Hello all, i just stumbled across this thread and thought I would give you my assessment of the machine. I do sell them through the North Carolina Furniture School, and I do have a working relationship with Harvey, but I would like to give that some context. Harvey is the manufacturing company that makes most of the machines we know and use today including Laguna, Grizzly, many products for Jet and Powermatic and several other brands you would know. They are time tested and proven by all of us. Throughout Europe and Asia, they sell a premium tier of machines under the Harvey name. These machines compete with premium European industrial machines like Martin and Altendorf. Through a small network of dealers, they have begun offering them in the U.S. I have come to know the owner of Harvey and many of their employees. They are good people, running a top notch company. In recent years they have hired young, creative talent who are bringing fresh ideas to the table and the Gyro Air is one of those ideas.
I beta tested this machine in Shanghai a few years ago and was impressed by it for several reasons. From the ground up it is a new approach to collecting particulate. It genuinely is more quiet, built like a tank, rolls around, and variable speed. Everything is heavy gauge precision-welded steel and the motor and controls are industrial grade inverted 3phase Siemens. The intake is a heavy duty turbine impeller that forces air through a pair of static turbine tubes which accelerate the air, and force it into independent separators for heavy and fine particulate which drop into separate internal bins. The cleaned air then passes through a pair of Hepa filters for recirculation into the shop - so it acts as a secondary ambient air filter. With the exception of the steel impeller, there are no moving parts and therefore no maintenance. As far as the decibel rating, keep in mind that amplitude is roughly doubled by every 10 dba increase - so that is MUCH more significant than you might realize. Furthermore, the noise rating is just the machine and when hard-piped into a shop the noise is reduced. You can literally have a conversation at normal talking volume next to it while running. Compared to my large cyclone (which does move more air) it is a dream.
My primary interest in the machine was for woodturning. I can run it for 8 hours a day, right beside my lathe, and I don't feel hearing fatigue at the end of the day. I also really like the ability to move is around or lock it in place with the height-adjustable casters.
As far as bin size, I was reluctant about that also, but pleasantly surprised by three things: it holds 32 gallons, or put another way, 2 gallons more than my shop trash cans. Secondly (and possibly more important to me) the bins are so easy to empty, I do not dread emptying it out more often than my cyclone and therefore gets used and emptied much more often. Thirdly, the Siemens controller automatically triggers an alarm with a flashing light when the bins are close to full, then it shuts them off so the machine cannot overfill.
One last and critical difference between these machines and the traditional wood particulate collectors we are all familiar with is ability to collect welding dust, metal fabrication debris, graphite, plastics, etc. So for CNC applications it is amazing.
In the coming months they are rolling out two larger size machines for industrial applications and I understand that they are exploring possibilities for a smaller machine.
It's a solid machine in every way, built in excess of what most people would ever need or ask of it. Toyota agrees and have begun replacing their dust collection systems in factories worldwide with these units - which is a singing endorsement of the build quality and systems reliability.
I invite anyone interested to come test drive one at our shop, call anytime.
Stuart Kent
Founding Director of the North Carolina Furniture School
Robust, Rikon, Harvey, & Easy Wood Tools Dealer
252-916-8226