Oneida Mini Gorilla?

[sjm1580]

Does anyone know of or have any experience with Oneida Mini Gorilla?

This unit will be for a portion of my garage of about a 15' x 24' space and am looking for a quality system (I hate buying things twice). I will run a miter saw, table saw, jointer, planer, band saw and drill press when my shop is fully put together (mainly one machine at a time).

I am trying to find the best system for my space and use. Does it sound like this system will have the HP to get the job done? Are there others I should be looking at?

Thanks for the help!

Steve

[ben_r_]

Are you intending to run ducting throughout the shop to each machine or move a dust collector like the Gorilla Mini around plugging it into each tool as you use it?

[Brendon_t]

The mini gorilla is more on line with what you would use a  shop vac for.  not designed to be hard piped and it's actually a pita to roll around. 

[sjm1580]

5 minutes ago, ben_r_ said:

Are you intending to run ducting throughout the shop to each machine or move a dust collector like the Gorilla Mini around plugging it into each tool as you use it?

My intent was to run 6 inch duct along one wall with tie- ins  with gates and only move the DC once in a great while.  I like the idea of having mobility but its not a huge priority and could go with a permanent mounted system if need be.  My order of priorities are quality of system then noise level.  Thanks for the help!

5 minutes ago, Brendon_t said:

The mini gorilla is more on line with what you would use a  shop vac for.  not designed to be hard piped and it's actually a pita to roll around. 

That's the kind of information I have been looking for.  Any moderately priced permanently fixed quality systems come to mind?

I would rather spend the money on the front end and get a quality system the first go around.

Thanks!

[ben_r_]

6 minutes ago, sjm1580 said:

My intent was to run 6 inch duct along one wall with tie- ins  with gates and only move the DC once in a great while.  I like the idea of having mobility but its not a huge priority and could go with a permanent mounted system if need be.  My order of priorities are quality of system then noise level.  Thanks for the help!

Okay that being the case Id suggest looking at something more like the Oneida V-3000. As Brendon_t mentioned the Gorilla Mini is more of a high end shop-vac type collector and even directly connected to each tool with a run of 10FT or so of flex hose it would probably barely pull enough CFM for larger chip and dust producers like a planer or edge/drum sander (in case you add one of those in the future). For a shop your size and ducting runs I think you should be considering something 3HP+ and a larger cyclone like the V series offers. When proper ducting something like that should be plenty to move both large chips as well as most of the fine dust from your larger machines.

[sjm1580]

23 minutes ago, ben_r_ said:

Okay that being the case Id suggest looking at something more like the Oneida V-3000. As Brendon_t mentioned the Gorilla Mini is more of a high end shop-vac type collector and even directly connected to each tool with a run of 10FT or so of flex hose it would probably barely pull enough CFM for larger chip and dust producers like a planer or edge/drum sander (in case you add one of those in the future). For a shop your size and ducting runs I think you should be considering something 3HP+ and a larger cyclone like the V series offers. When proper ducting something like that should be plenty to move both large chips as well as most of the fine dust from your larger machines.

Thanks so much for the information.  I wanted to try and stay in the sub $1500 range but I certainly don't want to spend a little less and find I'm stuck with a system that doesn't work well.  Any others I should look at besides Oneida v3000, clearview, etc.?

This advice has been spot on.

Thanks!

[Ronn W]

I am not familiar with the mini gorilla per se but I have  Laguna 1 1/2 - 1 3/4" DC and it stays in the corner of my shop.

Along one wall I have table saw, router table, drum sander and jointer.  Along the other wallI have my planar and band saw.  I have one 4" duct running down each wall with blast gates at the DC and a blast gate at each tool.  So long as I only run one at a time and remember to open the gate only to the tool that I am using it works fine.  Farthest tool is less than 20 feet from the DC.  Use as much smooth straight duct as possible and as little flex duct as possible.  Also, I think that a 6" duct is too large,  a 4" or 5" duct will give you faster velocity to carry the dust.  If you only use one machine at a time, all of your duct can be the same size (you really don't have main duct with branches if there is only one pathway open at a time.  The smaller the particles the farther you can put a machine from the DC.  for example:  A sander can be much farther from the DC that a planar and still have good collection.

[rodger.]

I looked extensively at the mini gorilla a while back, but decided that it wasnt a good fit for me. the major issue is its container capacity. it would need to be emptied multiple times per project. 

it has a 5" in, so not ideal for a 6" system.

it does have awesome filtration, and a baldor motor.

i decided instead to take my current single stage collector and mount it to the wall. it took some doing, but i got rid of the stand and bolted it to the wall. i still need to "move the tool to the collector", but it works well and saves space.  the downside is that i still have only one micron filtration. i use a 5" flex hose about 5 feet long.

[ben_r_]

12 hours ago, Ronn W said:

I am not familiar with the mini gorilla per se but I have  Laguna 1 1/2 - 1 3/4" DC and it stays in the corner of my shop.

Along one wall I have table saw, router table, drum sander and jointer.  Along the other wallI have my planar and band saw.  I have one 4" duct running down each wall with blast gates at the DC and a blast gate at each tool.  So long as I only run one at a time and remember to open the gate only to the tool that I am using it works fine.  Farthest tool is less than 20 feet from the DC.  Use as much smooth straight duct as possible and as little flex duct as possible.  Also, I think that a 6" duct is too large,  a 4" or 5" duct will give you faster velocity to carry the dust.  If you only use one machine at a time, all of your duct can be the same size (you really don't have main duct with branches if there is only one pathway open at a time.  The smaller the particles the farther you can put a machine from the DC.  for example:  A sander can be much farther from the DC that a planar and still have good collection.

This is not how dust extractors work. They are low static pressure and work best moving higher volumes of air. Thus when designing a dust collection system you want to keep the ducting as large a diameter as possible with gradual drops in diameter as you get close to the tool. Shop-Vac and other vacuum cleaner style units operate on high static pressure and do not move high air volume and therefore can benefit from smaller inlet diameters in some situations. That is why those types of solutions are never good for larger tools like the ones the OP is hoping to collect from.

[bleedinblue]

IIRC the Clearvue* is under $1500 if you eliminate the filter stack and vent outside.  Not all of us have that option though.

The Penn State cyclones are well reviewed but everyone seems to have the same complaint that they are too loud.  They are close to the $1k range though and have 3 HP models.

[ben_r_]

OP: Will you be venting outside?

[sjm1580]

7 minutes ago, ben_r_ said:

OP: Will you be venting outside?

I could, is there a big advantage?

[ben_r_]

4 minutes ago, sjm1580 said:

I could, is there a big advantage?

Money savings and slightly better air flow without a filter in the way. Venting outside is nice because you dont have to worry about having a filter in the system. You just send the fine dust right outside. Better for health reasons too as you dont have to worry about the air thats being sent back into the shop through the filter being properly filtered and catching all the fine dust. It just goes outside. You save money too as its a part you dont have to buy. You do have to plan to have a way for air to get back into the shop though as the system will need re-circulation.

[HuxleyWood]

15 hours ago, sjm1580 said:

 I wanted to try and stay in the sub $1500 range but I certainly don't want to spend a little less and find I'm stuck with a system that doesn't work well.  

If you want to stay under $1500 then Penn State offers a couple of oprions for a cyclone.  Oneida and Clearvue are still the best options.

8 minutes ago, ben_r_ said:

. It just goes outside. You save money too as its a part you dont have to buy. 

If you climate control your shop the initial cost savings of venting outside can be eaten up pretty quickly, but if you don;t heat or cool your shop then it is a non-issue.

[ben_r_]

3 minutes ago, HuxleyWood said:

If you climate control your shop the initial cost savings of venting outside can be eaten up pretty quickly, but if you don;t heat or cool your shop then it is a non-issue.

Ah yes, very true! I always forget to mention/consider that as the weather isnt so drastic where I live. But it is a serious point.

[HuxleyWood]

Just now, ben_r_ said:

Ah yes, very true! I always forget to mention/consider that as the weather isnt so drastic where I live. But it is a serious point.

Yeah, So Cal has a way of numbing people to the swings in temperature many of us see!  

 

The other issue is humidity if you live in an area with tons of humidity it doesn't make a lot of sense to vent outside since you constantly be sucking in water laden air.  I toyed with the idea of venting outside for the advantages but living in the deep South was going to make keeping the shop cool and dry to expensive.  

[ben_r_]

Ha, Im actually in Norther CA, but yea same difference more or less.

And yes thats another good point. Never had to deal with humidity but as meticulous as I am already with my cast iron tops Im sure that would drive me nuts too.

[HuxleyWood]

1 minute ago, ben_r_ said:

Ha, Im actually in Norther CA, but yea same difference more or less.

And yes thats another good point. Never had to deal with humidity but as meticulous as I am already with my cast iron tops Im sure that would drive me nuts too.

LOL, I read Sacramento as San Diego!  

[sjm1580]

Yeah, living in SW Florida wouldn't be the best place to try venting outside.  Way to much humidity here! 

[bleedinblue]

By and large, the consensus is that if you can vent outside, do it.  Especially if you don't live in extreme climates.  If I were you, I'd absolutely go with a Clearvue and vent outside.

[AJ_Engineer]

I have the Mini Gorilla in 220V flavor.

My shop is in my three car garage. Everything is on wheels and gets pushed over to one stall so that I can park the wife's car and my truck in two of them so portability is nice. Now for the dust collector I could easily justify a fixed unit and do without mobility, but as I am wheeling around the rest of the tools hooking up one tool at a time with flex hose is not an issue for me. My tools never stay in the same location (except for possibly my jointer) from storage to use and I will wheel them out in different configurations depending on what I need to use.

 

So far these are the pros I've had from using the unit:

1. It's quiet.
2. It's cheap compared to a clear-vue + ducting. Or about half the price of some of the bigger V-series when fully configured.
3. It wheels around just fine in my shop. You're not going to run over rubber mats without man-handling the thing a bit but on the concrete there is no issue. If you do need to go over mats it's also not really that heavy.
4. Comes with a really good filter.

 

Now for the one or two cons:

1. Small barrel for waste. Gotta check it often and empty a bit more regularly. On the plus side, the bin is small and easy to handle so no sissy-screams when you dump it into the trash can.
2. It is only 1.5hp. Only so much air a motor that size can run, just look at the pump curves. Can this thing run dust on a 24" drum sander?-probably not. I don't own a 24" drum sander. I help eliminate some of the losses by not running ducting and only hooking up one tool at a time with flex hose that expands in length as needed.

 

So why did I buy it?

It's a short-medium term solution for my situation. Good chance I'm moving (maybe across the country) within the short term so I didn't want to invest in the ductwork that accompanies a bigger system. My smaller shop and moving tool to tool doesn't bother me. And, at the end of the day it is cheaper. The cost savings allowed me to upgrade my jointer purchase to a longer-term tool (yeah helical head!) as well as my bandsaw. Being a cheaper entry-level dust collection system I should have little trouble selling it when I want to upgrade to a big clear-vue cyclone or something similar.

Small tools dust collection I currently run a dust deputy combined with a bagged shop-vac. Plan on updating to a Festool vac in the near term. It's the small tools that are a significant source of the fine dust for me. A lot of time with the big tools anyway I have the garage, or wheel the tools out into the driveway and let the ever-present Nebraska wind take care of my dust.

If I was staying in this house for a long time (and maybe the shop was a bit bigger) I would have gotten a bigger unit and run ducting. Alternatives would be some of the bigger Oneida systems, the Clear-Vue, and some of the canister Grizzly's. All of those would have been with ducting as well.

[sjm1580]

10 minutes ago, AJ_Engineer said:

I have the Mini Gorilla in 220V flavor.

My shop is in my three car garage. Everything is on wheels and gets pushed over to one stall so that I can park the wife's car and my truck in two of them so portability is nice. Now for the dust collector I could easily justify a fixed unit and do without mobility, but as I am wheeling around the rest of the tools hooking up one tool at a time with flex hose is not an issue for me. My tools never stay in the same location (except for possibly my jointer) from storage to use and I will wheel them out in different configurations depending on what I need to use.

 

So far these are the pros I've had from using the unit:

1. It's quiet.
2. It's cheap compared to a clear-vue + ducting. Or about half the price of some of the bigger V-series when fully configured.
3. It wheels around just fine in my shop. You're not going to run over rubber mats without man-handling the thing a bit but on the concrete there is no issue. If you do need to go over mats it's also not really that heavy.
4. Comes with a really good filter.

 

Now for the one or two cons:

1. Small barrel for waste. Gotta check it often and empty a bit more regularly. On the plus side, the bin is small and easy to handle so no sissy-screams when you dump it into the trash can.
2. It is only 1.5hp. Only so much air a motor that size can run, just look at the pump curves. Can this thing run dust on a 24" drum sander?-probably not. I don't own a 24" drum sander. I help eliminate some of the losses by not running ducting and only hooking up one tool at a time with flex hose that expands in length as needed.

 

So why did I buy it?

It's a short-medium term solution for my situation. Good chance I'm moving (maybe across the country) within the short term so I didn't want to invest in the ductwork that accompanies a bigger system. My smaller shop and moving tool to tool doesn't bother me. And, at the end of the day it is cheaper. The cost savings allowed me to upgrade my jointer purchase to a longer-term tool (yeah helical head!) as well as my bandsaw. Being a cheaper entry-level dust collection system I should have little trouble selling it when I want to upgrade to a big clear-vue cyclone or something similar.

Small tools dust collection I currently run a dust deputy combined with a bagged shop-vac. Plan on updating to a Festool vac in the near term. It's the small tools that are a significant source of the fine dust for me. A lot of time with the big tools anyway I have the garage, or wheel the tools out into the driveway and let the ever-present Nebraska wind take care of my dust.

If I was staying in this house for a long time (and maybe the shop was a bit bigger) I would have gotten a bigger unit and run ducting. Alternatives would be some of the bigger Oneida systems, the Clear-Vue, and some of the canister Grizzly's. All of those would have been with ducting as well.

I am in a similar situation but more permanent. I am occupying the third space in my garage and pull the third car (toy) out when I get to work.  We will be in this home for the long haul so ducting will be in the works for me.

Sounds like venting outside will not be an option because of the high humidity and trying to keep my area air conditioned 6 months of the year.

I wonder what would be the smallest system someone could go for with good efficiency and the like, 3 hp?

Thanks for everyone's help on this much appreciated.

 

Steve

[AJ_Engineer]

2 minutes ago, sjm1580 said:

I am in a similar situation but more permanent. I am occupying the third space in my garage and pull the third car (toy) out when I get to work.  We will be in this home for the long haul so ducting will be in the works for me.

Sounds like venting outside will not be an option because of the high humidity and trying to keep my area air conditioned 6 months of the year.

I wonder what would be the smallest system someone could go for with good efficiency and the like, 3 hp?

Thanks for everyone's help on this much appreciated.

 

Steve

I would look hard at some of the 3hp/5hp cyclone systems then and stretch your budget a bit. Maybe start off with real simple ducting to one or two drops + flex hose and then expand the ducting side down the road.

[Ronn W]

3 hours ago, ben_r_ said:

This is not how dust extractors work. They are low static pressure and work best moving higher volumes of air. Thus when designing a dust collection system you want to keep the ducting as large a diameter as possible with gradual drops in diameter as you get close to the tool. Shop-Vac and other vacuum cleaner style units operate on high static pressure and do not move high air volume and therefore can benefit from smaller inlet diameters in some situations. That is why those types of solutions are never good for larger tools like the ones the OP is hoping to collect from.

I may have not stated my reasoning properly.  Each piece of equipment needs a minimum air flow to move the dust. For example a table saw needs about 350 CFM.  There is no point in making the ductwork larger than you need to because the limited power of a 1 1/2HP unit can't pull enough air to keep larger chips suspended.. That said, you don't want it too small either for the reasons you stated.  The ports on my DC are 4" and they work fine for one machine at a time.

[ben_r_]

Just now, Ronn W said:

I may have not stated my reasoning properly.  Each piece of equipment needs a minimum air flow to move the dust. For example a table saw needs about 350 CFM.  There is no point in making the ductwork larger than you need to because the limited power of a 1 1/2HP unit can't pull enough air to keep larger chips suspended.. That said, you don't want it too small either for the reasons you stated.  The ports on my DC are 4" and they work fine for one machine at a time.

Ah, yes that does make more sense. Going larger than the inlet port size isnt beneficial and at some point can start to cause airflow problems. One thing to note though that I have found with many of the popular lower priced dust collectors that have 2-3 4" ports on them, you can usually pop that 4" splitter off and find that there is a 6" port under it. Now if using that unit as just a motor and impeller hooked to a cyclone such as something like the Super Dust Deputy I think it that case it would be more beneficial to go with the larger port size offered by removing them splitter if you have that kind of dust collector motor.