I am in the market for a cyclone. I was very impressed with the construction quality, included remotes, dust bin, etc on the Grizzly G0441 3 HP Cyclone. My only concern from spending too much time researching this subject is if 110 sf of filter is enough surface area for long term operation. Bill Pentz's design has 600 sf for example. If any owners of this Grizzly machine can comment it would be very helpful. If I end up having to upgrade the filters at the cost of around $400 then this cyclone quickly loses its value.
Background: I have a small shop (450sf) that I use to build hollow wood paddleboards. One of the steps is thickness sanding 34" x 12' long boards down to the finished thickness of 1/4". I end up sanding 1/16" off both sides of 24 feet of cedar. This is a TON of fine dust but it is only done once a month. The other big dust producer is resawing, ripping, then routing 12' 2x6's into 1/4" bead & cove strips. Most of my work is with hand tools but currently the shop is never free of dust.
My decission is really just between the Grizzly G0441 3 HP Cyclone and a Bill Pentz/Clearvue. I have been quite hesitant to buy or build a 5hp Bill Pentz/Clearvue as it might be overkill 99 percent of the time. I have considered venting outside for these two dusty days a month through the cyclone with no filters this doesn't seem very responsible for the neighbours.
Thank-you!!