"I have a one man wood shop, 20' x 24' with 9' ceiling. I have the standard compliment of big power tools: 3hp cabinet saw, 15" planer, 8" jointer, 14" bandsaw, 15" drill press. Plus 16" lathe, 20" disk sander and 18" drum sander. Before I purchased the Supercell I had been using a basic 1 1/2hp dual bagger dust collector, upgraded with a pleated filter on top and plastic trash bags for waste. It wouldn't support ductwork so I'm accustomed to dragging a hose from machine to machine as needed.
I've been wanting to upgrade to a cyclone system for years but any system I purchased would have to fit into the footprint of the old dual bagger, and nothing did. I thought I was out of luck until I saw an ad for this new style dust collector from Oneida in Fine Woodworking. Literature and online videos were a bit sparse, but what I saw and read about the machine definitely looked promising. And the footprint is tiny compared to other one man shop size cyclones.
So I took and chance and ordered one with a 55 gallon waste drum. Assembly was straightforward and not very difficult. I needed no assistance mounting this on the wall, including lifting the motor / filter assembly up over the cyclone body. I'm in good shape but am also 65 years old, 5'6" and 145lbs. It took me longer to reroute the 220v power line needed for the machine that it did to get this unit up and running.
I knew the Supercell worked differently than a standard big impeller type collector but didn't know what to expect when I first fired it up. My immediate impression was it sounds like and appears to function like a high power shop vacuum cleaner. I mean a HIGH POWER shop vacuum. The motor powers up to full suction in one second. And it shuts down just as quickly. It is not LOUD loud, but it is a bit louder than the 14" impeller old style unit it replaced. The extra heavy duty flex hose is absolutely necessary as any lesser strength flex hose will compress end to end tying to handle this much suction.
And boy does this thing have suction! I was accustomed to leaving the DC run while moving the hose from one machine to another. The first time I did that with the Supercell the hose slipped out of my hands and glommed onto my posterior like it was lamprey eel. Lesson learned. My cabinet saw always had a lot of sawdust in the bottom with a little trough down to the dust port. No longer. Planer, jointer, drum sander, no problem with this machine. And NO super-fine dust blowing out through the filter.
Now that I have a dust collector that can handle it I plan to install ductwork to all my machines. As I understand it the Supercell does not require a large diameter main trunk and I can instead use 4" ducting for the entire system. That should save a buck or two. Also I've been told it does not require 'Y' connectors and can actually use 'T' connectors. Unheard of in the world of wood shop dust collection.
This unit is not inexpensive. If you need to service more than one machine at a time this may not be for you. But the Supercell has been a very welcome addition to my one man shop. If you are looking for a very powerful DC that will support ductwork, has HEPA filtering and a very small footprint this may be the dream machine you've been looking for. I am extremely pleased with this purchase."
