Harvey G700 Dust Processor

[JohnG]

First of all, I apologize for the rambling format of this thread. I haven’t had time to properly organize my thoughts, but wanted to go ahead and post this before next year. Feel free to ask questions instead of reading through all of this.

I recently bought a Harvey G700 Dust Processor when they had it at a steep discount. As I have posted before Harvey (and BCTW) prices fluctuate quite dramatically and almost always have some sort of sale going on. If you can wait and watch the prices for a few weeks or months, you'll get an idea of what you should pay for the tool. The G700 currently has a list price of $3,599. I had been watching it for a while and finally committed and bought it at $2,549, which was the lowest I had seen. It has since dropped a little bit more, to $2,479, but I still feel good about the purchase. If the list price was actually the selling price, I probably would have been looking at Oneida or Clearvue. There just isn't much info out there on the Harvey, other than a few youtube videos by people who were given the DC for free and a stray forum post here and there. I decided to take a chance on it and hope for the best.

My reason for going with the G700 was largely due to the form factor. In my current shop space, there's a spot that perfectly fits its shape and layout. I previously had my HF 2hp dust collector in the same location. The HF had a slightly smaller footprint, but was twice as tall, limiting my use of the wall space behind it. The G700 gives me a much cleaner and more accessible spot for my clamps and plenty of space to add more clamp racks or other tools in the future.

Back when I got the Harvey Alpha bandsaw I got surprised by the (awful) last mile delivery guy, who didn't let me know that it was being delivered that day until he was at the end of my driveway. This time around, the freight company called me to schedule the delivery day and then the (very friendly) driver called me about 1 hour before he showed up. You never know what you'll end up with with freight drivers delivering to residences.

There is very little assembly required. The part that took the longest was unbolting the machine from the shipping pallet. The screws are inside the dust bin cabinet and the two rear screws are a bit awkward to reach and only allow about 90* rotation at a time. The unit weighs in at 445lb, so unless you are able to set the shipping pallet down in your workshop or on concrete that leads into your workshop, get help moving it. I had to put mine on top of another pallet over pea gravel outside my shop with a fairly significant threshold for the mandoor leading into my shop, so I decided to move it on my own... After much sweating, pushing, pulling, and a couple short moments of panic, I wiggled it through the doorway and onto the slab floor that it could roll on. On smooth ground it rolls very easily. It is a bit unfortunate that the casters only swivel on one end, so you do have to “drive” it into the spot you want it to go. I think they did that so that they could just have leveling feet on one end. There are large knurled knobs that lift the unit off the casters and have a high friction rubber foot to keep it from rolling when you don’t want it to. Not quite as easy as the foot lever on some mobile bases, but it doesn’t add anything to the footprint of the unit.

There’s a rubber gasket that fits around the metal inlet to seal the connection to the reducer (6” to 4” and 2.5”), if used. It’s a bit fiddly to get the reducer over the gasket without bunching it up against the side of the unit. A little water helps it slide on.

It comes with a remote control fob. It’s an RF remote, so it doesn’t require line of sight to turn the unit on and off, which is very handy. I was even able to turn it on from upstairs when I was testing out the noise level.

Speaking of, it’s quieter at all speeds than my HF 2hp collector. Additionally, it seems to be a lower frequency so it’s a more tolerable noise as well.

It is variable speed, but unfortunately the speed cannot be changed with the remote. It has a speed range of 40-75, which is odd. There is a bit of panel rattle at about 60, but it’s not bad and only happens in a narrow speed range. I haven’t bothered to check if I can tighten something to stop the rattle.

The performance is absolutely no comparison to the HF 2hp bag unit. It seems to work better on the lowest speed than the HF ever was. I have it piped up to the same layout to serve all my tools and I can leave multiple blast gates open and still get better suction than the HF unit.

The separators and filters seem to be working well, though time will tell.

The overall build quality is very nice. The dust bin is very stout, the knurled knobs throughout are solid and nicely machined.

[Coop]

John, first of all , congrats!

I’d rather hear it from you as it’s easier than researching it. Is all of the dust contained within the unit or are there other receptacles? That’s a big time jump from the HF! 

[JohnG]

Thanks Coop! 
It has a dust bin inside the unit.

This part opens up

Opens by turning these two knurled knobs. They have a rubber bumpers that turn into feet as the panel rotates down.

Then you can access the latch that lifts up the bin to seal it.

And finally the dust bin rolls out on guides built into the bottom of the unit and the dust bin door.

Hard to see but there’s a wheel in that shadow that rides on the metal track. 

The dust bin itself is surprisingly heavy and solidly built, maybe to reduce noise. It actually has two compartments, one large and one small. Don’t quote me but I think the smaller one is supposed to catch the extra fine dust and the bigger is for coarser dust/chips. 

The two red knobs on the top right of the unit are the filter cleaners, similar to what several cyclone units have. There are two cleanout caps at the bottom on the right end of the unit to remove whatever is knocked loose by the filter cleaners. My one ding against the unit so far is that these cleanout caps and the housing that they attach to are pretty cheap feeling plastic. They don’t match the quality and feel of the rest of the machine. 

[Mark J]

Looks like a super unit.  What is the filtration level, is it HEPA?

[JohnG]

It is not HEPA. It’s 99.35% 0.3um-0.5um and emission of 0.05mg/m^3. I think HEPA is 99.97 0.3um but I could be wrong. 

[Chestnut]

On 6/30/2022 at 10:12 AM, JohnG said:

It is not HEPA. It’s 99.35% 0.3um-0.5um and emission of 0.05mg/m^3. I think HEPA is 99.97 0.3um but I could be wrong. 

It's pretty close.

[ZombieMonkey]

Curious how the performance of this unit is. I recently upgraded from my Hammer A31 to a Minimax FS 41 ES and may want to upgrade my DC setup soon as I am not necessarily in love with my 2HP Jet Cyclone I have. Curious if this would be up to the task of a 16" jointer / planer that is capable of taking a healthy bite into the pieces I run through it. Also curious how mobile this is as I do not leave my unit stationary. 

[JohnG]

It rolls very easily on smooth ground. As I mentioned, the wheels are fixed on one side and rotate on the other, so you do have to "drive" it around.

[bob bray]

I've owned a Harvey G700 for over a year and used it to mill white oak for a whole home cabinet build and all millwork for a 4200 Sq. Ft. home.  The only issue I have is trying to set the correct blower speed as not to plug up the filters.  I've had to completely disassemble the filters three times after they became completely plugged up.  Last time this happened, I had the blower setting at the lowest (40) while planing and the alarm did not sound.  The first bin was about half full and the second bin and filters were packed full.  I was using a 4" hose about 8' long.

So now I need to guess when to stop and check the bins and make sure the filter paddles can turn.  This is such a frustration when I need to stop and check since the alarm only works on the first large bin.  It takes me over an hour to pull the filters out, clean and replace.  Harvey needs to put an alarm on the second bin!  And Harvey need to redesign the unit housing so the filters can be removed much more easily.  

Otherwise, my unit works great but reconsider whether to buy this if you plan on planing 100+ BF.  This is not a production dust collector for even a small shop.  

I run my drum sander, table saw and miter saw, I run at 75.  When I run my planer, I run from 40 to 58 but a decent amount of chips don't get sucked up.  As long as I use the self cleaning process periodically, everything but the planer doesn't create enough saw dust to plug the filters in one go.

You also risk plugging the filters if you use the Harvey G700 as a shop vac when gobbling up piles of saw dust. 

I'm moving to a new shop in 6 months and will look to replace my G700 with a 3HP Jet or a similar sized Oneida.  The Laguna's seem to be hit or miss on reviews.  I'll have the space and the headroom and might build a vented closet for it to reduce the noise.

The Harvey G700 is perfect for a small shop due to low noise and space needed but it has limitations for production runs or if neglecting to clean regularly.  It is a major pain to clean out if plugged and the paddles will break if you forcefully turn the knobs when plugged.

[JohnG]

Thanks for sharing your experience! I haven’t run into that issue but will watch for it. I haven’t done any large runs of planing, but may eventually get around to a large project. 

[Chestnut]

On 10/2/2022 at 12:30 PM, bob bray said:

The Harvey G700 is perfect for a small shop due to low noise and space needed but it has limitations for production runs or if neglecting to clean regularly.  It is a major pain to clean out if plugged and the paddles will break if you forcefully turn the knobs when plugged.

Isn't this every collector? My Oneida Gorilla pro is a pain when i forgot to check the bin and i fill the filter with sawdust too.

I don't trust alarms and just check the bin regularly. If I'm running my planer a lot it gets checked frequently like every hour.

[Chet]

On 10/4/2022 at 4:37 AM, Chestnut said:

I don't trust alarms and just check the bin regularly.

I would rather have some kind of sight glass on the bin over an alarm.  On mine the plastic bag is one big sight glass.

[Chestnut]

10 minutes ago, Chet said:

I would rather have some kind of sight glass on the bin over an alarm.  On mine the plastic bag is one big sight glass.

I've thought about putting a window on my bin. I just haven't gotten around to it as there are a lot more pressing things to get done.

[Just Bob]

1 hour ago, Chestnut said:

I've thought about putting a window on my bin. I just haven't gotten around to it as there are a lot more pressing things to get done.

I did, and static electricity makes it useless.  So I just guess.

[bob bray]

I should have mentioned that when I've plugged the filters, the first bin was 1/2 full or less.  The suction bypassed the first bin much more than it should, then filled the second bin and the filters.  Yes, any DC will eventually plug up when full.  That's my issue with the G700.  I wasn't expecting the unit to be full.  After using any DC for a good amount of time, you'll get a feel when it's getting full.

[Coop]

My sight glass runs vertical and gives a better indication of the depth than from an overhead view, IMO.

[John Strong]

On 10/2/2022 at 10:30 AM, bob bray said:

 I'm moving to a new shop in 6 months and will look to replace my G700 with a 3HP Jet or a similar sized Oneida.  The Laguna's seem to be hit or miss on reviews.  I'll have the space and the headroom and might build a vented closet for it to reduce the noise.

Hey Bob, you must be getting close to that move.  If you're still thinking of selling, I'm thinking of buying!  If by some odd coincidence you live on the west cost maybe we could work something out.  (I'm near San Jose, CA.). If you're not thinking of selling, what convinced you to keep it?

[GiantFen]

On 10/2/2022 at 12:30 PM, bob bray said:

I'm moving to a new shop in 6 months and will look to replace my G700 with a 3HP Jet or a similar sized Oneida.  The Laguna's seem to be hit or miss on reviews.  I'll have the space and the headroom and might build a vented closet for it to reduce the noise.

I'd be interested in buying it if you live near Fargo, ND :)

[bob bray]

My update, since moving into my new shop:

Before the shop slab was poured, I installed about 30 feet of 6" PVC S&D pipe underground, reduced to 4" about 3 feet from each machine (3HP table saw, 3HP Planer/Jointer, 1.75HP Band Saw, and Miter Saw.  I no longer have any issues with my planer/jointer plugging up the G700 filters at full speed of 75 with all other ports closed.  Everything works great for dust collection!

I think in my prior shop, the 4" flex hose was too short with a direct connection to the G700 for my planer/jointer and although the CFM should have been reduced by half vs. a 6" hose, the air speed was greater causing the chips to bypass the bins.

I was thinking before of replacing my G700 but decided to keep it since I'm having no issues now of the bins collecting as they should.  Using 6" pipe as the main run, I think, was the cure by increasing CFM at a lower air speed vs. 4", if that makes sense.  Or maybe a 6" pipe allows for better dust/chip collection with a wider air dust dispersion witin the pipe.

The advantages of the G700 with underground PVC piping is that the G700 6" port is near the floor, so CFM is better preserved by not having to pipe to the ceiling and back down to machines, the soil grounds out static electricity from dust traveling through the pipe and sound is greatly diminished.

Happy camper now. I love my G700!

[JohnG]

That’s a great looking shop!

Glad your prior issues have been resolved. I am still enjoying my G700.

[bob bray]

Thanks JohnG!

[Mark J]

@bob bray, great result!  What do you make in that wonderful space?

Looks like you have the 12" Jet combo jointer planner.  How's that working out for you?

[pkinneb]

Awesome shop!! I second @Mark J jointer/planer question as it came up in another thread but it didn't appear that anyone with current knowledge of that machine chimmed in. Thanks!

[thewalnutguy]

On 10/2/2022 at 12:30 PM, bob bray said:

I've owned a Harvey G700 for over a year and used it to mill white oak for a whole home cabinet build and all millwork for a 4200 Sq. Ft. home.  The only issue I have is trying to set the correct blower speed as not to plug up the filters.  I've had to completely disassemble the filters three times after they became completely plugged up.  Last time this happened, I had the blower setting at the lowest (40) while planing and the alarm did not sound.  The first bin was about half full and the second bin and filters were packed full.  I was using a 4" hose about 8' long.

So now I need to guess when to stop and check the bins and make sure the filter paddles can turn.  This is such a frustration when I need to stop and check since the alarm only works on the first large bin.  It takes me over an hour to pull the filters out, clean and replace.  Harvey needs to put an alarm on the second bin!  And Harvey need to redesign the unit housing so the filters can be removed much more easily.  

Otherwise, my unit works great but reconsider whether to buy this if you plan on planing 100+ BF.  This is not a production dust collector for even a small shop.  

I run my drum sander, table saw and miter saw, I run at 75.  When I run my planer, I run from 40 to 58 but a decent amount of chips don't get sucked up.  As long as I use the self cleaning process periodically, everything but the planer doesn't create enough saw dust to plug the filters in one go.

You also risk plugging the filters if you use the Harvey G700 as a shop vac when gobbling up piles of saw dust. 

I'm moving to a new shop in 6 months and will look to replace my G700 with a 3HP Jet or a similar sized Oneida.  The Laguna's seem to be hit or miss on reviews.  I'll have the space and the headroom and might build a vented closet for it to reduce the noise.

The Harvey G700 is perfect for a small shop due to low noise and space needed but it has limitations for production runs or if neglecting to clean regularly.  It is a major pain to clean out if plugged and the paddles will break if you forcefully turn the knobs when plugged.

My Oneida two stage collector is some distance from my 'worst offenders', 8" jointer and 12" planer. All of my lumber is rough-cut, as I saw and dry my lumber from my own property. I was having issues of not checking the bin beneath the Oneida frequently enough and plugging the filters. I now have separators next to both the jointer and planer, the simple plastic lid on a trash can. The cans are right where I'm working, so I can easily check the lever of chips/dust, and can quickly swap out a filled can with an empty and keep working. As the heavy offenders are on the far end of about 70 feet of 6" duct with more bends than would be recommended, the Oneida wasn't delivering as much suction as I'd like. I have installed the blower unit from dust collectors I found for good prices at both the planer and jointer. Not a perfect approach, but working with the space I had in a house that wasn't designed around a work shop what I've come up with works for me.