Cyclone Retrofits vs. Dust Gorilla new

[Ted Christiansen]

Hello,

I have a Jet DC1100 two bag (not cartridge) dust collector. I would really like to upgrade to a cyclone. I would like to sell the DC1100, but probably couldnt get much for it to offset the cost of the cyclone.

Options - New:
1. Dust Gorilla $(845)
2. Penn State 14" Tempest (2 HP) - ($745)

Options Retrofit (using the DC1100 blower):
1. Penn State
2. Oneida

Questions:

1. Will the DC1100 work with one of these retrofit kits?
2. Will it perform the same as the Dust Gorilla or Tempest
3. Would I be wasting my time and money, and should just buy the complete Dust Gorilla or Tempest?

Any Dust Gorilla owners out there use S&D pipe instead of metal? Got any pictures of your installation?

Regards,

Ted

[Dan Oliphant]

Ted,
Oneida's Gorilla has nothing of improvement or more effecient function to Grizzlies two horse unit, Grizzly is a little less lay out of cash. The cost is not all in the cyclone though, you will spend 60%-70% more than the cost of the cyclone on proper ducting and blast gates. Look at selecting 6 or 7 inch smooth ID piping.
I used 7 inch spiral aluminum pipe for my main then branched off for each piece of equipment. One unit is 5 inch, the others are all 4 inch at the equipment.

[Jim Becker]

Oneida's Gorilla has nothing of improvement or more effecient function to Grizzlies two horse unit, Grizzly is a little less lay out of cash.

Until there is independent testing of both units, it would be hard to conclusively assume one is better than the other. Both vendors' claims contradict relative to performance.
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Ted, neither of the retrofit options will come close to the performance of the Gorilla, 14" Tempest or other cyclones in that size range. The DC1100 has a much smaller impeller and move substantially less air than the blowers on the cyclones.

[Paul Dwight]

Do you know how big the impeller is on your DC1100? I seem to recall reading somewhere that it has an 11" impeller but I could be wrong. The common wisdom seems to be that you need a minimum of a 12" impeller and a "real" 2HP to drive a central dust collection system.

Grizzly now offers smaller cyclone with a 1.5HP motor, which might be more comparable to what you could put together using the blower from your DC1100. I don't remember the price but the 2HP unit is about $850 shipped, and the 1.5HP was less than that. I don't know if the 1.5HP unit would drive a central DC system.

One other alternative you might want to look at is www.cycloneseparator.com. They market their small cyclones expressly to be added in-line ahead of a regular dust collector. The price is attractive at $139. The September issue of American Woodworker has a short note about this unit, and the author said: "In testing, I found only a few chips and little dust continued into the dust collector bag." A cyclone that lets chips get through to the filters doesn't sound like a very effective design, but maybe I'm wrong.

If your real goal is to improve the air flow at the dust-producing machines, you might want to consider biting the bullet and looking at a system with a bigger impeller and more horsepower. Adding a cyclone to your existing blower might improve the airflow a little if it keeps the filter cleaner, but I doubt the improvement in airflow would be dramatic unless you move up to a bigger impeller and a motor with enough HP to turn it.

My 2 cents. Hope it helps. -- Paul

[Ted Christiansen]

All,

Thanks for the useful information. How much do you guys think I could get for the Jet DC1100?

Dan - is the stand necessary for the Grizzly at $150? One feature of the blower housing is that it is square making wall attachment easy(ier).

Ted

[Dan Oliphant]

Ted,
No the stand is not a necessary requirement, The unit can be mounted to the wall using supplied brackets. As you can tell by these posts, the new cyclones, no matter who makes them can cause much debate.
Jim,
My comments were based only on the published info, not whether one company or another is accurate with their published info.
I do own the Grizzle 2 hp unit and like it's performance quite a bit.

[Larry Browning]

Ted,
I am now in the process of installing the 6" s&d pvc ducting attached to the 2hp gorilla. I haven't completed the install as of yet but I think it is going pretty well. The gorilla is in a separate room next to the main shop. I ran the 7" metal ducting from the cyclone to the main shop and then 6" pvc in the main shop. Terry Hatfield came to help me this past weekend and brought some sort of a device that measured cfm. As I recall he measured 1200+ cfm at the 7" ducting about 2' from the cyclone inlet with all ports open. He measured over 1000 cfm inside the pvc ducting in the shop. I am planning on posting some pics of the install later (whatever that means!). I really have no idea when I will finish the install becaues shop time is pretty limited but I will keep you posted as I get things done.

[Matt Meiser]

I have the Oneida C650 cyclone with the Jet DC1200 blower. It works pretty good, but could be better. I wouldn't think a smaller blower would work nearly as well.