Opinion on Older Oneida DC

[Prabha Gopinath]

A local woodworker is getting out of woodworking and is selling his Oneida DC, approx 40 feet of regular ductwork mixed 6" and 4" and 10 blast gates. The duct work is nothing special - looks like HD stuff.

Asking price is $995 which seems pretty close to what I could put together a similar setup with a 1.5HP Dust Gorilla and equiv ductwork and gates.

The Oneida is an older model with the internal canister filter (havent see the filter to verify it). It is a 120V 1.5HP model. The DC has a perforated outlet way up high on the unit. I fired it up and the suction is strong - slapped my hand up hard against the router fence.

Does anyone have one of these Oneidas and could you please comment on it effectiveness. Also how difficulty is it to clean the filter and how often does one need to do it.

I will be using it with a combo saw/shaper, a 12" combo J/P, a standalone DW735 planer, a mitre saw, and a router table. This is a one man shop so there will be just one machine on at one time.

Thanks
Prabha

[glenn bradley]

No experience with the unit but if the price is close to new, I would just go new and have the warranty.

[CPeter James]

I have one of those and it is a good unit. I bought from Oneida a conversion kit to move the filter to the outside. That cost was about $200, but well worth it. All that said, $995 is way TOO much!!! Go with a brand new unit. Cleaning the inside filter is not too bad a job, but it is a PITA. Shavings and sawdust are not too big a problem, but when running my drum sander, it clogged up quite quickly. My internal filter lasted about 6 or 7 years with only limited use. The new external filter is so much bigger and better that I think the air flow is about 50% more. At least it seems that way. The kit included a piece to go over the outlet on the back of the unit and all the piping. Here are a couple of photos.

I just noticed that the old filter is in the lower right corner of the first photo. Notice the difference in size. It really make a big difference. The new filter is like the ones used on the Gorillas.
BUY NEW!!!!!!


Buy new!!!

CPeter

[Phil Thien]

The units w/ the internal filters had pretty small filters compared to conventional models. I think they made an upgrade kit that provided larger external filter(s) for those that tired of cleaning the internal filter.

I think $1000 is too much.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Prabha, I also own one of the 1.5 HP Component series Oneida Cyclone.

As Peter indicated the internal filter works fine, it's just time consuming and messy to clean.

To clean the internal filter you remove the chip barrel, reach up into the cone and undo a wing nut. The dirty filter then slides out, covering you and your floor in the fine dust you aaren't supposed to be breathing.

After cleaning mine a few times, I spent $350 converting to a large external filter.

The cyclone itself is great, good Baldor motor, just what you would expect from Oneida.

I personally think that $500 would be a fair price used.

Regards, Rod.

[Jim Becker]

I owned that machine...and retrofitted to external filters. You do not want to stay with the internal filter, IMHO...a pain to clean and it needs cleaned often. But my old one is still running in another 'Creeker's shop "as we speak" and meeting his needs. I sold it for $400 several years ago including some extra goodies. I think that the price the fellow is asking is not in line with the reality of the used market. Go for the new Gorilla if you are going to buy Oneida and I suggest you move up to the 2hp system, rather than the 1.5 hp system. Absolutely worth the upgrade in the long run.

[Prabha Gopinath]

Thanks for all the responses folks. The photos from CPeter were especially helpful.

I checked with Oneida and they no longer offer replacement filters for this older model. They still sell the external conversion kit. If I am able to purchase it for a reasonable price - where reasonable means that my purchase price plus the $350 for the conversion kit is <55% of a similar Dust Gorilla based set-up from Oneida then I think it will be a fair deal. Otherwise the 2HP Dust Gorilla is tempting and the yellow paint job has curb appeal

regards
Prabha

[Jim Becker]

$300 for the conversion kit? While I'm an Oneida fan, you'd be able to do it much less expensively yourself should you choose to do so. It may require a little fabrication due to the way that older system is designed, but possible.

[CPeter James]

I did not pay anywhere near that much. Under $200 with the huge filter.

The kit is:
The adapter fron the unot to round pipe
A reducer
An Elbow
The plates to mount the filter
The can on the bottom of the filter
The filter.

Any HVAC shop could make the adapter and filter mount.

Penn State has conversion parts.


Again, unless he cust his price to about $450 to $500, buy new. Much less work and a better product.
CPeter

[Derek Jones]

I also have the unit you are looking at and like most others immediatley replaced the internal filter. I also bought the conversion kit and it was around $200. If it helps I picked up mine at auction for $425 which included 2 drums and a muffler. You won't need the muffler if you get the conversion kit. I love mine! I managed to keep the duct runs short, the longgest is probably 15-18 feet. Overall it is a good little unit but, I wouldn't pay more than $500. A friend of mine just picked one up with duct, blast gates, and drums for $500.
Derek

[Rick Potter]

I had one of those , removed the filter after one time. If anyone wants it they can have it. The DC worked well, but was really noisy.

Rick Potter