Dust collection- Oneida "Dust Deputy" mini review

[Rick Thom]

A few weeks ago, Pickering woodworker told me he was going to pick up a a cyclone at the Oneida plant in Syracuse, N.Y. I'de been considering their mini version, " Dust Deputy" for a while, having seen a few reviews.
http://www.oneida-air.com/products/s...ust_deputy.htm
The purpose of this little device is to limit the fine dust that is sucked into your shop vac and clogs the filter or is blown back out into the air. This baby is all of 12" tall and sits on a 5 gal pail, 1 port in from the source and 1 to your shop vac. Today I did a couple of hours of sanding on my new Rigid spindle/belt sander and thought I should hook up and test the new device. Those of you who have these sanders know they can produce a lot of fine dust using a 120 grit belt, and they have quite a good dust collection system. Using my older but fairly powerful Craftsman shop vac, the 'deputy' intercepted virtually 100% of the sanding dust (about 8 cups worth), no perceptable dust landed at the filter or was trapped in the canister of the shop vac. The ports in and out of the cyclone seem to permit sufficient air flow that there isn't any more draw on the motor than if I had connected the vac directly to the sander. This is a pretty impressive performer.
For any of you who have in-house shops and/ or want very good dust control on your smaller power tools, this is worth consideration. At $129 US it's definitely pricey and it does a very good job. Someone mentioned to me that they are excellent for drywall dust as well.
No connections with Oneida (wish I did), just a satisfied customer.
- Rick.

[Brent in Montreal]

Hi Rick,

Thanks for that review. I've been thinking about it myself. It sounds pretty impressive. What kind and how strong is your shop vac.

[Rick Thom]

Brent, mine is a 12-15 year old Craftsman wet/dry shop vac, 347 peak air watts max, 45 litre canister and variable speed, equipped with 2 1/4" dia. vac and blower ports. This would have been toward the top of the line in it's day but it's probably about average in the field nowdays. It does have good suction and quite decent air flow. That is the cause of my probem because the pleated filter was frequently getting clogged and I would have to stop mid-stream in a job to clean and reinstall it or swap out for another.
I was surprised that the vac works very well on my newly constructed router table. The fence has a 2" dust extraction port and the gap for the bit can be adjusted width-wise. The vac is able to hog off all the debrise the router creates and none of it has found it's way into the lower closed compartment that houses the router (2 1/4hp Triton).
Perhaps there is an optimal set of specs for the vac to get best performance from the cyclone.. none is mentioned in the scant literature with the cyclone. I suppose if you were really curious and inquired with Oneida, they would likely give you an idea of what performance to expect with your equipment setup.
Hope this helps you.

[Chris in Pickering]

Glad to see it performs as advertised. Now I dont feel so bad about the night I spent in jail at the border.

Chris

[Rick Thom]

Glad to see it performs as advertised. Now I dont feel so bad about the night I spent in jail at the border.

Chris

They are getting better at identifying suspected terrorists.. woodworkers and otherwise!

[John In Waterdown]

Like Rick I have had great success using the "Dust Deputy".

I had just put in a Gorilla system so the incremental pain of adding the deputy was relatively small. The two systems really compliment each other.

As to Brent's question about the vacuum. I am using the wet/dry I had, the low end $59 Rigid, but with a clean stream filter. It works... even for drywall dust, but a little more suction would be better.

Haven't found anything visible in the vacuum's tank after using. I've only cleaned the filter once and it had very little dust on it.

Since so little shop waste gets through, I may try hooking up our household central vac to see if it has more power than the Rigid.

Cheers,
John

[Brent in Montreal]

Thanks for the info guys. My concern is that a vac that's too powerful may cause the dust to bypass the Deputy. My vac is similar to Rick's, so obviously it's not a problem.

[Rick Thom]

Like Rick I have had great success using the "Dust Deputy".


Since so little shop waste gets through, I may try hooking up our household central vac to see if it has more power than the Rigid.

Cheers,
John

John, that's a great idea. My Golden Retriever continuously sheds her fur and can fill the large canister Beam in no time. It's the size that the dealer said would only need to be emptied a few times per year... LOL.
Incidentally, I think many household vac systems use the cyclone design.

[Trying Hard]

Thanks for the reviews, I have been considering this and it is always good to get real reviews.

I am located in the Toronto area, is there a local dealer here or do I have to purchase it in the US?

[JG]

No local dealer. However, maybe you could drive down and pick up a few units and share the cost between those in the GTA who want one. They presently have free shipping so have them sent to a UPS store in Buffalo and drive down and bring them back. JG

[Edward G. Burlington]

Just a note to advise all about an experience I had with the DD. Make sure you do not restrict the air flow too much. I had it hooked up to my 5 inch ROS and the air restriction on the flow reduced the efficiency quit a bit. When I opened the restriction and allowed more air to flow it improved dramatically. The air flow is needed to get the turbo action going properly.

Edward G.

[MG]

I received my DD this past week and decide to plumb it into the central vac system which is in the garage/workshop. I have an inlet in the garage and a dedicaded hose.

One of my concerns was that the vac would be too powerfull. Here's what happened: I was vaccuming up some bust and debrie from the floor when the tip of the hose got plugged up and I heard a loud crash, I turned around to see that the 5 gal pail had collapsed on itself. I walked over and there was some stuff in the pail, which is good news. I'm going to find a metal can and try it out with a new bag in the vac to see if anything is making it thru, if so I will plumb in an air intake to reduce flow in the cyclone.

Cheers,

MG

[John In Elmira]

Trying Hard, Give Wellbeck Sawmill located at Durham,Ont. a call.They sell the regular Oneida cyclone dust collectors, so I would think that they would sell these as well.Phone # 519-369-2144. Great people to deal with and they stock a lot of "toys for woodworkers"

[twogone]

Hey Rick; I realize this is a 6 year old post but my understanding of cyclones is that they collect the larger particles that clog up your filter, not the "fine dust". Cheers; twogone

[Don Burch]

Depends on the design of the cyclone. A good cyclone will remove particulate expressed as a percentage of size not a percentage of weight. Obtaining this measure of efficiency is expensive.
Clear Vue use to have a study published for the Mini CV06, but this is no longer on their site.
Higher end cyclones like Clear Vue and Oneida provide extremely good particle primary mechanical separation which results in long exhaust filter life. If these units were not efficient, owners would be condemning the high cost of replacing filters.

Don

[Rick Thom]

Hey Rick; I realize this is a 6 year old post but my understanding of cyclones is that they collect the larger particles that clog up your filter, not the "fine dust". Cheers; twogone

I gets the vast majority which is a huge improvement over no in-line collector. I clean the HEPA filter in my Ridgid shop vac a few times a year. Over the time since the original post I've made a few changes that worked out well. Old shop vac finally bit the dust so there's a replacement that's about equiv to the old one.. less the screaming noise, and also I modified the setup for better mobility. I would still recommend the DD and they are much cheaper than when I bought mine.

[dlumberjack]

What size shop vac works best? Hp? Don't wanna go crazy but also don't wanna cheap out!! Can you buy Oneida DD in Canada/alberta/ edmonton?

[Rick Thom]

What size shop vac works best? Hp? Don't wanna go crazy but also don't wanna cheap out!! Can you buy Oneida DD in Canada/alberta/ edmonton?

Yes, they are available at Busy Bee Tools who I believe has an outlet in Edmonton http://www.busybeetools.com/search.p...deputy&x=0&y=0.
I can't answer what size vac works best but my Rigid 6 hp works very well. I'm reluctant to quote performance specs for shop vacs because they are bogus IME. If you are shopping for a shop vac I can recommend this size and brand as a good performer for a wet/dry and good value for $, especially when it's on sale.

[Rod Sheridan]

I bought one for work from Lee Valley tools.

The kit includes a pair of nesting buckets, casters, the small cyclone and the input hose for under $100.

It works well.............Rod.

P.S. We use it with a Festool CT26 vacuum

[dlumberjack]

Would you guys suggest getting the DIY DD or the kit?