Cyclone Madness

[Rich Konopka]

It almost time to purchase a cyclone system for my shop. I have seen the Oneida's, the homemade cyclones, and woodsuckers.

What about Penn State Industries. The Tempest has a 2 year warranty and 5 on the motor. I could not find anything on the oneida??

How many decibels do they run at??

Do I need a 1.5, 2, 3 HP?? I only plan on running one machine at a time.

There is too much info I'm Dazed and Confused :p :p :p


http://www.oneida-air.com/testing/comparison/comparisonchart.htm

When I compare the info on this with PSI , it contains conflicting info???

[Jim Becker]

Rich, the December 2003 issue of WOOD Magazine did a review of most of the cyclone units available for about $1100 and down, including those you are looking at. The testing information is a good way to judge the performance differences between them. IMHO, you would pick between the Oneida and Woodsucker products if you could see all three brands side by side. There is a remarkable difference in quality over the "red" machine. Oneida and Larry at Woodsucker also have pretty decent fan curves listed. Most other manufacturers' specs are, umm...suspect.

I have personally seen the testing lab at Oneida and they try to be pretty exacting when they do it. They buy product on the open market, set it up and use the same techniques and tools for testing everything, including their own units, present and potential.

BTW, "horsepower" isn't a good way to choose a dust collection system. Dust collection is all about moving air. The more air you move, the more complete the job gets done and that includes when you only have one machine to collect from at a time. Better to "over buy" than "under buy" when it comes to your health.

[Charles McKinley]

Hi Rich,

My thought on this is do the math. By the time you buy everything you have as much in the home made unit as you do the Woodsucker. I really like the engineering help from Oneida. When I put one in it will be an Oneida.

[Kevin Gerstenecker]

I recently installed an Oneida System. I checked them all out, and sought advice from those in the know about these type of systems. When I sorted it all out, I chose Oneida. They were great to deal with, the system has exceeded all of my expectations, and if I had it to do over, I would buy from them again. Great folks to deal with, and they lead the pack IMO. Imagine sanding bowls on the lathe, and absolutely NO dust to be found........and that is the result with all of my tools. I'm a happy camper! :D

[Bob Dodge]

Hi Rich, The test numbers shown by Oneida, regarding the Penn State, are virtually identical to the numbers that WoodMagazine posted, in their Dec. 2003 test. They further stated that the 3hp model, will perform identically to the 2hp model, as would be expected. Same fan-wheel, same rpm, same cyclone body porting. The 3HP Penn, uses a larger filter, which could result in slightly lower pressure drop, but I doubt it, due to the blower outlet size.
All the best, Bob

[Bartee Lamar]

Does anyone have any experience with the Grizzly G0525 (http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=G0525)

Grizz had one one on display at AWF. It looked really good. They state they have a 1 micron bag. It does require 10ft ceiling.

I am really trying to figure out to build or buy a cyclone. I have read several article by guys who have built and all of them said the sheet metail work was a challenge.

Any thoughts?

[Jim Becker]

Does anyone have any experience with the Grizzly G0525 (http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=G0525)That page is no longer available on the Grizzly site, but the unit was also reviewed in the WOOD Magazine article I cited previously in this thread. It rated the "Top Value" stamp. But you also need a high ceiling for the machine, even if you convert to a cartridge filter. I saw it at the Oneida lab in February...it's "big"...

[nic obie]

I built one of the Pentz designed cyclone kits supplied by Echols and powered by 2 of the now famous 2hp HF DCs for about $450. I have no way to test for cfm or static pressure but my friend says it works as good or maybe even better than his 3hp Oneida cyclone unit. I'm not sure what it cost him, but I'll bet it was way over $1000.

The kit wasn't hard to put together. The instruction were kinda long winded and wanted you to work at ridiculously close tolerances for sheet metal work. But it didn't take any special skills, and didn't take any special tools either.

[Rob Russell]

Another element of buying a DC is the particulate filtration size. In other words, what's the smallest particle it filters and what percentage of that size does it capture?

[JayStPeter]

I'll throw out another vote for Oneida. Very high quality unit and helpful company. You do pay for that though. They actually talked me down from a 3HP to 2HP commercial system.

Jay

[Chris Padilla]

Impeller size is the key for moving air in a DC system. They all turn the impeller at the same 3450 rpm so horsepower numbers shouldn't even be bothered with for the most part.

I have a long thread here in which I built the Bill Pentz design:http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=9933& it is long but muttle your way through it to see what I did. I even have some numbers in there for you to ponder over.

No, I don't have the BP cyclone up and running yet and no, I haven't picked up any ducting yet. I'm still trying to decide between plastic and metal ducting. See here for thoughts on that: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=7853&

Have Fun! :)

[Frank Pellow]

My vote goes to the Oneida 2hp Commercial unit. After doing LOTS of research, that is what I chose for my new workshop.