Dale Van Aken
02-03-2015, 9:07 PM
Well, I've been working for a few months on getting a DC in my small 400 sq ft basement shop. After moving the shop contents around (and throwing things out) for 2 weeks, and then waiting a month for electrical permit/work/inspection, I finally got down to the actual DC. I have to say how awesome ClearVue has been. I went back and forth several times on what type of ductwork I was using and kept changing my order for a few weeks prior to shipment. Once I finally got the Nordfab idea, it moved along, but not without issue. I hung the 1800 on aluminum brackets lined with 3/32" EPDM for shock resistance. I placed it in a corner so I could run the 6" primary duct at 45 degrees and take off from the 45 degree wyes to the tools. As I was lining up the trash can, I realized the base of the cyclone was too close to the wall to be centered on the can. I re-leveled the unit - same deal. Finally I decided to check the cylinder of the upper cyclone body. The sides were not parallel and ran out so that the bottom was about 1.5 in too close to the wall. The culprit was the plastic body itself.
An email with some pictures went to ClearVue and they immediately promised to ship out a new body (which they did a few days later). The new one was dead on and although I had to take the unit apart and put it back together, I had not yet sealed the filters in place so about 2 hours was all it took to switch bodies and re-level. The only other minor issue was the 11 degree intake which was a few degrees off and caused my main run to tip down as it ran out. Some rotation of the 11 degree elbow I had purchased leveled that out and I was able to re-hang the run and still keep my 45 degree angle to the walls. Thumbs up for ClearVue and their awesome customer service philosophy!
The Nordfab stuff was fairly easy to work with although I will avoid them in the future just on general consumer/business principals. Suffice it to say that they arbitrarily changed the shipping method with no communication which ended up costing me about $150 extra on what is already a very pricey product. Enough said on that.
Air Cleaning Specialists (the NF distributor) was great on the free layout work and sent me detailed drawings - everything fit like a glove. When I gulped at the quote, they quickly offered me 10%, as did another distributor I spoke with right off the bat (but ACS then used the 10% discount as a reason for not offering any adjustment on the shipping error they admitted was made).
Anyway, the cyclone is in place and wired, the duct work is almost run (waiting for a wye to replace one damaged in shipping), and now comes the job of connecting the tools. My Jet jointer will be easy, the Delta TS will be reasonable, and my miter saw will of course be the pita. I have a 6" drop splitting to (2) 4" hoods. They will be mounted opposite each other behind the saw in a box I have yet to make. It might even work. The router table, band saw, planer and downdraft table should move right along - I have some shared drops to figure out.
I have lots of pictures and once I get things wrapped up I will post them to an album. Just wanted to share my progress so far and listen for comments and advice!
An email with some pictures went to ClearVue and they immediately promised to ship out a new body (which they did a few days later). The new one was dead on and although I had to take the unit apart and put it back together, I had not yet sealed the filters in place so about 2 hours was all it took to switch bodies and re-level. The only other minor issue was the 11 degree intake which was a few degrees off and caused my main run to tip down as it ran out. Some rotation of the 11 degree elbow I had purchased leveled that out and I was able to re-hang the run and still keep my 45 degree angle to the walls. Thumbs up for ClearVue and their awesome customer service philosophy!
The Nordfab stuff was fairly easy to work with although I will avoid them in the future just on general consumer/business principals. Suffice it to say that they arbitrarily changed the shipping method with no communication which ended up costing me about $150 extra on what is already a very pricey product. Enough said on that.
Air Cleaning Specialists (the NF distributor) was great on the free layout work and sent me detailed drawings - everything fit like a glove. When I gulped at the quote, they quickly offered me 10%, as did another distributor I spoke with right off the bat (but ACS then used the 10% discount as a reason for not offering any adjustment on the shipping error they admitted was made).
Anyway, the cyclone is in place and wired, the duct work is almost run (waiting for a wye to replace one damaged in shipping), and now comes the job of connecting the tools. My Jet jointer will be easy, the Delta TS will be reasonable, and my miter saw will of course be the pita. I have a 6" drop splitting to (2) 4" hoods. They will be mounted opposite each other behind the saw in a box I have yet to make. It might even work. The router table, band saw, planer and downdraft table should move right along - I have some shared drops to figure out.
I have lots of pictures and once I get things wrapped up I will post them to an album. Just wanted to share my progress so far and listen for comments and advice!