John Hedges
12-31-2008, 11:05 AM
I finally broke down and bought a cyclone this month and finally got a chance to set it up the last few days. I bought the new Oneida V-3000 system. I couldn't find a lot of info on users of the system because it was so new, but relied on Oneidas reputation for quality products and accuracy in reporting fan curves.
The reason I chose the unit was the following
1) I already had a 6" network in place. The fan curve I saw showed performance with 6", 5", 4", and 3" pipe. What I quickly realized when I looked at those numbers was that even if I went with a Dust Gorilla, or a unit with a bigger inlet, I would probably get similar performance to the V-3000 using 6" ductwork, which made the decision pretty simple considering the price.
2) I liked the Made in the US aspect and the Baldor motor.
3) I liked the claimed lower noise level of the unit.
4) The high quality filter.
5) Oneidas reputation
6) The design of the Remote Control (I have the woodcraft Remote for my 2hp unit and love the small size of the FOB and the fact that I can leave it clipped to my shop apron and always know where it is and have it handy. The Oneida Remote was the only one I saw with the same small FOB with a clip. It may be small but I hate looking for misplaced stuff I need, which happens a lot in my small shop.
Shipping:
All went well with shipping with the exception of the inlet being dented. I hear praises for others companies CS here so I would like to say that dealing with Oneida's CS was a pleasure. They immediately had a replacement unit shipped and arranged to have the old one picked up. The replacement only took 4 working days to get here (and thats going cross country from Syracuse to California.)
Installation:
I ordered the wall mount unit as I did not like the footprint of the unit with the splayed legs. All I can say is that setting up the unit with the legs looks pretty simple, but setting it up with the wall bracket is a bear. Here are some notes which might help anyone else putting one of these together.
- The installation part of the manual is excellent with step by step instructions and pictures, making the installation easy to follow, so kudos to Oneida for that.
- The unit is heavy, especially with the Baldor motor, so much so that the bracket, which is made of a very substantial gauge of steel, bends ever so slightly under the weight. This causes the unit to not sit exactly vertical. To fix this I just pulled the unit out until it was perfectly vertical and measured the distance to the leg supports. I then cut 2 pieces of wood the same length and used them to prop the unit out (see the picture below). I also stuck a piece of cardboard between the wood supports and the wall to dampen vibration. I think that the bracket was clearly an afterthought and that with a little work Oneida could make this bracket strong enough so it does not bow under the weight of the unit, but since the fix was so simple I'm not letting this one bother me much.
- I installed rubber washers between the wall bracket and the wall. I had heard that this dampens vibration and it seems to work, so I would recommend this as a cheap solution to wall vibration
- Putting the unit together using the wall bracket definitely requires 2 people (and three people come in really handy when attaching the cone). This in not due to the weight of the machine but rather the awkwardness of having to hold up the parts while simultaneously attaching them.
- Whoever designed the clamping mechanism between the upper unit and the cone must be the same guy who places the hole locations at my local golf course, cause both incurred the same level of frustration. This was the most difficult and frustrating part of the installation. There was no way to install this and not make a complete smear job of the silicone between these 2 halves. I added extra silicone to the top of the seem after this clamp was tightened just to be sure it was air tight.
- If you use the wall bracket have some extra silicone. The instructions tell you to apply silicone inside of the motor mount screw holes on the motor and the blower assembly. While this works fine without the wall bracket, I believe there will be gaps if this is done using the wall bracket, due to the mounting cutouts in the bracket. It is hard to describe but anyone who puts one together will understand what I am talking about. The solution is to put the bead of silicone on the outside of the motor mount holes which should form an air tight seal (I actually put a bead in both places for good measure).
Use:
I haven't had a chance to use it much, but I am very surprised at the low noise level of the unit. I was using a PSI DC2000 previously which was a very quiet unit, and this is not too much louder, and the noise is a lower frequency. After hearing others talk about the noise levels of their Dust Gorillas and Grizzly's this was a nice surprise. I also had my wife listen upstairs in the kids bedrooms (which are directly above the cyclone) as I fired up the unit, and she said that all she heard was a dull muted sound, no louder than the old floor standing PSI unit made.
I just finished redoing the ductwork (although I still have to tape the joints), and boy can this thing move some air. I put my hand in front of the furthest 6" blast gate with the unit on and it almost pulled my arm into the pipe (wont do that again). I have no problems with my machines with 2 collection points and having several blast gates open at a time is no problem. As far as the separation characteristics, I will wait to comment on those until I have a chance to use the unit some more.
Conclusion:
I would highly recommend this unit for the small hobby shop. It seems like Oneida hit a home run on their positioning of this unit in the marketplace. The build quality of the unit is very good, although, as noted the clamping mechanism is a pain to install and the bracket could use some strengthening work. It is more than powerful enough and quieter than the other units I have heard by quite a bit.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/hedgehog55/Workshop3/new%20cyclone/IMG_2501.jpg?t=1230738172
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/hedgehog55/Workshop3/new%20cyclone/IMG_2497.jpg?t=1230738145
This shows my low tech solution to the mounting bracket sag
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/hedgehog55/Workshop3/new%20cyclone/IMG_2498.jpg?t=1230738281
This shows the dastardly designed clamping mechanism
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/hedgehog55/Workshop3/new%20cyclone/IMG_2499.jpg?t=1230738381
The reason I chose the unit was the following
1) I already had a 6" network in place. The fan curve I saw showed performance with 6", 5", 4", and 3" pipe. What I quickly realized when I looked at those numbers was that even if I went with a Dust Gorilla, or a unit with a bigger inlet, I would probably get similar performance to the V-3000 using 6" ductwork, which made the decision pretty simple considering the price.
2) I liked the Made in the US aspect and the Baldor motor.
3) I liked the claimed lower noise level of the unit.
4) The high quality filter.
5) Oneidas reputation
6) The design of the Remote Control (I have the woodcraft Remote for my 2hp unit and love the small size of the FOB and the fact that I can leave it clipped to my shop apron and always know where it is and have it handy. The Oneida Remote was the only one I saw with the same small FOB with a clip. It may be small but I hate looking for misplaced stuff I need, which happens a lot in my small shop.
Shipping:
All went well with shipping with the exception of the inlet being dented. I hear praises for others companies CS here so I would like to say that dealing with Oneida's CS was a pleasure. They immediately had a replacement unit shipped and arranged to have the old one picked up. The replacement only took 4 working days to get here (and thats going cross country from Syracuse to California.)
Installation:
I ordered the wall mount unit as I did not like the footprint of the unit with the splayed legs. All I can say is that setting up the unit with the legs looks pretty simple, but setting it up with the wall bracket is a bear. Here are some notes which might help anyone else putting one of these together.
- The installation part of the manual is excellent with step by step instructions and pictures, making the installation easy to follow, so kudos to Oneida for that.
- The unit is heavy, especially with the Baldor motor, so much so that the bracket, which is made of a very substantial gauge of steel, bends ever so slightly under the weight. This causes the unit to not sit exactly vertical. To fix this I just pulled the unit out until it was perfectly vertical and measured the distance to the leg supports. I then cut 2 pieces of wood the same length and used them to prop the unit out (see the picture below). I also stuck a piece of cardboard between the wood supports and the wall to dampen vibration. I think that the bracket was clearly an afterthought and that with a little work Oneida could make this bracket strong enough so it does not bow under the weight of the unit, but since the fix was so simple I'm not letting this one bother me much.
- I installed rubber washers between the wall bracket and the wall. I had heard that this dampens vibration and it seems to work, so I would recommend this as a cheap solution to wall vibration
- Putting the unit together using the wall bracket definitely requires 2 people (and three people come in really handy when attaching the cone). This in not due to the weight of the machine but rather the awkwardness of having to hold up the parts while simultaneously attaching them.
- Whoever designed the clamping mechanism between the upper unit and the cone must be the same guy who places the hole locations at my local golf course, cause both incurred the same level of frustration. This was the most difficult and frustrating part of the installation. There was no way to install this and not make a complete smear job of the silicone between these 2 halves. I added extra silicone to the top of the seem after this clamp was tightened just to be sure it was air tight.
- If you use the wall bracket have some extra silicone. The instructions tell you to apply silicone inside of the motor mount screw holes on the motor and the blower assembly. While this works fine without the wall bracket, I believe there will be gaps if this is done using the wall bracket, due to the mounting cutouts in the bracket. It is hard to describe but anyone who puts one together will understand what I am talking about. The solution is to put the bead of silicone on the outside of the motor mount holes which should form an air tight seal (I actually put a bead in both places for good measure).
Use:
I haven't had a chance to use it much, but I am very surprised at the low noise level of the unit. I was using a PSI DC2000 previously which was a very quiet unit, and this is not too much louder, and the noise is a lower frequency. After hearing others talk about the noise levels of their Dust Gorillas and Grizzly's this was a nice surprise. I also had my wife listen upstairs in the kids bedrooms (which are directly above the cyclone) as I fired up the unit, and she said that all she heard was a dull muted sound, no louder than the old floor standing PSI unit made.
I just finished redoing the ductwork (although I still have to tape the joints), and boy can this thing move some air. I put my hand in front of the furthest 6" blast gate with the unit on and it almost pulled my arm into the pipe (wont do that again). I have no problems with my machines with 2 collection points and having several blast gates open at a time is no problem. As far as the separation characteristics, I will wait to comment on those until I have a chance to use the unit some more.
Conclusion:
I would highly recommend this unit for the small hobby shop. It seems like Oneida hit a home run on their positioning of this unit in the marketplace. The build quality of the unit is very good, although, as noted the clamping mechanism is a pain to install and the bracket could use some strengthening work. It is more than powerful enough and quieter than the other units I have heard by quite a bit.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/hedgehog55/Workshop3/new%20cyclone/IMG_2501.jpg?t=1230738172
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/hedgehog55/Workshop3/new%20cyclone/IMG_2497.jpg?t=1230738145
This shows my low tech solution to the mounting bracket sag
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/hedgehog55/Workshop3/new%20cyclone/IMG_2498.jpg?t=1230738281
This shows the dastardly designed clamping mechanism
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/hedgehog55/Workshop3/new%20cyclone/IMG_2499.jpg?t=1230738381