Cyclone dust collector -- Which??

[Phil at small (vs at large)]

I'm sure there's a link to an archive somewhere on this group-- but have not been able to find it. I'm about to take the 'plunge' & buy a cyclone DC for my shop (16 x 24) I'm really 'getting sick' of all the dust. I'm asking for opinions on the 'best ' cyclone. Please score on these basis points:

1. cost
2. customer service
3. delivery & condition when arrived
4. how well does it suck
5. reliability/problems - including installation

Please don't respond with answers for any other type of dust collection system.

Thanx, Phil

[Andy]

Can't give any advice on cyclones, but if you go to groups.google.com, type in rec.woodworking, you can then search the group. I do remember seeing some posts in the last few months about cyclones. Off the top of my head, I think I've heard good things about customer service from Oneida (just down the road from me), Penn, and Grizzly. I hope people with cyclones will be nice enough to respond and help you out despite any recent discussions. Andy

[Steve]

I'm shopping for a new DC as well, this one's at the top of my list. I've sent a couple emails with questions and recieved reponses pretty quick.

out the Bill Pentz' site, mind numbing amount of info!

[Joseph Connors]

[Phisherman]

A cyclone may not be the solution. Do you have an existing DC? If so how powerful? What is the bag size and mesh?

You can make a cyclone that works very well for under $100. A cyclone is just an air-particle separator with about a 85 to 95% efficiency.

After you are always using a DC, get a remote control and $50 dust mask. You'll breathe easier.

[devon.c.miller]

Something to consider is "How high is your ceiling?" My shop is in my basement with an 84" ceiling and most cyclone collectors just wont fit. The only one I've found that will fit is the JDS 14042 Cyclone 2000 Ck

).

If anyone knows of other "low profile" cyclone DCs, please post 'em.

Devon

-- Remove Capital letters from my address to reply

[robo hippy]

I have the Oneida system (3 hp) and it was just as advertised, a very good machine. A friend of mine just got a Grizzly, and he had to spend some time getting it all together, as some things just did not fit out of the box. They both work. The Grizzly did come with a remote starter, but it was an infared type (line of sight) rather that the Lone Ranger type which is radio frequency and will even work from outside the shop. robo hippy

[charlie b]

The ClearVue unit is BIll'd design. Has his "neuttral vane" inclet (intake extends inside the cyclone and tangents into the inside wall nice and smooth - less turbulence) - a great idea that several of the "name brand" folks are now toting as their "break through in cyclone technology - is just one more of his "there's got to be a better way" approach to things. He also introduced the internal ramp that also improves the effiiciency of the unit.

The Clearview comes with a 5hp Leeson motor - nice higher end motor with plenty of power. Not sure what the "name brands" are using.

If you want to kick the CFM up a notch - rather than a materials handling impeller, go with an air foil impeller. The "blades/vanes" are airfoil shaped in cross section. The "lift" they generate means increased CFM. But - the air foil doesn't like impacts - something a materials handling impellar can handle. However, given the way the cyclone works, I can't imagine how anything that could hurt the air foils could possibly get to it.

My one concern with the ClearVue is the abrasiveness of sawdust and chips entering the unit. On Bill's metal cyclones, the inside of the top cylinder is coated with a rubber undercoating type material - smoother than undercoating but providing abrassion protection.

charlie b

[JGS]

).

[Jay Pique]

like abrasion is not an issue in their minds.

JP

[Ba r r y]

Hopefully that plastic is very hard.

This brings up a surprise I had yesterday. While changing knives on my DeWalt lunchbox planer, I noticed that most of the paint was gone from the internals. Some metal parts actually had a polish. I don't use gritty exotics or recycled pallets, only the typical North American furniture woods and some Mahogany.

The planer internals also aren't subjected to things like particle board glue, loose sanding abrasives, and the like, which would pass through the cyclone.

Barry

[Jay Pique]

I sent an email to ClearVue cyclones this morning, and got a response almost immediately, which is shown below. I also provided Ed with information about this group, so he may be available for questions.

JP

I wrote:

Ed's reply: First, please send me a link to the newsgroup....I'm ignorant about newsgroups and how to find them. As to your question, I ran PVC pipe in my shop for about 10 years. On ocassion I've taken parts of it down to make modifications and have never seen any signs of wear in the pipes or elbows. The PETG plastic that we use is as tough or tougher than PVC. I've been running my cyclone for about 18 months, putting everything through it (including cleaning up an unsealed cement floor) and have seen no signs of wear inside the cyclone. It's not perfectly clear anymore, but clear enough so that you can still easily see the operation of the cyclone. Hope this helps. I'll be looking for your reply.

Thanks for your interest,

Ed Clear Vue Cyclones, Inc

[charlie b]

In a typical DC ducting set up, only the last section going into the DC handles ALL the dust, chips and debris from the system - so wear, or lack of it - in a branch may not be indicative of what happens inside the cyclone. It's where the stream changes direction that particles abrassive effect is greates. We don't normally look inside elbows

As note in another post, working with ply and/or "exotics" that have a high silica content will generate more abrassives than say cherry, walnut, birch, beach or maple.

This may not be a problem - given Bill's neutral vain inlet, which cuts down on turbulence. But I still wonder about the occassional small nut, screw, washer, brad etc. that ping a ndrattle and sing in my ducting on the way to the DC.

charlie b

[Clearvue Ed]

[Clearvue Ed]

Hi everyone, A couple of pieces of information about abrasion. Matt, my son, has on ocassion sucked up more than a brad or screw into his cyclone.....actually there have been items like cigarette lighters, 25' tape measures, small chunks (less than 6" long) or 2x4's, computer cards, wrenches etc. He likes to clean up with a 6" flex hose. Anyway, with all that there haven't been any "scratches" in the plastic. All of the above mentioned items have revolved around and ended up in the dust bin without incident.

Over a year ago I got a call from a company in New York that was machining ceramic. They wanted to purchase one of our cyclones to retreive and reclaim the material and wanted to know if our cyclone would work. As I had no idea, I suggested that they send me some material so I could try it. Aparently that would have taken too long because they simply ordered a cyclone the next day. Over the next several months they ended up ordering 5 cyclones total. That has been over a year ago and I haven't had any complaints or requests for replacements.

[Phil at small (vs at large)]

One of the DC 'tricks' that I learned when I taught woodworking with a 'commercial' DC at my disposal was to secure hardware cloth over the inlet of my floor sweeps & also had a large speaker magnet secured (actually just dropped on into the sheet metal & it stayed) to the back of the inside of the floor sweep. If your shavings are large, you could substitute chicken wire. Those two types of wires would catch anything larger than you wanted going in to your system. The magnet caught any small paper clips, pens & screws that happened to find their way onto the floor.

[Wayne Whitney]

Sorry to jump in a bit late, but regarding abrasiveness, I have one comment. I seem to recall from fluid mechanics that the air speed at the boundary (of a pipe, impeller, etc.) is always 0. This is why dust collects on the top of ceiling fans. So there shouldn't be any abrasion from particles suspended in the airflow. Of course, perhaps particles could drop in and out of the airflow and cause abrasion that way, I'm no expert.

Cheers, Wayne