"A little over a year ago I moved into a new house with a dedicated, not my garage too, not tripping over lawn mowers, wood shop. I was, and still am, extremely excited about it. I celebrated a bit and spent some money on a few new and really nice tools to get everything setup right, because a lot of the remodeling of our house was coming out of my shop.
This is my first real dust collector. For years I had been using a shop vac or just letting the dust fly/build up in the cabinet of my saws. And for the record, I was NOT excited about spending this much on a vacuum cleaner.
I settled on Oneida because I wanted the best separation I could get (used and loved the dust deputy on my shop vac). Ceiling height ruled out Clear-Vue, and the other brands didn't seem to have the separation results the Oneida did. I did not want to have to upgrade this system down the road, and I don’t think I ever will. After becoming overwhelved with information on Duct design and layout, and suppliers and fittings, I ordered everything (including the ductwork) from Oneida.
I can't speak highly enough about [the V-System 3000 HEPA Cyclone Dust Collector]. It went together easy enough, though it did take a few hours to get everything together. After cutting out the bottom of a rafter I got it into place in an enclosed lean-to outside my shop. I ran the 6” main duct through a window into my shop and it splits into two main branches.
The two 6” branches follow both long walls of my shop, and have 3 drops each.
- 6" wye to 6" duct/flex jointer
- 6" wye to 6" flex for miter station
- 6" flex at the end of the line splits to two 4" flex hoses for my band saw
- 6" wye to two 4" ports for my table saw (cabinet and shark guard)
- 4" wye to a general use/cleanup flex hose
- 6" flex at the end of the line for my planer (reduces to 4" at the tool)
There are blast gates at each tool.
This system works extremely well. I am satisfied with the level of pickup at each tool (this thing pulls a ton of air!). Even at the miter saw, I would guess at least 99% of the dust is pulled into the system.
Separation has been phenomenal. Here are some pictures of the results I have been getting. 35-gallon yard container, and the corresponding dust on the filter side:
I have let the unit overflow once… which was a huge mistake. I now check it much more frequently! I probably fill up my 35 gallon drum once every two weeks in an average month. Other than the overflow, I have never seen any real dust build-up in the filters. I have not cleaned the filters regularly (beyond hitting them with my hand) because I do not have a compressor, but I have not noticed any significant drop in airflow.
It is also much quieter than I expected, and they are now shipping them with a muffler built into the filter stack.
Highly recommended! This has improved my efficiency in the shop dramatically."
- Ed P.
This review was shared with permission from the original author at lumberjocks.com