Dust Collection Help

[Mike Congiusti]

Hi Guys,

I’m in the market for a dust collector. I have a 2 car garage workshop and not a lot of space. I currently use a shop vac with a dust deputy that’s OK but I need something better that I don’t have to empty every 5 minutes. In my old shop I had an Oneida Gorilla Cyclone 5HP but that was ducted etc. I need something portable as I use it for one machine at a time. I have a Dewalt 735 planer, a Grizzly 771Z table saw, a Grizzly oscillating sander and a miter saw.

Filtration is the most important factor. I need to cut down all the fine dust. I looked at the Shop Fox and Grizzly units. What filter size should I look for, 5 microns, 2.5? I need some ideas and real life usage opinions. I would like to keep this under $800.

Thanks, Mike

[Mark Gibney]

I have been using a ClearVue Max for 12 or 13 years, and it works well.
However it's overkill for some of my machines, and even in a large rented workshop if I can avoid that extra noise, I will.
A few years ago I bought a little 1 hp collector (some generic brand) off craigslist for $30 and it works great for my 8" jointer, my 12" planer and my 20" bandsaw.
The air return is through the "heavy cloth" bag that came with it and this may allow a lot more fines to escape than through the pleated filters on my ClearVue but there is a never ending amount of dust in the shop anyway and so the extra doesn't bother me.
It might not work for you because of that, but I'm putting it out there just to say they can pull all the dust and chips a smaller machine can produce.

[Patrick Varley]

Just to throw it out there, but I wonder whether you would still do better on the spindle sander and miter saw with a dust extractor (or shop vac), and those shouldn't fill it up to fast for those machines. If you get a HEPA capable extractor, that would address the filtration.

For the table saw, as Mark mentioned, a 1 HP portable unit should work well enough on the table saw.

Which leaves the 735. I run mine without a DC and just use the blower. It goes into a drum with 4" dust hose, and you could fit a filter on as the exhaust if you wanted.

I wonder if a combo of a new extractor (e.g. Fein Turbo or Festool CT series) and a portable 1HP DC would work for you. If you could make it work, you can find wall mounted 1HP units that use cartridge filters which would give you even more filtration. And if you only had to use it for the table saw, might be possible.

I'm in a somewhat similar situation to you using one half of a two car garage that can expand to the other half as necessary. I have a 1HP DC mounted on a wall that is ducted to my TS, but can also be switched over to a router table or jointer (which actually roll to the area of the dust hose). It's vented outside so I don't worry about needing a filter.

As above, my 735 goes to a fiber drum with a 4" inlet and outlet on the lid. Outlet has a 5 micron bag, though I have thought about changing to a filter of some sort.

For everything else (drill press, 14" band saw, oscillating sander) I roll a Festool CT26 to the tools.

[Mike Congiusti]

Patrick,

The sander is a floor unit with a 4" dust port. When I had my Oneida unit it worked great. Using a shop vac with the 5 gallon dust deputy just does not cut it and it barely picks up anything from my table saw. Space and filtrations are my biggest concern. Everything is mobile. I have one side of the garage will all my tools and vac. The other side is my wood rack, tool chest and bench.

I was first looking at a 1HP Shop Fox but I don't think it will filter the fine dust. I looked at the Grizzly 1 1/2 hp wall unit and pair it with Oneida's cyclone kit but that may take up too much space. I have to lay it out. But that would come close to what I had. I would love to have my old shop back. But, I'm not moving back to the cold northeast. LOL

[glenn bradley]

I think your budget will be your sticking point for a unit that can return reasonable air quality to the work area. Any return dust will leave a powdery coating on things. Any return dust over sub-micron size is a health problem. Dust collection is almost always a compromise so if we start there (giving in on return air quality or cost) you will find a larger selection of machines. I have an old 1HP Delta with an oversized AFF bag that does a reasonable job in the 2-3 micron range. Still a fine-powder-generator but usable. These should be around $100 on the used market. If you weren't on the opposite coast we could make a deal :). Any chance of adding a bump out to the small shop to put the unit outside and exhaust to the great outdoors? If you can do this you save floor space and can get a lot more bang for your buck (not counting the bump out cost that is). Just food for thought.

[Mike Congiusti]

I think your budget will be your sticking point for a unit that can return reasonable air quality to the work area. Any return dust will leave a powdery coating on things. Any return dust over sub-micron size is a health problem. Dust collection is almost always a compromise so if we start there (giving in on return air quality or cost) you will find a larger selection of machines. I have an old 1HP Delta with an oversized AFF bag that does a reasonable job in the 2-3 micron range. Still a fine-powder-generator but usable. These should be around $100 on the used market. If you weren't on the opposite coast we could make a deal :). Any chance of adding a bump out to the small shop to put the unit outside and exhaust to the great outdoors? If you can do this you save floor space and can get a lot more bang for your buck (not counting the bump out cost that is). Just food for thought.

I now live in a 55+ community and a bump out is not possible. I don't want to spen 2K for the Oneida mini dusr gorrilla. I'm hoping what I outlined above might work for around $900. I'm hoping for someone to chime in that has the same issue with a good solution.

[Patrick Varley]

Patrick,

The sander is a floor unit with a 4" dust port. When I had my Oneida unit it worked great. Using a shop vac with the 5 gallon dust deputy just does not cut it and it barely picks up anything from my table saw. Space and filtrations are my biggest concern. Everything is mobile. I have one side of the garage will all my tools and vac. The other side is my wood rack, tool chest and bench.

I was first looking at a 1HP Shop Fox but I don't think it will filter the fine dust. I looked at the Grizzly 1 1/2 hp wall unit and pair it with Oneida's cyclone kit but that may take up too much space. I have to lay it out. But that would come close to what I had. I would love to have my old shop back. But, I'm not moving back to the cold northeast. LOL

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, thought the sander might be a smaller unit.

What about something like the Grizzly G0785 (or similar), which is a wall mount 1HP that has a canister filter so it should give you better filtration than the mesh bags. If you can't keep it stationary, maybe rig up a mobile cart/cabinet of sorts?Basically make your own version of the Mini Gorilla (which would seemingly be a great option if not for price).

[Walter Mooney]

Mike, what about one of these?
https://www.thewoodturningstore.com/record-power-cgv386-6-us-camvac-90l-3000w-vacuum-4-inlet-with-hose/

They have a somewhat lesser one that’s less expensive. Im giving some serious thought to one of these myself, since I’m in a two-car garage without a lot of space.

[Mike Congiusti]

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, thought the sander might be a smaller unit.

What about something like the Grizzly G0785 (or similar), which is a wall mount 1HP that has a canister filter so it should give you better filtration than the mesh bags. If you can't keep it stationary, maybe rig up a mobile cart/cabinet of sorts?Basically make your own version of the Mini Gorilla (which would seemingly be a great option if not for price).


That's what I'm thinking about except get the 1 1/2 HP which delivers 1250 cfm instead of 537 cfm. I could add the Oneida cyclone kit and have a mini gorilla for about $900. Need to work on the mounting to the wall and building a base for the cyclone.

[Thomas Wilson]

Mike,

I have an Oneida Portable Dust Gorilla 2 hp that I want to sell. It is a from 2013? but has seen little use. The portable base rolls well because of large wheels (4”) in the back of the tripod. It pulls over cords very well. It has a very large surface area HEPA filter for 2 hp. I think I paid $1800. I will sell for 2/3 of whatever I paid. I can look up the receipt if you are interested.

The DC is in La Follette, TN but I am in Atlanta frequently. I can get it to Atlanta in my pickup. It would be about 4 hrs for you to get from Bluffton to Atlanta. A pickup or small trailer would carry it easily.

Here is a link to the manual (https://www.oneida-air.com/amfile/file/download/file/187/)

TW

[Mike Congiusti]

Thomas,

Thanks for the offer as that would be a great price and product. I don't have 220 in my garage nor do I have space in the box to add it. I would need to have a sub panel installed. Lastly I would need to rent a pickup as I don't have a hitch for a trailer. I'm leaning toward getting the Grizzly wall mounted G0944 with the Oneida cyclone kit. I still need to figue where to put it. I could have used another 4 feet of garage space. I wish they offered it when I built this place.

[Thomas Wilson]

No problem. I will list it in the Classifieds soon.

[Doug Colombo]

Have you looked at the Jet DC-1100 v1-CK ? I have the DC1200 (which is 220v only) and am very pleased with it. Both the units have the Vortex cone for separation and a canister filter. The DC-1100 can be wired for both 110 or 220. I think it should work great for the tools you listed.
https://www.acmetools.com/dc-1100vx-ck-dust-collector-15-hp-1ph--708659k/731325175318.html

[Jim Becker]

That's what I'm thinking about except get the 1 1/2 HP which delivers 1250 cfm instead of 537 cfm. I could add the Oneida cyclone kit and have a mini gorilla for about $900. Need to work on the mounting to the wall and building a base for the cyclone.
Please remember that the CFM numbers you see from mass marketers are not realistic under normal operating conditions...that unit might get to 1250 CFM with no duct and hose right before it turns into a smoking ball of fire. A 4" hose can only pass about 400-450 CFM max, too. A 5" hose can fit a little more air. There is a general table in a sticky at the top of this forum discussion area...general guidance only, but helpful to understand the situation.

I had a 1.5hp Delta single stage with an SDD in my temporary shop while my new shop building was being planned and constructed. It was adequate for getting chips and had reasonable air flow (not actually measured) through the very short 5" quick connect metal ducting network, but it was nothing compared to the 2hp Oneida cyclone system I had in the old shop. That was very noticeable, too. I truly wished I had my air cleaner in the temporary shop while running both the drum sander and my CNC as the level of fines in the area jumped up for sure even with the point collection.

[Bill Dufour]

I would watch for used units. Not much besides bearings to wear on a dc. You may want to upgrade the filter anyway.
Bill D