1.5hp Mini Gorilla


lighthearted

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Looking to upgrade my dust collection in my shop.

 

Its a small 10x16 shop with:

  • 1.75 Sawstop
  • 8" PM Jointer
  • Dewalt 735 Planer
  • 14" PM band saw
  • Router table, etc etc etc

Ceiling is only 78"

 

At the moment I only have Rockler 3/4hp Dust Right  http://www.rockler.com/new-dust-rightreg-wall-mount-dust-collector.

Believe it or not I do have 4" ducting run around the shop.

 

My options for size are limited and have been looking at the Oneida collection.  A small foot print is key.

 

So my question is:  does anyone specifically have experience with the 1.5hp Mini Gorilla and would you recommend it?

http://www.oneida-air.com/inventoryD.asp?item_no=XXP010100H&CatId=

 

thanks!

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I did a lot of research on this collector - I had two issues which prevented me from buying this unit:

1 - the drum is very small and would fill very quickly with a planer.

2 - the CFM is quite low, at only about 400 (too low for effective fine dust).

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Sounds like a lot of money for what you're getting. You'd have to spend another $124 for the portability if that's something you're needing,

 

You might check out some of the Grizzly portable units.

 

Something like this http://www.grizzly.com/products/2-HP-Dust-Collector-with-Aluminum-Impeller-Polar-Bear-Series/G1029Z2P

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I did a lot of research on this collector - I had two issues which prevented me from buying this unit:

1 - the drum is very small and would fill very quickly with a planer.

2 - the CFM is quite low, at only about 400 (too low for effective fine dust).

the CFM lists "up to 600 CFM -of course that doesn't explain what "up to" really means

the drum can be swapped out for a larger one as well.

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Sounds like a lot of money for what you're getting. You'd have to spend another $124 for the portability if that's something you're needing,

 

You might check out some of the Grizzly portable units.

 

Something like this http://www.grizzly.com/products/2-HP-Dust-Collector-with-Aluminum-Impeller-Polar-Bear-Series/G1029Z2P

I would wall mount it.

I've heard the grizzlys are fine but particularly loud.

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1.5HP is really small for a cyclone... really small...

 

I'd do two things --

1. Price-out a bag system. Yea, a cyclone is sexy – there’s a post about strawberry blondes around here somewhere... But a 1.5HP cyclone may be more coyote ugly...

2. Call Oneida. Give them your tool list and ask them if it’ll work... Can’t hurt to get pro input...

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Hmmm--great info

 

came across the JDS which I was not as familiar with

 

any thoughts or experiences with the JDS 2 HP Cyclone 2100-CKV

http://jdstools.com/product/2hp-cyclone-2100-ckv/

 

the size is right 

 

You might want to go to youtube and search "downtoearthwoodworker"  and look through his videos.  He did a 3 or 4 part series on dust collection, he ended up getting a JDS unit.  It is a larger version of the one you are looking at but you can get a general idea of why he selected the JDS.

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The mini gorilla is fine in terms of it's capability, given your shop size. If you had walls 40 feet long and ceilings 12 feet high I'd say get a bigger system.

 

 I have 2 mini gorillas--1 upstairs and 1 downstairs.  I run 1 machine at a time.  

Currently connected tools: 3HP table saw, 4HP band saw, 1.5 HP band saw, 16 inch jointer/planer, 19-38 Supermax drum sander.  Plenty of power in the MG's to keep up with these machines.

 

My gripe with the system is relatively poor separation in the cyclone. Most dust/chips/ etc end up in the bin, but enough fine dust makes its way into the filter that you start losing suction. Then you've got to take down the filter and clean it. For me this happened approximately every second full dust bin. (WAY too often).  But, the good news is you can build a Thien baffle, put it in line between the machines and the dust collector, and problem solved.  Alternatively, if you're not too close to your neighbors, you can toss the filter and just vent to the outside.  

 

Out of curiosity, since the system you have is rated at 650CFM, I'm wondering what it's not doing that makes you want to "upgrade".  Your shop isn't very big, and the ceiling height is relatively low, so you you don't have to overcome long runs or high ceilings.  I would have thought your current system would work fine.

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My gripe with the system is relatively poor separation in the cyclone. Most dust/chips/ etc end up in the bin, but enough fine dust makes its way into the filter that you start losing suction. Then you've got to take down the filter and clean it. 

Hey Foo, I know the bigger JDS has an automatic system that kicks on and rotates the paddles inside the filter every time you turn it off to keep it clean.   Does the mini have this feature and you are still having to clean it or is your filter paddle-less?

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Hey Foo, I know the bigger JDS has an automatic system that kicks on and rotates the paddles inside the filter every time you turn it off to keep it clean.   Does the mini have this feature and you are still having to clean it or is your filter paddle-less?

 

 The Mini's filter hangs horizontally, not vertically. So even if you had rotating paddles inside, the dust knocked off the upper section of the filter would just settle that much thicker on the bottom section of the filter.  And eventually it'd just get blown back up.  With vertically hung filters, the dust will settle at the bottom of the column, so cleaning paddles make a lot more sense.

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Out of curiosity, since the system you have is rated at 650CFM, I'm wondering what it's not doing that makes you want to "upgrade".  Your shop isn't very big, and the ceiling height is relatively low, so you you don't have to overcome long runs or high ceilings.  I would have thought your current system would work fine.

 The Rockler cannot handle the Sawstop and especially the PM Jointer,  both machines get clogged up.  

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