Opinions on Penn State tempest 1425s dust collector

[Bob Latourelle]

Does anyone here have or have any knowledge of the tempest 1425 s by Penn State industries. I am looking to up grade from a jet 1100 and the specs on the tempest seem good and it says ypu can locate the filters up to 10 feet away from the collector and chang the orientation of the inlet. Both these things would make it fit a lot better in my shop. I will be connecting 5 machines hard piped.

[Jim Andrew]

If you do NOT have a sander, this cyclone is probably fine. Says it has a 14" impeller, but no picture of the impeller. If you plan to get a sander in the future, go one size larger, as it will perform much better. Dust from a sander is the hardest to collect, so requires the most suction. When I had a 2hp cyclone, my sander had dust falling off the belt that feeds the parts, since I replaced it with a 3hp machine, there is very little on the floor around the machine. You just can't get too much suction if you use a drum, edge or widebelt sander.

[Mike Chalmers]

If you do NOT have a sander, this cyclone is probably fine. Says it has a 14" impeller, but no picture of the impeller. If you plan to get a sander in the future, go one size larger, as it will perform much better. Dust from a sander is the hardest to collect, so requires the most suction. When I had a 2hp cyclone, my sander had dust falling off the belt that feeds the parts, since I replaced it with a 3hp machine, there is very little on the floor around the machine. You just can't get too much suction if you use a drum, edge or widebelt sander. I wonder what the difference is? I have a 2hp with a Super Dust Deputy and use it for my 16/32 drum sander, 6 X 89 edge sander, and my full size spindle sander. Works quite well, though less so on the spindle sander, but that is a design issue. I use 6" snap lock for about 12', then use about 6' of 6" flex, and reduce to 4" at the machine.

[David Kumm]

It's all about the quality of the sheet metal work on the cyclone, the quality of the impeller and motor. DC motors run hard so it pays to buy a system with a good motor. Dave

[Bob Latourelle]

I would consider going to the 3.5 hp tempest 1535s. Any first hand knowledge of the performance of that unit ? I do have a 25 inch supermax double drum sander and run a small 1 man commercial shop.

[David Kumm]

You could give Dick Wynn a call to see if the Nano cartridges Penn State uses will shake the fine dust out easily. wood cyclones are only 50-60% efficient with fine dust so you want filters that surface load and shake out as they will tend to plug. Dave

[Larry Frank]

The Penn State cyclones seem to be a good value based on specs and fan curve. The fan curve seems consistent with other similar sized cyclones. I think it is well worth considering.

[Paul Stoops]

One of our members gave a presentation at last month's meeting of the Northwest Woodworkers Association in Seattle, WA, regarding his installation and performance of this Penn State cyclone dust collector. His presentation may be found here: [URL="http://www.nwwoodworkers.org/newsletters/February%202016%20Newsletter.pdf"]
He is pleased with the performance. Note in his presentation that he was able to reduce the noise level by 8dBA by moving his filter stack and insulating his exhaust duct with HVAC ducting. IMHO I think he could improve performance even more by using 6" ducting for his planer and table saw.

Paul

[Larry Frank]

The link that Paul supplied is very worth reading. I did not expect such a thorough description in a newsletter. It contains a description of two systems.

[Bob Latourelle]

Thanks Paul that article was very informative. I will be calling penn state tomorrow to ask about which collector they reccomend for my shop.

[Robert Engel]

I would consider going to the 3.5 hp tempest 1535s. Any first hand knowledge of the performance of that unit ? I do have a 25 inch supermax double drum sander and run a small 1 man commercial shop.

I've also got a Jet 1100 one day I will upgrade. I've also looked at the units from PSI, particularly the 3.5HP.

IMO I think its best to skip the 2HP and get this unit.
They have performance curves available. I've ready varying reviews but not independent.

[Jim Andrew]

I just looked at the 1525 on the Penn state website, and it looks OK. Wish they would post a pic of the impeller. In the reviews, one mentions they use a less than top quality motor. I would modify the wall mount to make it into a floor stand. My old collector mounted to the wall, I used rubber plates, and rubber hoses through the holes where it mounted, and it was louder than the collector with the floor mount. Of course, my collector is in a store room behind a insulated wall, so the noise is no problem. The difference in cost between this and the smaller unit is insignificant considering the amount of performance. I do NOT own aPenn state cyclone, but it looks acceptable to me for my shop.

[mike mcilroy]

I was looking into the same machine. This reply is about the service. I contacted PSI via their website and asked about a few dimensions for my particular use. I resubmitted this request 2 more times over the next 3 weeks... No response. I contacted another company(Grizzly, not that it matters) and got my questions answered promptly. I ordered the machine from Grizzly, contacted PSI and told them I would not need the info and why. This time a PSI employee responded the next day saying he was sorry but he had been sick and away from the office.
I understand that stuff happens, but 3 weeks and not even a reply like "our only guy that knows this side of our business is ill and will get back to you".
That experience raised serious doubts about the willingness or ability to serve me as a customer if I had purchased and had a problem with their product.

[Curt Harms]

I was looking into the same machine. This reply is about the service. I contacted PSI via their website and asked about a few dimensions for my particular use. I resubmitted this request 2 more times over the next 3 weeks... No response. I contacted another company(Grizzly, not that it matters) and got my questions answered promptly. I ordered the machine from Grizzly, contacted PSI and told them I would not need the info and why. This time a PSI employee responded the next day saying he was sorry but he had been sick and away from the office.
I understand that stuff happens, but 3 weeks and not even a reply like "our only guy that knows this side of our business is ill and will get back to you".
That experience raised serious doubts about the willingness or ability to serve me as a customer if I had purchased and had a problem with their product.

I wonder if they were aware you are in Canada and didn't want to deal with the cross border issues. Penn State is a pretty small operation. It would have been good form to at least have replied though.

[mike mcilroy]

They did know I was in Canada that was part of my questions.
I thought it was concerning that only 1 person could/would be able to deal with my questions, eg hey Bill's off for a while lets make sure whatever he was on is being taken care of.

[Ole Anderson]

I was considering a PSI cyclone 3 years ago until I started asking questions and all of a sudden got a cold shoulder. Went with Oneida which I know is made in the US. That carries weight with me. At the PSI price point, I doubt it is USA made. 2 hp Oneida had a much better fan curve than the PSI 2.5 hp model. I would go with a Grizzly (I have a few of their products) before I went with PSI, although I did buy a couple of oddball duct accessories from them.