Need Better Dust Collection

[Steve Kohn]

My 1000 square foot hobby shop is currently being serviced by an old G1028 single stage dust collector. The DC is plumbed into a corner of the shop and is not moveable. The bag has been replaced with an oversized 4 micron bag (I think that is what I replaced the original 30 micron bag with). I have the same material making up a sleeve from the ring to a 30 gallon garbage can. This system seems to work well for larger chips but I'm finding that even running an overhead air filter I'm still getting exposed to too much fine dust. The dust has totally coated the entire shop and every surface inside. Worse yet are my sinus problems are getting significantly worse.

I've looked at getting a better filter for the DC however that still leaves me with the fabric sleeve connecting to the garbage can. I believe that the sleeve would continue to pump fine dust into my workspace. Moving the DC outside, or enclosing it doesn't seem to be a workable solution. Anything else I should try?

As an alternate I've been looking at the Laguna P/Flux 2HP HEPA Cyclone DC. They are darn expensive but have some really neat features that I like. Does anyone have one of these and what is the opinion on them?

[Jim Andrew]

Check out the clerevue or oneida 5hp systems. They have the long cone cyclone, and work better than the short cones. If you buy the best system, no need to improve down the road. I vented my cyclone outside, and put a 8" outlet with a blast gate for cold days with the filter, and it is amazing how much less suction I get using the filter.

[Doug Dawson]

As an alternate I've been looking at the Laguna P/Flux 2HP HEPA Cyclone DC. They are darn expensive but have some really neat features that I like. Does anyone have one of these and what is the opinion on them?

I have the P|Flux 1.5hp DC. It's quiet, highly mobile and tremendously efficient. (I can't run ducting, because of low ceilings, garage doors, and my equipment moves all over the place depending on what I'm doing.) It lets me run very short conduit.

Were I to run ducting, I'd step up to the 3hp and skip the 2hp, it's only a few hundred more. So many people here like the ClearVue units, but that's one tall drink of water. I'm not convinced it would be an advantage, the Laguna is a very smart design.

[Julie Moriarty]

For years I ran a 3/4 HP Delta drum DC that I vented outside. I just removed the bag and ran a a 4" duct to a dryer vent outside. No issues with fine dust returning. I later converted that to a cyclone and that cut down dramatically on how much dust was vented outside. When we moved, I again ran the fine dust exhaust outside. The only down side is makeup air.

[Charlie Hinton]

I have had the PFLUX2 for a few months and I like it a lot.
Being the only cyclone I have ever used I have nothing else first hand to compare it to.
Having said that, it does work very well in all categories.
Very good airflow, excellent separation, and reasonable noise level (I think everyone running a cyclone in a small shop will want hearing protection though).

Like everyone else looking at these machines I used all of the online resources to try to figure out which one to choose.
My decision came down to the PFLUX2 and the equivalent $$ Oneida setup.
I guess both have their pluses / minuses with no clear cut #1.
Both machines get stellar reviews and disappointed reviews from users.

With the wide disparity of reports on the separation effectiveness of the Laguna I came to the conclusion that it could be assembly related since there are lots of parts to bolt together on the Laguna machines.
The collection bin in particular is flat panels screwed together so there's lots of opportunities there for air leaks.
With this in mind I bought two two extra tubes of silicon caulk (one comes with the machine) and when I assembled mine I made absolutely sure there would be no air leaks in the cyclone assembly or the dust bin.
Another common complaint is the sheet metal screws and plastic caps in the bin.
With the extra caulking those will never be a problem either.

The assembly instructions in the manual are truly lacking and the assembly video on YouTube is almost mandatory viewing but there are still a couple things left out in regards to the PFLUX machines and are not mentioned in any Laguna documentation.
The PFLUX machines use a negative pressure tube to hold the bag down in the bin.
On the back of the bin there is a square tube that connects a hole at the bottom of the bin and to a hole in the lid.
This tube does not align correctly to the hole in the lid.
There is no documentation of this but you will need spacers to go between the square tube and the bin (my machine did not come with these spacers).
If you get the PFLUX and it has the spacers with it the spacers will be four unfinished aluminum rectangular pieces with a square hole in the middle, two pieces are stacked and go at the top and bottom mounting points on the bin.
This moves the square tube farther back approximately 3/4".

Since I wanted to use the machine immediately as a temporary workaround I used blue tape to make the tube and hole seal well enough to work.
My experience with Laguna customer service was somewhat lacking.
Via telephone I was never successfully transferred to the service department (kept rolling to a full mailbox) but I managed to contact Laguna support through the online web form and they immediately responded via email (1 day) and told me I was missing spacers and longer bolts required to mount the tube.
They generated a zero dollar sales order for those parts and said I should get them in a few days.
They may have sent them but the parts never arrived.
After many more emails I eventually (3 months later) got the spacers, but never did get the longer bolts.
I supplied my own bolts and everything aligned correctly and it is working fine.

I have generated several bins of sawdust from hardwood, plywood, and a little bit of MDF (tablesaw, jointer, planer, downdraft sanding table, bandsaw) and there's virtually nothing that has collected in the bottom of the filter bin.

I am very satisfied with the performance of this machine.

Would I buy it again ??
I am unsure.
While the spacers are a relatively minor hiccup they are required because of a Laguna known design/manufacturing error that is not documented at the customer's level. This wouldn't really be an issue except for the fact that the customer has to assemble the machine. The spacers and bolts should have been in one of the hardware bags and identified as to where they are used.
I never was able to speak to, or leave a voicemail for the customer service reps.
They did not call me even though I requested it via email.
Bottom line, regardless of the reasons it took 3 months to get the spacers and I never got the correct bolts.
What would it be like if I had/have a major problem ?