Clean your cyclone filter - I should have done it earlier

[Bernie May]

there have been several threads on this topic recently, so I thought I should give it a try. I have a 2.5 hp Oneida super gorilla. For the past five years I have checked the pan below the filter once a year and seen only a smattering of wood dust. I hand smacked it a couple of times first , but there seemed so little to be bothered about. The suction still seemed fine. After reading the recent posts, I blew on the side of the filter with my compressor and wiggled the pleats with my fingers, kind of like strumming a guitar. Loosened the top and rotated the filter and did it again. then I undid the bottom pan. It fell out of my hands and made a mess because it was full of fine dust and weighed more than I was suspecting. Hmmm, how about that? the suction has noticeably improved.
-bernie

[Cody Colston]

I have the older Oneida 2hp commercial cyclone. I routinely take the filter to the self-carwash to clean it, directing the spray downward between the pleats (not through the filter medium). I set it in the sun to dry and when re-installed, the performance is like new. Oneida even recommends cleaning with air or water and I find the water cleaning does a better, faster job.

[Rod Sheridan]

Like Cody, I clean my filter with water, from a garden hose on an annual basis.

A couple of times per year I blow it out from the outside and empty the dust bin.........Rod.

[Randy Gazda]

I have a Wynn filter on my 1.5hp Delta. I found that the electric leaf blower does a fantastic job when air is blown from the outside to inside of the filter. Quick also.

[Loren Woirhaye]

I have another dust collector and I've taken to using it to suck on the cyclone filter to clean it. Seems to work well. Before that I had to bang the thing in a trash can and tried both water and compressed air, which were both a lot more work than hooking the filter up to the other dust collector.

[Kirk Poore]

The bottom of my Oneida cyclone filter is about 10' off the ground, and taking it down is impractical. So about 3 times a year I take the bottom pan off and get up on a ladder to vacuum out the dust from the inside using my shop vac and a narrow nozzle. It takes 15-20 minutes to clean all the pleats and put the pan back on. I do have to clean the shop vac filter about 3 times during the process.