wouldn't be the first time.



Here is a spiral inlet ramp partially installed in the main cylinder- the pic was taken looking from the bottom of the main cylinder before the cone was installed. Note, because of the spiral ramp you (and the spiraling air) can only see the end of the rectangular inlet, not its sides or bottom. After the incoming air makes a full rotation the direction of air flow will be parallel to air just entering the cyclone.

[Phil Thien]

I have not looked inside a Grizz, but are you sure it has the "spiral inlet ramp", not just a sloped inlet which they call a "ramped inlet" in their catalog?

The Donaldson Torit cyclone I saw the other day had what they call a helical baffle that looks just like your helix above.

That Torit looked pretty old, but nobody knew how old it was.

Anyone know how long DT has had helical baffles?

[Wade Lippman]

I have not looked inside a Grizz, but are you sure it has the "spiral inlet ramp", not just a sloped inlet which they call a "ramped inlet" in their catalog?

I pulled the hose off and had a look. Just a ramped inlet. I guess I was impressed by that, because my old JDS didn't even have that. The Griz tube is much shorter (at least relative to diameter) than yours.