Shop again! (DC advice sought)

[MichaelS]

Hey all,

I've been absent for some time as my tools have been stored. Wife and I recently closed on a house and I have a green light to use 1 garage stall permanently with flexibility to use the second when I need. Not a dedicated shop, but at this point I dearly want to make sawdust once more.

Bringing me to my question. I sold my oneida cyclone when I moved as it was freaking huge and need a dc once more. Seems a few options have appeared and want to see whether anything warrants consideration.

Longest run would probably be 20', can run either a 20 or 30A circuit. Concurrent ports needed would likely be either 2x4" ports for bs or a 4" & 6" for shaper. I am thinking 3hp this time unless something big changed.

I do have an ambient cleaner also which I will ceiling mount. I have basically no ceiling consideration this time either with 12' garage ceilings.

Grizz, cv, oneida - will go rigid duct ofc once I choose the approach.

Equipment list:
Minimax combo
Mm16
Pm3520 lathe
Dewalt ras
Rockwell 6x48 & 12" disc sander

Looking forward to connecting with all once more.

Best,
Michael

[thewizzard]

 ... unless something big changed ...

 A few different colors of cyclones may be available depending on how long your hiatus has been. Pleated canisters are now common and preferred over bags on DC's. So, no, nothing has changed. 

I didn't notice your location but in a garage shop give careful consideration to humidity control 

[MichaelS]

Yeah, have a dehumidifier. I moved from sacramento to austin, so similar issues as before.

Pleated were in fashion before, so good to know that hasnt changed
.

Best,
Michael

[frigator]

I went with the Oneida 3 hp V series this time. Have owned grizzly and woodsucker cyclones in other shops. They were really loud. This Oneida has plenty of power and it's much quieter.

[fredhargis]

Clearvue! I'm don't remember which Oneida you had, but the ones today are not the ones of yesterday. My new shop is eing built as i type, and I'm strongly considering selling my 10 year old SDG and move to a CV. Just my opinion. I'd say if anything has changed recently, most of them have been somewhat "cost-engineered"...which usually isn't a good thing.

[Hank Knight]

+1 for Clear Vue. I've been a happy Clear Vue owner for 5 or 6 years. My basement shop is probably not much bigger than your garage and the Clear Vue handles everything beautifully with 6' main ductwork and 4" drops to my machines. The only issue, and I think this is an issue with all of them, is the noise. My Clear Vue is a screamer; and in my small shop, that was a problem. I built a small sound-baffled closet around the cyclone and that did the trick. My basement shop is directly below our kitchen/family room. Since I enclosed tge cyclone, my wife has never once complained if the noise.

[MichaelS]

Isnt cv assembly still a major chore? Time isnt a critical factor, but I recall that they used to be mostly diy assembly, which isnt particularly appealing given the number of other commits I have. I had a pro 2000, so it was a very good oneida before - zero complaints, other than height for my former garage (no longer an issue now)

Thanks for the feedback all, I will do some more homework before making a choice, but at least there are solid options available.

Best,
Michael

[fredhargis]

If you go to the CV site, they have the instructions as a PDF. I won't speculate as to whether it's a "chore", since my opinion may be different from yours. But it's less work now than the early years, since they include most of the stuff...whereas you have to fabricate some of the blower housing early on. It looks to me like like it's slightly more assembly effort than my SDG took when I bought it (it came in seven boxes to fit UPS weight standards).

[Hank Knight]

I've heard CVs referred to as a "kit." There is some truth to that, but I didn't find the assembly required to be daunting, time consuming or annoying. I bought my CV from the original designer/seller, before the current owners bought the business. Fred says the new owners have reduced the do-it-yourself factor and are providing more prefabricated parts. I'm sure that's a good thing. The only thing I recall having to make myself was the bracket to mount the cyclone to the wall, and that was easy. All the rest was provided in the "kit," and some assembly was required. The reason I chose CV was that, at the time, it had the best numbers for capturing the small wood dust particles that are the real health risk for woodworkers. Mine does a good job of that, and I'm happy with it. Other manufacturers may have improved their technology in recent years, so my selection criteria for CV may no longer be valid.
My $.02

Hank

[fredhargis]

I may be mistaken (wouldn't be the first time) but I thought the very first ones required you to more-or-less fabricate your own blower housing...which is what i thought a lot of the comments were based on. The new ones just seem like it's a relatively easy assembly.