Dust collection advice

[Benjamin Gonsalves]

I am looking for a new dust collector. Simple, eh? Well, after what seems like weeks of comparing, my head feels about ready to explode.

It started by getting drawn in by the new Laguna generation two dust collectors. Have you seen these things?! They are about as sexy as a dust collector can get! Then... I started to read. And read. And.....read. I now know more than I should about the physics of a cyclone dust collector unit.... and (I admit) am now subtly excited about getting the clearvue unit just for the clear cyclone! Why? Well, we all know fine dust is the enemy, and I think it'd be mighty therapeutic to watch it all get sucked up Wizard of Oz style.

So.... here are the final contenders:

Laguna Pflux:3 - Sexy. (oh so pretty. I just want to gyrate against it). Portable. Comes mostly assembled. Kick ass dust bin removal thingee)
Clearview cv1800 - Taller, stationary, more powerful, clear cyclone (ooooo lala.... me likey). Much larger filter surface area (like 3x). Taller cyclone.
Oneida Dust Gorilla Pro - 5 HP - Not sexy. Not clear. Probably the best one..... but I really want to see the damn dust tornado!

I think all 3 are going to be around $2500. My shop is 36x36 with 10' ceilings, which seems like a lot of space... but isnt. Hence, everything is on casters with heavy duty/highly flexible extension cords. Hence the appeal of the Laguna. The more I think about it, though, the less it makes sense to have a mobile dust collection unit itself. I think it's probably better to have various attachment points/blast gates that allow various entry points than it is to haul around the dust collector itself... especially if you're running multiple machines at once.

So... who in the past year or so has gone through this same inevitable, mind-numbing dilemma? What did you ultimately decide upon, and why? How has it worked out? Any regrets? Has anyone actually gyrated against the sexy Laguna gen IIs? Is anyone else enamored by the thought of watching dust get sucked up? Is anyone else still reading this? Will this post culminate in two or more people arguing over who has the superior rig?

[Jim Andrew]

How big is the impeller on the Oneida 5hp? If I were shopping would check that out. Like the 16" impeller clearview uses. But not having to put together the fan housing. I would check out the 6" thinwall plastic talked about here a lot. Could not find a supplier when I did mine, used spiral. Expensive.

[Peter Christensen]

I bought a CV-Max with the 3 phase motor and a VDF from China. The one the Aussies use on theirs. I'm hunting down some piping since the thin wall PVC isn't available here and the schedule 40 that is, is nearly the same price as the Norfab smooth wall steel pipe. Spiral maybe the cheapest. With the 3phase controlled by the VDF I'll be able to slow the machine down for light work like power carving with a Dremel. I'll also be able to overspeed it to 63 cycle for a little extra suction too if I like. I have 12 filters totaling 3000 square feet that will be in a cartridge house I'll be making. Can't have enough clean air eh! By the way my shop is only 24x28. Do I win?

[Larry Frank]

I bought the 5 hp Oneida Super Dust Gorilla about a year ago and very happy with it. I did performance testing and posted my methods and results on SMC. It is a very powerful dust collector.

I like the fact that is was a steel construction with very heavy duty type plastic.

[David M Peters]

I'd recommend making your dust collector a fixed entity and running piping to your machines. That would give you the option of building an enclosure for it, and would avoid the hassle of lugging around the DC and finding a parking spot for it with each operation. Using Drain Waste Vent (DWV) PVC piping as much as possible will reduce the expense, but won't make it cheap.

My last DC upgrade was to the 2HP Jet cyclone. It works great covering, a roughly 16x16 area with 4" piping.

[John K Jordan]

... and (I admit) am now subtly excited about getting the clearvue unit just for the clear cyclone!... Is anyone else enamored by the thought of watching dust get sucked up?...

Benjamin,

I have the ClearVue. I believe there is some value to being able to watch the motion of the dust/chips: when installing the system to verify everything is working properly, and perhaps to watch what is going on if everything goes horribly wrong and the filters fill with chips. (I took advantage of the first but fortunately haven't experienced the second)

One big thing: if you might enjoy watching the swirling operation (and it is mesmerizing and educational) you will need to wear very good hearing protection! I mounted my cyclone in a sound-insulated closet and while I can carry on a normal conversation in the shop when it's running, stepping inside the closet unprotected will probably destroy your eardrums and implode your brain.

Another thing: if you do enjoy watching the swirl avoid sucking up cat litter you spread on the floor to soak up a spill. The inner surface of the optically transparent plastic will be instantly converted to a soft, translucent matte "sanded" surface. Looks kinda cool though...

JKJ

[Carl Kona]

Benjamin,

Many research papers have shown taller cyclones perform better than shorter versions (especially in the cone area). Since height is not an issue for you the CV would be my choice. If you don't generate fine dust (from say a drum sander) then you will probably not see any difference between the CV and the Oneida. Both are solid choices.

BTW: It sounds like you were already going with the CV to see the cyclonic action.

Hope that helps. Let us know what you do.

Carl

[Benjamin Gonsalves]

I really wanted to go with the Laguna, tell you the truth. I like the dust bin sensors being included on the PFlux series, the insulated cyclone to deaden the sound, the portability (which I have since questioned whether a portable dust collector is even a fundamentally good idea... I have 3 Festool vacuums already for portability), and I really like how the dust bin attaches/detaches.

That being said, I have come across a couple people who have said that, over time, the weight of the heavy dust bin being suspended starts to unevenly distort the "clamping seal"..... which would obviously be a problem. That is another drawback of something being relatively new; there isn't a lot of longterm feedback from the woodworking community.

Then I wanted to get the Clearvue...because I agree that the cyclone itself would perform best if it is taller. I read through all of Bill Pentz's stuff, and what didn't immediately go over my head made perfect sense. FYI, ClearVue was designed almost exclusively by him, I believe. I also like the clear idea, but obviously it is a frivolous "necessity". It does have 3x the filter surface area of both the 5 hp Gorilla and Laguna, but if the cyclone works as touted, only a minimal amount of dust even makes it into the filter anyhow. Eh?

In the end, what really matters is how well the system works, and how much of the ultra fine dust is captured. I believe all three of these would work just fine for what I am doing, but we all want to believe we made the best decision possible. Dropping $2500 on a dust collection system is far more difficult for me than the $7500 it cost for the Sawstop industrial cabinet saw and all the accessories. Wicked awesome tablesaw is, well, almost any woodworker's dream. When we were suffering with the $99 Ryobi table saw we all dreamed of the day we would get a REAL saw!

Dust collection..... bleah. Who dreamed as a child of the kickass dust collector they'd get when they "grew up"?! Not me. The only excitement I derive from assembling the dust collector is so I can use the table saw!

[John K Jordan]

...the Clearvue... does have 3x the filter surface area of both the 5 hp Gorilla and Laguna, but if the cyclone works as touted, only a minimal amount of dust even makes it into the filter anyhow. Eh?

I thought it was not the amount of dust sent to the filters that drove designing more surface area into the ClearVue, but it was to prevent reducing the air flow as much as the filter gets loaded up with very fine dust, perhaps greatly increasing the time between cleaning/replacing.

A surprisingly small amount of dust gets past the cyclone and it's all flour-like powder. I've been running mine for several years now and I don't think I've seen a tablespoon of dust in the cleanout box, maybe not a teaspoon full. I've not yet had to clean out the cleanout.

JKJ

[Mike Heidrick]

If you want a project there seems to be a number of $850 3hp g0441 and g0440 grizzly cyclones on ebay in euclid ohio. They look to need a few parts etc but they would be half the prices you are looking at maybe depending where you live. I like project machines sometimes where the savings are huge. $1400 and freight in my latest big cyclone. $300 more in grizzly parts to get it running on 220 3ph (change overload relay), and to re-bag it and new clamps, and get a vac collection bag system back in place with new vac hoses and internal ring. Had to scrub it down too. You may not want that hassle. Research what it should have before blindly jumping in. That grand saved would be a heck of a start on ductwork. YMMV