DDD (Dust Deputy Disappointment)

[Dan West02]

I set up a Dust Deputy and was disappointed. To see how well it worked, I dumped the contents of my vacuum on the floor and then picked it up using the vacuum with the Dust Deputy.

What I was picking up was a mixture of fine sawdust and some coarser sawdust from a routing operation.

As long as I proceeded VERY slowly, everything went well with everything going to the Dust Deputy and very little to the vacuum. When I went at the normal speed that I usually do with the vacuum alone, more than half ended up in the vacuum (including on the filter in the vacuum).

Based on the above, it appears that the Dust Deputy has some uses, but NOT as a direct replacement for my vacuum.

[Bill Huber]

Dan, what size vac are you using on it and what do you have it mounted to.

I have one and am very happy with it, it will not handle a planer but it takes care of my router table and general clean up just fine. I have it on a 6 HP Ridgid.

[Jim Rimmer]

Can you post a pic of your set up? I love mine and have no problems with it.

[Callan Campbell]

+1 on my Dust Deputy that I have hooked up to my Festool CT-22. It doesn't slow me down at all, and the hose end right at the vacuum is clean and dust free. Everything is basically going into the collection box as designed. As others have asked, what is your set-up/vacuum?

[glenn bradley]

+1 here too. 6.5 (yeah right) HP Ridgid, 25'lead hose, very little makes it to the vac can.

[Van Huskey]

Something does sound amiss here.

[Lee Ludden]

Most of those types of separators are made to work with typical machine generated amounts of dust. Too much dust in the airflow seriously degrades the performance. If I can find the link to the article I read this in I will post it.

[Frank Warta]

I'll be watching this thread closely, I've considered a dust deputy till I can get a proper DC setup. So I'm curious to know what the issue might be. I'd hate to spend $100 plus build a rolling cart for something that isn't really helpful.

The math gets harder for me when I consider the 2HP harbor freight DC that frequently seems to have a $140 coupon...decisions decisions, but I digress.

[mreza Salav]

Are you sure you don't have a leak in your bucket somewhere?
I have my homemade mini-cyclone system and have tried the exact same thing you tried the first time with a clean filter and nothing (visible) went to the filter compartment.

[Bernie May]

Do you have the hoses connected to the correct inlets on the DD? Hose from vaccuum to top port on DD?

[Johnnyy Johnson]

I have one and the suction is plenty. I have it hooked to a Dayton (large) shop vac. It does a perfect job. I need to build a platform with wheels to put them on, as the bucket keeps turning over. I give the design and performance 5 stars. As far as the hoses, they sux. The lid keeps popping off and the cost is way to high!! this item should be a $30 item not $100 or $59. I will have to spend money to get better hoses and get a different container. I give that 1 star. I'll have $135 in it when I get the bugs out. It ain't worth it!!

[Leigh Betsch]

Most of those types of separators are made to work with typical machine generated amounts of dust. Too much dust in the airflow seriously degrades the performance. If I can find the link to the article I read this in I will post it.

I would like to read this article. I tried out a similar unit but I found that the cyclone would clog up with shavings from hand planes. As my usually mess includes hand plane shavings I found it pretty useless for general clean up around the workbench. It would also clog up when ever I sucked up stuff that was stringy, like tape or paper. Once the cyclone clogged it would just fill the filter. This wasn't a DD so I am untested in hearing if the DD will work with bigger stuff than just dust.

[Greg Peterson]

I've not had any problems with mine. Works are advertised. Would buy again.

[joe milana]

Do you have the hoses connected to the correct inlets on the DD? Hose from vaccuum to top port on DD?

+1 on hoses hooked up backwards maybe? I cant believe how well the DD works. Mine's on a mobile cart and hooked up to a compact 6.0 hp shopvac. The only thing i resent is the quality. I wish I would have purchased the metal one.

[Leigh Betsch]

Are you guys sucking up hand plane shaving size stuff or just dust?

[Joe Cowan]

I just got mine, the one designed for the Festool vacs, and it was very impressive off the start. I just cleaned off the top of my workbench, but could see it would be all that I would want.

[Bill White]

I'll be watching this thread closely, I've considered a dust deputy till I can get a proper DC setup. So I'm curious to know what the issue might be. I'd hate to spend $100 plus build a rolling cart for something that isn't really helpful.

The math gets harder for me when I consider the 2HP harbor freight DC that frequently seems to have a $140 coupon...decisions decisions, but I digress.

Though not a big fan (no pun) of most HF stuff, the DC is a value. I have it, and am pleased with it after replacing the oe bags with 1 micron felted bags from Highland Woodworking.
Bill

[Troy Turner]

Dan - I have mine in front of a craftsman 5hp 16 gal vac. Only reason I got dust in mine is because I wasn't paying attention and let the bucket get full. I used a piece of MDF cut down, and cut out 4 holes for the wheels of my vac to sit in. Then I put some casters on the bottom so if I need to use my vac around the house, I can just take it right off.

Haven't had anything but "as advertised" from my DD. I hook it to my table saw, band saw, planer, joiner, router, or wherever and haven't had anything get into my vac. How's the seal around the lid?

[Eric Gustafson]

I have the clearvue mini cyclone. It works great. A collectors item now! :D

There are other variables you need to check before you are certain it is a design error. It was already mentioned to check for leaks. The smallest leak from the bucket side will impair performance. Also, how good is your shop vac working otherwise. Just throwing some stuff out since your experience is opposite the majority of others.

[Tony Shea]

I also agree that the DD is over priced for the quality of materials. I think one is just paying for the design. I used a friends and like the way it worked but was very upset with the quality of the parts. I will not spend $100 or even $60 on the setup. Would rather design my own system.

[Mark Carlson]

I have the clearvue version also, hooked to a festool ct22. Havn't changed the bag in the festool in 2 years. Still almost empty. I use this setup for general shop cleanup, and use with routers, domino, biscuit joiner, sanders and tablesaw overhead guard. It gets a lot of use.

I also have the super dust deputy hooked to a delta 50-760, which also works quite well.

[mreza Salav]

I have to add:
Using very thin hand plane shavings, they DO end-up in the filter compartment. For some reason, I think their weight to size ratio is way too small and they don't fall in the bucket and will follow the air to the filter.

[Greg Peterson]

I bought the DIY kit. I agree that cost of materials is probably a fraction of the retail price.

Regardless, for the $50 I spent on the unit I feel it has more than paid for itself in the past seven months.

I am collecting saw dust, small wood chips, hand plane shavings and even a little sheet rock dust. Every now and then I'll pop the vac open and blow out the filter. There's usually a handful of stuff in the bottom of the vac, and that's about all.

I suspect if someone is having problems they have the hoses backwards. I did this once or twice myself so I can certainly understand how it can happen.

[Roger Jensen]

Hi Dan,

I have been really happy with mine. I bought it 2-3 years ago (at least) so perhaps they don't use the same quality parts in the kit that they did then. I used a design that someone else had posted here for a vertical cart.

It has a nice small footprint and with an auto-on outlet from Woodcraft the vac turns on when I turn on my hand tool (router or sander).

Not as good as a Festool system of course, but it works for me.

Roger

[John Peterson]

Ever since I saw the design of the dust deputy, I thought it was always inferior to the ClearVue. Maybe thats because I own one. I too have never had a problem with my mini cyclone, although its a mini.


I have the clearvue mini cyclone. It works great. A collectors item now! :D

I had to look into what that meant. Forgive me for just crawling out from underneath my rock, but MAN! Cough Prior Art Cough. Because of this, I will NEVER buy an Onieda Product.

[Erik Christensen]

pardon the rant - i have a clearvue mini and full size DC - they have worked flawlessly since day one & the nice folks at clearvue have been great to deal with. My mini is on a festool ct22 and in 3+ years the only time I had to replace the bag was when I was doing a lot of dovetails with a router and over-filled the cyclone - DO'H!

I also will never buy an Oneida product no matter what - if they are the only vendor then I will do without - when we buy things we not only acquire material goods; we vote with our $$ for merchants we want to be around in the future.

[Dan West02]

OK, here is an update.

I did not have the hoses switched, so per other suggestions about leaks, I took everything apart and resealed with a different sealant. It is not perfect, but is much improved.

The vacuum is a Shop Vac brand, 6 peak HP, and for the bucket, I am using an old Craftsman vac container. The motor crapped out, so I made an adaptor plate to go where the old motor had been. Now I just need to figure a way to tie them together so I can move it as one unit instead of two.

[John Wilson]

I just received mine last week after waiting three weeks for back orders to catch up. It was easy to assembly and once I got the proper size hoses and adapter fittings worked out with the various power tools that I wanted to you it with, I must say it is a great addition to my shop. I have used it for general shop clean up. I've used it with my router fence and my band saw. Its a bag saver and easy to dump. I don't miss my old noisy shop vac at all.

[Mike Hicks]

I'll be watching this thread closely, I've considered a dust deputy till I can get a proper DC setup. So I'm curious to know what the issue might be. I'd hate to spend $100 plus build a rolling cart for something that isn't really helpful.

The math gets harder for me when I consider the 2HP harbor freight DC that frequently seems to have a $140 coupon...decisions decisions, but I digress.

I have that HF DC that I bought with that same coupon and I really like it. It does a great job so far for me.

[Roger Jensen]

I have a Delta 50-760. Since I am a satisfied DD customer I just ordered a Super Dust Deputy to put in the front of my DC. I had put a Wynn filter on my unit and it is always packed with dust, cutting down my suction. Even with a DC you'll need something to capture the chips before it gets to the vac (at least that has been my experience).

Roger

[Alan Schaffter]

Price breakdown for most products:

Manufacturing costs (amortized tooling, parts, labor, advertising, packaging, manuals, etc.) = $X
Wholesale price to vendors= $2X
Retail price to customer = $4X

So if a DD sells for $60, it costs around $15 to make.

[Dell Moore]

I built a Thien separator last month, and I'm incredibly happy with it. I probably have $40 bucks in materials in it. Now I just need to re-evaluate the best way to use it now! Much more affordable route to take on dust control. ;)

[David Weaver]

It's not great with anything lighter than heavy dust if you have a strong vacuum. What I have found that works well for me is to run a line in to the garbage can (33 gallons) and still use the line out through the dust deputy.

I have a combination of plane shavings and machine dust, though.

It's out of this world expensive for what it is, regardless of development costs, but I got mine on sale and I guess the fact that I couldn't justify the time to make something similar and the desire to find a better solution got me to buy it.

I wouldn't buy it again, though, given that my dirt is a combination of things that includes plane shavings sometimes. I have about the same performance that I had with the can without it in the first place. Sheer laziness will keep me from taking it off the top of the can and hooking the output hose back to the can itself on the top, and maybe at some point in the future I'll do some things that are purely machine dust where it works better.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Folks,

The discussion at hand in this thread is whether or not the OPs Dust Deputy is working properly.

Any other topics are not germane.

[Josh Bowman]

Folks,

The discussion at hand in this thread is whether or not the OPs Dust Deputy is working properly.

Any other topics are not germane.
Dan,
You've gotten this comment over and over. I'll add to it. I have the cheap plastic Dust Deputy. I have it tied to an old Craftsman Vac. The DD is setting on a 5 gallon paint bucket. I bought a riged hose to cut up and transistion from the DD to the vac. It's been 8 month now and shown in the pictures is all I've gotten out of the vacuums canister, it's very lite fluffy stuff. I've emptyed the bucket many times.

[Dan West02]

Here are some pictures of what I came up with. I am also showing pictures after picking up some sawdust. They show all of it in the white bucket and none in the vaccum or on the filter.

[John Gregory]

just got one earlier this month. I love it. It does a good job with sheet rock sanding dust too.