I'm sure there's a link to an archive somewhere on this group-- but
have not been able to find it. I'm about to take the 'plunge' & buy a
cyclone DC for my shop (16 x 24) I'm really 'getting sick' of all the
dust. I'm asking for opinions on the 'best ' cyclone.
Please score on these basis points:
1. cost
2. customer service
3. delivery & condition when arrived
4. how well does it suck
5. reliability/problems - including installation

Please don't respond with answers for any other type of dust collection
system.

Thanx, Phil

Can't give any advice on cyclones, but if you go to groups.google.com,
type in rec.woodworking, you can then search the group. I do remember
seeing some posts in the last few months about cyclones. Off the top
of my head, I think I've heard good things about customer service from
Oneida (just down the road from me), Penn, and Grizzly.
I hope people with cyclones will be nice enough to respond and help you
out despite any recent discussions.
Andy

I'm shopping for a new DC as well, this one's at the top of my list.
I've sent a couple emails with questions and recieved reponses pretty
quick. http://clearvuecyclones.com

Check out the Bill Pentz'
(http://billpentz.com//woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm) site, mind
numbing amount of info!

I just bought some 6" blastgates from them and they are excellent
quality and very reasonable on price.
I plan on purchasing a cyclone myself from them in the near future. I
talked to Bill Pentz regarding his opinion on Grizzly, Oneida, or
Clearvue. He says Clearvue is his choice because they are using his
design. So, if you don't want to build a cyclone from his plans on his
site, you can buy one from Clearvue.

Steve wrote:
I'm shopping for a new DC as well, this one's at the top of my list.
I've sent a couple emails with questions and recieved reponses pretty
quick. http://clearvuecyclones.com

Check out the Bill Pentz'
(http://billpentz.com//woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm) site, mind
numbing amount of info!


--
Joseph Connors
The New Golden Rule:
Those with the gold, make the rules!

Joseph Connors wrote:

Check out the Bill Pentz'
(http://billpentz.com//woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm) site, mind
numbing amount of info!

That's a great source of info, and Bill's a very helpful guy. I got a
response to a question the same day.

I've read that Oneida's in a bit of a ****ing match with Grizzly over
"who's better" (I think right on Oneida's website). Grizzly has 'em
much cheaper, but Oneida said theirs are better made, although I sort
of remember not being convinced.

I'd go with what Bill recommends, because I trust him.
JP

On 3 Feb 2006 15:32:45 -0800, "Phil at small (vs at large)"
wrote:

I'm sure there's a link to an archive somewhere on this group-- but
have not been able to find it. I'm about to take the 'plunge' & buy a
cyclone DC for my shop (16 x 24) I'm really 'getting sick' of all the
dust. I'm asking for opinions on the 'best ' cyclone.
Please score on these basis points:
1. cost
2. customer service
3. delivery & condition when arrived
4. how well does it suck
5. reliability/problems - including installation

Please don't respond with answers for any other type of dust collection
system.

Thanx, Phil

A cyclone may not be the solution. Do you have an existing DC? If so
how powerful? What is the bag size and mesh?

You can make a cyclone that works very well for under $100. A cyclone
is just an air-particle separator with about a 85 to 95% efficiency.

After you are always using a DC, get a remote control and $50 dust
mask. You'll breathe easier.

Something to consider is "How high is your ceiling?" My shop is in my
basement with an 84" ceiling and most cyclone collectors just wont fit.
The only one I've found that will fit is the JDS 14042 Cyclone 2000 Ck
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...=UTF8&v=glance
).

If anyone knows of other "low profile" cyclone DCs, please post 'em.

Devon
-- Remove Capital letters from my address to reply

I have the Oneida system (3 hp) and it was just as advertised, a very
good machine. A friend of mine just got a Grizzly, and he had to spend
some time getting it all together, as some things just did not fit out
of the box. They both work. The Grizzly did come with a remote starter,
but it was an infared type (line of sight) rather that the Lone Ranger
type which is radio frequency and will even work from outside the shop.
robo hippy

Steve wrote:

I'm shopping for a new DC as well, this one's at the top of my list.
I've sent a couple emails with questions and recieved reponses pretty
quick. http://clearvuecyclones.com

Check out the Bill Pentz'
(http://billpentz.com//woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm) site, mind
numbing amount of info!


The ClearVue unit is BIll'd design. Has his "neuttral vane"
inclet (intake extends inside the cyclone and tangents into
the inside wall nice and smooth - less turbulence) - a great
idea that several of the "name brand" folks are now toting
as their "break through in cyclone technology - is just
one more of his "there's got to be a better way" approach
to things. He also introduced the internal ramp that also
improves the effiiciency of the unit.

The Clearview comes with a 5hp Leeson motor - nice
higher end motor with plenty of power. Not sure what
the "name brands" are using.

If you want to kick the CFM up a notch - rather than a
materials handling impeller, go with an air foil impeller.
The "blades/vanes" are airfoil shaped in cross section.
The "lift" they generate means increased CFM. But -
the air foil doesn't like impacts - something a materials
handling impellar can handle. However, given the
way the cyclone works, I can't imagine how anything
that could hurt the air foils could possibly get to it.

My one concern with the ClearVue is the abrasiveness
of sawdust and chips entering the unit. On Bill's metal
cyclones, the inside of the top cylinder is coated with
a rubber undercoating type material - smoother than
undercoating but providing abrassion protection.

charlie b

My 2hp Oneida is about 86" high. If I needed extra space the motor would easily fit between the floor joists giving an extra 8"+. Cheers,
JG

" wrote:

Something to consider is "How high is your ceiling?" My shop is in my
basement with an 84" ceiling and most cyclone collectors just wont fit.
The only one I've found that will fit is the JDS 14042 Cyclone 2000 Ck
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...=UTF8&v=glance
).

If anyone knows of other "low profile" cyclone DCs, please post 'em.

Devon
-- Remove Capital letters from my address to reply

charlie b wrote:
My one concern with the ClearVue is the abrasiveness
of sawdust and chips entering the unit. On Bill's metal
cyclones, the inside of the top cylinder is coated with
a rubber undercoating type material - smoother than
undercoating but providing abrassion protection.

http://www.clearvuecyclones.com/FAQ.html

Looks like abrasion is not an issue in their minds.

JP

Ba r r y wrote:
wrote:
charlie b wrote:
My one concern with the ClearVue is the abrasiveness
of sawdust and chips entering the unit. On Bill's metal
cyclones, the inside of the top cylinder is coated with
a rubber undercoating type material - smoother than
undercoating but providing abrassion protection.

http://www.clearvuecyclones.com/FAQ.html

Looks like abrasion is not an issue in their minds.

Hopefully that plastic is very hard.

This brings up a surprise I had yesterday. While changing knives on
my DeWalt lunchbox planer, I noticed that most of the paint was gone
from the internals. Some metal parts actually had a polish. I don't
use gritty exotics or recycled pallets, only the typical North
American furniture woods and some Mahogany.

The planer internals also aren't subjected to things like particle
board glue, loose sanding abrasives, and the like, which would pass
through the cyclone.

I sent an email to ClearVue cyclones this morning, and got a response
almost immediately, which is shown below. I also provided Ed with
information about this group, so he may be available for questions.

JP

I wrote:
Ed -

There is a newsgroup called rec.woodworking that is dedicated to the
discussion of woodworking related topics. (It's an open forum though, so
off topic posts are frequent). In any event, it's a great source of
inormation.

Your cyclones have recently been discussed, and there is some concern
over
the abrasion resistance of the plastic you use. I am personally
interested in hearing or seeing photos of your experiences with abrasion,
and I'm sure the group would as well.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Ed's reply:
First, please send me a link to the newsgroup....I'm ignorant about
newsgroups and how to find them. As to your question, I ran PVC pipe
in my
shop for about 10 years. On ocassion I've taken parts of it down to
make
modifications and have never seen any signs of wear in the pipes or
elbows.
The PETG plastic that we use is as tough or tougher than PVC. I've
been
running my cyclone for about 18 months, putting everything through it
(including cleaning up an unsealed cement floor) and have seen no signs
of
wear inside the cyclone. It's not perfectly clear anymore, but clear
enough
so that you can still easily see the operation of the cyclone. Hope
this
helps. I'll be looking for your reply.

Thanks for your interest,

Ed
Clear Vue Cyclones, Inc

On 4 Feb 2006 02:07:51 -0800, "Jay Pique"
That's a great source of info, and Bill's a very helpful guy. I got a
response to a question the same day.

I've read that Oneida's in a bit of a ****ing match with Grizzly over
"who's better" (I think right on Oneida's website). Grizzly has 'em
much cheaper, but Oneida said theirs are better made, although I sort
of remember not being convinced.


bill is a great guy. he sent me my first cyclone because he was
worried about my health. he then sent me a new model kit that I need
to finish. I bought the blower kit and impeller from clearview so I
can use a 3hp motor.
Knight-Toolworks
http://www.knight-toolworks.com
affordable handmade wooden planes

In a typical DC ducting set up, only
the last section going into the DC
handles ALL the dust, chips and
debris from the system - so wear,
or lack of it - in a branch may not
be indicative of what happens inside
the cyclone. It's where the stream
changes direction that particles
abrassive effect is greates. We don't
normally look inside elbows

As note in another post, working
with ply and/or "exotics" that have
a high silica content will generate
more abrassives than say cherry,
walnut, birch, beach or maple.

This may not be a problem - given
Bill's neutral vain inlet, which
cuts down on turbulence. But I still
wonder about the occassional small
nut, screw, washer, brad etc. that
ping a ndrattle and sing in my ducting
on the way to the DC.

charlie b

charlie b wrote:
In a typical DC ducting set up, only
the last section going into the DC
handles ALL the dust, chips and
debris from the system - so wear,
or lack of it - in a branch may not
be indicative of what happens inside
the cyclone. It's where the stream
changes direction that particles
abrassive effect is greates. We don't
normally look inside elbows

As note in another post, working
with ply and/or "exotics" that have
a high silica content will generate
more abrassives than say cherry,
walnut, birch, beach or maple.

This may not be a problem - given
Bill's neutral vain inlet, which
cuts down on turbulence. But I still
wonder about the occassional small
nut, screw, washer, brad etc. that
ping a ndrattle and sing in my ducting
on the way to the DC.

charlie b

Hi everyone,
A couple of pieces of information about abrasion. Matt, my son, has on
ocassion sucked up more than a brad or screw into his
cyclone.....actually there have been items like cigarette lighters, 25'
tape measures, small chunks (less than 6" long) or 2x4's, computer
cards, wrenches etc. He likes to clean up with a 6" flex hose.
Anyway, with all that there haven't been any "scratches" in the
plastic. All of the above mentioned items have revolved around and
ended up in the dust bin without incident.

Over a year ago I got a call from a company in New York that was
machining ceramic. They wanted to purchase one of our cyclones to
retreive and reclaim the material and wanted to know if our cyclone
would work. As I had no idea, I suggested that they send me some
material so I could try it. Aparently that would have taken too long
because they simply ordered a cyclone the next day. Over the next
several months they ended up ordering 5 cyclones total. That has been
over a year ago and I haven't had any complaints or requests for
replacements.

One of the DC 'tricks' that I learned when I taught woodworking with a
'commercial' DC at my disposal was to secure hardware cloth over the
inlet of my floor sweeps & also had a large speaker magnet secured
(actually just dropped on into the sheet metal & it stayed) to the back
of the inside of the floor sweep. If your shavings are large, you
could substitute chicken wire. Those two types of wires would catch
anything larger than you wanted going in to your system. The magnet
caught any small paper clips, pens & screws that happened to find their
way onto the floor.

On 2006-02-04, charlie b wrote:

My one concern with the ClearVue is the abrasiveness of sawdust and
chips entering the unit.

Sorry to jump in a bit late, but regarding abrasiveness, I have one
comment. I seem to recall from fluid mechanics that the air speed at
the boundary (of a pipe, impeller, etc.) is always 0. This is why
dust collects on the top of ceiling fans. So there shouldn't be any
abrasion from particles suspended in the airflow. Of course, perhaps
particles could drop in and out of the airflow and cause abrasion that
way, I'm no expert.

Cheers, Wayne