Issue with Oneida DC

[Hoang N Nguyen]

I just received my shipment of the Oneida portable dust gorilla. It seems the 6" inlet on my unit isn't perfectly round but more elongated. If measured top to bottom of the inlet, it's 6" on the money, if measured from left to right, it's 6-1/4". This isn't allowing me to attach any fittings nor would it fit the 6" flex hose I bought from Oneida. I've tried calling their tech support all day with no answer, I'm guessing they may still be out for memorial break.

For those of you with an Oneida DC, do you have this same problem with your inlet?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Hoang,

Have you tried calling their Customer Service number? What you have is an issue with a newly delivered product.

Technical support would be more for resolving technical issues or troubleshooting a problem.

[Jesse Busenitz]

I didn't have trouble getting a flex hose on my inlet, but I didn't measure it. I did have trouble getting ahold of them occasionally.... mostly playing telephone tag as I don't get cell reception in my shop, but they were extremely helpful.

[Hoang N Nguyen]

Hoang,

Have you tried calling their Customer Service number? What you have is an issue with a newly delivered product.

Technical support would be more for resolving technical issues or troubleshooting a problem.

I tried both their customer service and tech support. Been trying all day with no answer. The box that the housing was in wasn't damaged and I believe it was due to bad workmanship from the shop.

I didn't have trouble getting a flex hose on my inlet, but I didn't measure it. I did have trouble getting ahold of them occasionally.... mostly playing telephone tag as I don't get cell reception in my shop, but they were extremely helpful.

I believe my problem is the overall circumference of my inlet is greater than that of a true 6" diameter inlet. That will will allow me to fit any hose or adapters on the inlet.

I'll give them another try tomorrow and hope someone answers and can help me out with this. I just wanted to see if anyone else had the same issue I do and if there was a work around. I'd hate to have to take the whole thing apart and replace the cyclone body.d

[Erik Loza]

I tried both their customer service and tech support. Been trying all day with no answer....

I would definitely try again tomorrow. Mondays are the busiest days for incoming phone calls and we are coming off a three-day weekend, so they are probably playing catch-up.

No professional affiliation except to say that they are good folks to do business with. I would just just be patient. Best of luck.

Erik

[ian maybury]

Not familiar with the Dust Gorilla Hoang, and a quick skim on the Oneida website didn't throw up anything beyond a nominal dimension. It looks though that it's perhaps sized to a nominal 6in bore, so that the outside dia of the inlet stub is larger. There's a few photos about showing flex hose connected over this stub and secured with a hose clip, but most look pretty strained/as though the hose has been on the receiving end of some persuasion to force it on. i.e. the inlet stubs very likely are all sized this way (see below for a reason)/it just needs handling slightly differently. One in the manual isn't very round either - but it doesn't matter a whole heap. Provided that is the circumference is about right.

There are differences in diameter between stock spiral ducting and hose that mean that joints need to be configured correctly if they are to go together conveniently. Flexible hose is very tough to get over a slightly too large stub, although it can sometimes be done. It's not a good idea though, as if the joint ever needs re-making it can be very inconvenient.

The essential issue with e.g spiral ducting is that the ducting bore is manufactured at or slightly over the nominal dimension, and not necessarily to a tight a tolerance. So that it's within spec/it flows at least the required amount of air. This means that the outside diameter is at least the nominal diameter plus the wall thickness of the ducting - plus some manufacturing tolerance. (it's for example typically 3mm over nominal or often a bit more in the case of 150mm spiral) Flexible hose meanwhile tends to have a bore pretty close to its nominal size. e.g. 150mm dia flexible is only a hair over 150mm dia inside. This means that a flexible hose will not easily slip over the outside of a piece of spiral ducting of the same nominal size. Not anyway without heavy duty forcing...

One fix is to shove a standard male joining sleeve into the end of the spiral ducting, and to rivet it in place. (choose the rivets so they are only just long enough - so that they can't hang up shavings) This is the fitting, it's routinely available for a few dollars from most HVAC/spiral ducting supply places: http://www.smcduct.com/spiral-pipe-a...r-non-gasketed Since it's diameter is just under nominal (it's smaller) it fits inside the spiral - and it also happens to fit very nicely inside flexible hose. The raised ridge helps make a seal. The hose is then easily secured to it with a hose clip. The joint between the sleeve and the duct (or your inlet stub as it may be in this case) needs sealing with a proper foil and mastic duct sealing tape - the fit is often quite sloppy. Some silicone before assembly is a good idea if you are confident it won't be coming apart again.. (don't use duct tape - it degrades very quickly)

My ducting drops are terminated with these stubs, see the photo below. (the open end pointing downwards) They enable hose connection in moments.

I'm guessing that maybe this is the situation with the stub on your cyclone - that it's possibly manufactured to a similar spec to spiral ducting. (if the diameter is way off then maybe it's a manufacturing error) If the above is true/its just a bit larger than the nominal size as sounds to be the case (you say 6 1/8in dia average) then perhaps a joining sleeve as above might do the business?

ductwork in progress 1-9-11.jpg

[Hoang N Nguyen]

Hoang,

Have you tried calling their Customer Service number? What you have is an issue with a newly delivered product.

Technical support would be more for resolving technical issues or troubleshooting a problem.

I didn't have trouble getting a flex hose on my inlet, but I didn't measure it. I did have trouble getting ahold of them occasionally.... mostly playing telephone tag as I don't get cell reception in my shop, but they were extremely helpful.

Not familiar with the Dust Gorilla Hoang, and a quick skim on the Oneida website didn't throw up anything beyond a nominal dimension. It looks though that it's perhaps sized to a nominal 6in bore, so that the outside dia of the inlet stub is larger. There's a few photos about showing flex hose connected over this stub and secured with a hose clip, but most look pretty strained/as though the hose has been on the receiving end of some persuasion to force it on. i.e. the inlet stubs very likely are all sized this way (see below for a reason)/it just needs handling slightly differently. One in the manual isn't very round either - but it doesn't matter a whole heap. Provided that is the circumference is about right.

There are differences in diameter between stock spiral ducting and hose that mean that joints need to be configured correctly if they are to go together conveniently. Flexible hose is very tough to get over a slightly too large stub, although it can sometimes be done. It's not a good idea though, as if the joint ever needs re-making it can be very inconvenient.

The essential issue with e.g spiral ducting is that the ducting bore is manufactured at or slightly over the nominal dimension, and not necessarily to a tight a tolerance. So that it's within spec/it flows at least the required amount of air. This means that the outside diameter is at least the nominal diameter plus the wall thickness of the ducting - plus some manufacturing tolerance. (it's for example typically 3mm over nominal or often a bit more in the case of 150mm spiral) Flexible hose meanwhile tends to have a bore pretty close to its nominal size. e.g. 150mm dia flexible is only a hair over 150mm dia inside. This means that a flexible hose will not easily slip over the outside of a piece of spiral ducting of the same nominal size. Not anyway without heavy duty forcing...

One fix is to shove a standard male joining sleeve into the end of the spiral ducting, and to rivet it in place. (choose the rivets so they are only just long enough - so that they can't hang up shavings) This is the fitting, it's routinely available for a few dollars from most HVAC/spiral ducting supply places: http://www.smcduct.com/spiral-pipe-a...r-non-gasketed Since it's diameter is just under nominal (it's smaller) it fits inside the spiral - and it also happens to fit very nicely inside flexible hose. The raised ridge helps make a seal. The hose is then easily secured to it with a hose clip. The joint between the sleeve and the duct (or your inlet stub as it may be in this case) needs sealing with a proper foil and mastic duct sealing tape - the fit is often quite sloppy. Some silicone before assembly is a good idea if you are confident it won't be coming apart again.. (don't use duct tape - it degrades very quickly)

My ducting drops are terminated with these stubs, see the photo below. (the open end pointing downwards) They enable hose connection in moments.

I'm guessing that maybe this is the situation with the stub on your cyclone - that it's possibly manufactured to a similar spec to spiral ducting. (if the diameter is way off then maybe it's a manufacturing error) If the above is true/its just a bit larger than the nominal size as sounds to be the case (you say 6 1/8in dia average) then perhaps a joining sleeve as above might do the business?

ductwork in progress 1-9-11.jpg

Thanks for the great post, the inlet is actually 6-1/4" at it's widest point. I think the sleeve you mentioned will work but will require a lot of ducting tape to make a good seal. I'll give Oneida another call tomorrow and see what they have to say first. Thanks

[Susumu Mori]

Hi Hoang,

Are you going to use the 6-inch port with a 6-inch hose?
I bought a metal 6-to-5-inch reducer from Oneida, which had a pleated flange. Initially, I didn't like it because I felt it was unyielding.

I didn't pay much attention to the diameter of the cyclone outlet but the pleated flange of the reducer was oversized and I could barely fit it in the outlet. But the first time when I turned on the thing with a 5-inch / 10-foot flexible hose on it, "bang!", the cyclone sucked the reducer into the correct place regardless of the size and shape differences. I believe they use the metal reducers/connectors because, unlike plastic ones, they have some gives.

Once the metal reducer is in, it is just a matter between the hose and the reducer. Funny thing is, the 5-inch outlets of woodworking machines have slight diameter differences among them. So, it seems not exact science anyway....

[Don Frambach]

Several months ago, I had trouble getting the remote to work properly with my new Oneida dust collector. After leaving several messages and getting no return calls, I sent them an email and got an immediate response. Oneida is a good company so I'm sure they'll get you going.

[ian maybury]

Some just in case thoughts. Yours is a mobile unit i think Hoang so this may not apply (you just run it up close to a machine when needed, and only need a short flexible?), but be aware that flexible hose has a high resistance to air flow (it can be up to x3), and that it's generally best on a longer ducting run to if possible to go most of the way with rigid ducting, and to minimise the length of flexible used. Best on most systems also (unless the motor is undersized/at risk of being unable to handle the higher flow, or the machine hood is extremely restrictive, and/or there's a long vertical lift and the fan is a bit marginal in high pressure performance - so that it won't maintain enough airspeed for reliable transportation) to run with the full bore size right to the machine to reduce the loss in flow.

If a machine hood is extremely restrictive it's generally worth thinking of making some changes to free it up - no point having a good dust collector, and forcing it to fight one handed...

If hooking the cyclone up to rigid ducting (it again may not apply here) it's generally best to arrange for a short length of flexible hose between it and the rigid duct. This so that vibration from the fan is not transmitted into the ductwork - it can result in a significant increase in noise levels.

[Hoang N Nguyen]

I don't intend to run flex hose for all my duct work, the reference to the 6" flex hose was just something I had on hand to test fit the inlet once I noticed it was kind of off. I plan to run either PVC or metal duct work along the wall where all my tools are lined up and maybe one across the garage to my miter saw and drill press. I'm trying to run as little duct work as possible before the wife shaves me bald.

Speaking of duct work, I found the big box stores have 26ga. metal HVAC ducting at a much cheaper price than that of online vendors selling these for "woodworking". Is this something I can use and if not, is there a reason why not?

Thanks,
Hoang

[Ole Anderson]

26 gauge snaplock from most any source is fine, best if you can get it in five foot lengths.

[Paul McGaha]

Hoang,

When I installed my system the first thing to connect to the cyclone was one of their spiral duct adapters (slides inside of the inlet duct), then the 1st section of spiral duct after that.

It's been a few years since my install but it seems like mine was a little out of round also, but nothing that couldn't be overcome. No big deal.

PHM

EDIT - Very similar to the fitting Ian is talking about. Oneida calls them spiral duct adapters. The ones from Oneida are about 6" long.

[Izzy Camire]

I also recently got the portable Dust Gorilla and I am having a problem with attaching the filter. I could not get the tech support yesterday but I called first thing this morning and left a message and they got back to me shortly.

[Peter Aeschliman]

It would be extremely easy for you to reshape that inlet. You probably only need to push the elongated section in 1/8". The narrow section will bow out about 1/8" to compensate, and you'll have a generally round inlet. I imagine it's made out of 16 or 18 gauge steel, so no biggie.

Just put a clamp on the wide section and slowly cinch it down. Problem solved!