Oneida Dust Cobra Walks The Dog

[Keith Outten]

Yesterday UPS delivered my new Oneida Dust Cobra. I took the time this morning to assemble the Cobra and give it a quick trial run and I have to tell you it is the ultimate shop vac. Reasonably quiet and more powerful than any commercial vacuum system I have ever seen, anything and I mean anything that gets near the vacuum hose inlet is gone immediately. My quick test was done with the 2.5" hose that shipped with the Cobra and 40 feet of 1.5" hose, enough to cover more than the length of my 36' long shop.

My quest has been to find a system that would vacuum my ShopBot CNC Router table quick and not leave a spec of dust or one chip behind. My dust collector will do it but the four inch hose is tough to handle and it can't get under the carriage, particularly where the router motor hangs down. The Dust Cobra did a fine job of vacuuming the table this morning using a low profile floor sweep the four by eight foot table was clean as a whistle in less than a minute.

I bought a Dust Deputy from Oneida a couple of months ago and I was really impressed with the fact that my shop vac canister stayed empty and I didn't have to stop to clean the filter every ten minutes when vacuuming fine dust. The weak link then became the performance of my shop vac, the Dust Deputies cyclone was incredible and I was sold on how they work.

The Dust Cobra has tremendous power and CFM to go with it, plus the cyclone which all but eliminates filter cleaning. The Dust Cobra is a little pricey but worth every penny in performance. Anybody who is on the fence considering purchasing the Dust Cobra have no fear, this is the shop vac to die for and I am hard to please when it comes to vacuum performance, probably because I have never found a system that could compete with my dust collector.

http://www.oneida-air.com/cobra.php

If you decide to order a Dust Cobra tell Oneida that you want it with a remote control installed which would be my preference. Walking back and forth from one end of my shop to the other to turn the Dust Cobra on and off is the only thing I dislike and I will fix that problem ASAP. Even though it has wheels and can be moved easily I prefer to use a long hose.

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[Chris Padilla]

Interesting little shop vac there, Keith, but I was quite shocked at the price, but being Oneida backed, I'm sure it works extremely well....

[Brian Backner]

Keith,

I also have a ShopBot (an old PR gold strut) and also have been looking for a better dust collection solution. Seems like this might fit the bill - except for the price!

I have been playing around with Bill Pentz's design for a dust deputy type of cyclone for 2.5" piping, but the cobra looks more interesting as it is a self contained unit. It would therefore be easier to move around than using a shop vac AND an add-on cyclone.

I'm curious, can you tell what specific vacuum motor the cobra has installed? I'm assuming it would be one of the heavier duty Ameteks or similar (like Brady W used for the 9-15 project last year).

Brian

[Ted Calver]

Keith,
Are you going to wall mount this up high and put the deputy in-line underneath it?? I just had an epiphany that might let me justify the high cost of this unit. Our house was plumbed for a whole house vac with the unit in the garage (shop) but we never bought the unit. I'll bet with a blast gate I could use this to also power the house vac system....the missus would love that!!

[Keith Outten]

Brian, I just checked the manual and it doesn't specify the motor manufacturer or model. I will contact Oneida and find out.

Ted, using the Cobra for both your workshop and as a whole house vacuum sounds feasible to me. I have an older whole house vac that a friend gave me several years ago and it isn't anywhere near the performance of the Dust Cobra. I think I will run a PVC line to my shop office upstairs so I can plug a hose in to vacuum the carpet :)
I'm not sure yet about mounting it, but that was my original idea mainly because I don't like to drag around a vac behind me in my shop. There isn't any performance drop that I can see using the long hose so it makes sense to mount the Dust Cobra to the wall or a post. I don't think you would need the Dust Deputy, I gave mine to a friend of mine this afternoon.

A funny thing happened this afternoon, the Dust Cobra picked up my steel utility knife that fell on the floor...it was down the hose and in the tank in about one second, retrieval was easy though :)
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[Chris Padilla]

My DC sucked up a rather large towel (I guess they fit in a 6" S&D!!) but it somehow made it intact into my dustbin, no harm, no foul. I was expecting to have to rip apart my DC to uncoil it from around the impeller.

Things that suck can be good.... :D

[Prashun Patel]

Man, I like the package and the maneuverability of this, but you can make a frankenstein version of this with yr own shopvac, a Clearvue Mini w/ lid adapter and extra hose for a fraction of the price.

[Phil Thien]

Man, I like the package and the maneuverability of this, but you can make a frankenstein version of this with yr own shopvac, a Clearvue Mini w/ lid adapter and extra hose for a fraction of the price.

Well, I don't know what they're using for a vac head but note they are claiming 260-CFM. You aren't going to achieve that with anything less than an outstanding vac head. They're out there, and they aren't cheap.

A large shop vac delivers up to about 160-180 CFM.

[Jim Becker]

My DC sucked up a rather large towel (I guess they fit in a 6" S&D!!) but it somehow made it intact into my dustbin, no harm, no foul. I was expecting to have to rip apart my DC to uncoil it from around the impeller.

Sure that wasn't those old curtains, Chris??? :D:D

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I wondered how and why Chris got rid of those curtains he so dearly liked!:eek:

[Keith Outten]

According to Oneida the Dust Cobra is rated at 90"W/C-260 CFM and the average shop vac is rated at about 70 cfm. The performance of the Dust Cobra is definately more than three times the 6hp shop vac I was using which worked good with the Dust Deputy but it isn't in the same class with the new Dust Cobra...not by a long shot. It's like comparing the family car to an Indy Racer.

The motor and fan design is where its at in this case. The Dust Cobra is very powerful and nothing like any other machine that I have ever seen. Make no mistake it is a pricey machine but it ain't the family shop vac either.
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[Phil Thien]

The motor and fan design is where its at in this case. The Dust Cobra is very powerful and nothing like any other machine that I have ever seen. Make no mistake it is a pricey machine but it ain't the family shop vac either.
.

Yeah, I'm getting the impression that they're using a vac head similar as to what is used in car washes (you know, the ones that suck all your spare change out of your ashtray through 40' of hose :rolleyes:).

Those vacs can cost over $1000 all by themselves. They pull like crazy, and are designed to run continuously.

Quality ain't cheap.

[Chris Padilla]

Sure that wasn't those old curtains, Chris??? :D:D


I wondered how and why Chris got rid of those curtains he so dearly liked!:eek:

har-dee-har-har

I guess this will never die...but you two will one day...and hopefully before I do!! ;) :D

[Keith Outten]

I've had the weekend to use my new Dust Cobra a few more times and I am even more impressed. I also tried several variations of hose lengths and nothing seemd to make much difference in performance, possibly a very small loss in flow rate when I installed a couple of standard tools like the crevice tool but the suction seemed to increase as you would expect.

I am looking for a fitting to connect my router fence to the 2.5" hose to see how effective the chip collection is, I expect it will once again be way more than adequate. After that a test with my ROS.

Phil, you may be right about the comparison between the Dust Cobra and the commercial vac at car washes, they may be a close match.
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[tony pham]

I'm using a Shop-Vac for a 4x8 CNC vacuum-hold down, anyone tried using the Dust Cobra? This maybe the buying factor.

Thanks

[John Merkel]

I am thinking of buying a Dust Cobra as my dust collector but I am not sure of it's capabilities. Does anyone have any experience attaching it to a DeWalt 13 inch planer or a table saw? If so is it necessary to move the Cobra to each machine and use a short 2 12 inch hose, or will thirty feet of hose moved from machine to machine be able to keep up with the chips and dust? Thanks for your thoughts

[Rod Sheridan]

I am thinking of buying a Dust Cobra as my dust collector but I am not sure of it's capabilities. Does anyone have any experience attaching it to a DeWalt 13 inch planer or a table saw? If so is it necessary to move the Cobra to each machine and use a short 2 12 inch hose, or will thirty feet of hose moved from machine to machine be able to keep up with the chips and dust? Thanks for your thoughts

John, chips and dust are two different subjects.

The specifications for the Cobra indicate that it would be fine for collecting chips.

It wouldn't collect the dust from a tablesaw due to the design of the saw.

To collect dust from a tablesaw you need 400 to 500 CFM at the cabinet (this could be lower if the saw has a blade shroud), and 200 to 300 CFM at the overhead blade guard.

That's 600 to 800 CFM to pick up the dust from the saw.

Small planers are normally in the 400 to 500 CFM range.

The cobra would be the choice for sanders, routers etc, where the dust is collected very close to the source, and the higher vacuum levels are required due to the small hose size and air inlet areas in the tools.

Regards, Rod.

[Keith Outten]

Rod is right, the Cobra is more of a vacuum cleaner and less like a dust collector. Concerning the length of the hose I have had at least 60 feet of hose connected to mine running up the stairs to vacuum my shop office with no noticeable decrease in performance. Oneida has recently decreased the price of the Dust Cobra by almost 50% so it is a lot of machine for the money.
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[Eddie Ng]

My quest has been to find a system that would vacuum my ShopBot CNC Router table quick and not leave a spec of dust or one chip behind. My dust collector will do it but the four inch hose is tough to handle and it can't get under the carriage, particularly where the router motor hangs down. The Dust Cobra did a fine job of vacuuming the table this morning using a low profile floor sweep the four by eight foot table was clean as a whistle in less than a minute.

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Hello Keith,

Are you using the Cobra only to clear off the ShopBot's table? Have you tried using it as the DC for the CNC's spindle / router? Do you think it would be suitable for that task?

Thanks,

Eddie

[John Merkel]

Thanks to you both for the quick response. I want to have dust and chip collection for my Ridgid table saw which has a 2 1/2 exhaust port under the table( not a cabinet saw) my 13 inch Dewalt planer and my Makita chop saw. They all have 2 1/2 or 1 1/2 inch exhausts. The Oneida people said the Dust Cobra would be fine ,but I had serious doubts and hence my question. They also said the Mini Gorilla would not work because of having to collect from a 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 exhaust port. So what do people without cabinet saws and other tools without 4 inch ports do for dust and chip collection? There must be some alternative in the cyclonic field that will work with these tools. Has anyone hooked up a Mini Gorilla to these small ports and does it work? Oneida said going from 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 port into a 4 or 5 inch hose would result in little or no airflow. After reading about the benefits of the cyclonic collectors I really don't want anything else if I am not forced into it. Thanks, John

[Keith Outten]

Hello Keith,

Are you using the Cobra only to clear off the ShopBot's table? Have you tried using it as the DC for the CNC's spindle / router? Do you think it would be suitable for that task?

Thanks,

Eddie

Eddie,

I have my ShopBot hooked into my shop DC piping and it does a fairly good job. When I cut sheet goods and some of the chips fall down into the areas that have been cut they are left behind when I remove the sheet/plaques. The chips left on the table have to be completely removed before I can load another sheet and start again. The Dust Cobra has so much suction it makes short work of getting the table clean and it doesn't leave anything behind.

I honestly believe you could use a Dust Cobra with a ShopBot if you have a really good dust foot but it probably isn't the best choice give the number of hours my DC runs when I run my ShopBot. The chips would also fill up the ten gallon canister pretty quick, I use a large chip box outside my shop so I don't have to stop to dump bags....ever :)

Tools that have small hose connections would probably be fine using the Dust Cobra for a DC but large tools like table saws would be better off with a full size dust collector.
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[Andrew Joiner]

Keith,

Did you try a reducer to use your big dust collector with a Shop vac hose? This would be a simple and cheap method if it works.

Anyone tried this?

[Keith Outten]

Andrew,

Before I bought the Dust Cobra I used my dust collector to vacuum my ShopBot table. It worked really well performance wise but the 4" diameter hose is a bit unruly to handle with a piece of 4" PVC pipe on the end. I had used a reducer several years ago to hook up three random orbital sanders to my DC simultaneously, once again it worked but it lacked the power of a shop vac even though the volume was adequate.

I could have fabricated some special tools for the 4" pipe I guess but I still wouldn't have gotten the power that the Dust Cobra provides and the volume of the DC isn't the most crucial issue when your cleaning up a ShopBot table. I'm satisfied that I have the best setup now possible. The dust collector and the Dust Cobra are different tools and each does its job really well. After messing around with several setups I was willing to spend the money to get the best tool for the job and I'm pretty sure my system is as good as it can get right now.
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[Prashun Patel]

Keith-
How do you keep your hose organized both during and between use? Hooks? a rack?
Shawn