Oneida Air SystemsDust Deputy DIY Anti-Static Retrofit Cyclone Separator for Wet/Dry Shop Vacuums (DD DIY)

I'm a finish carpenter with a small garage shop I use for some built-in projects that are easier to do from a shop than on-site. Currently in the middle of a shop re-do with the goal of having a more efficient small space, and to utilize my 14 gal Shop-vac better for dust collection. Eventually, I will hard pipe in the Dust Deputy, but for now built a "prototype" roll-away cart for it. Not the prettiest thing in the world, but it does what I need with the added bonus of giving me a bit of storage space (though the drawers I intend to build into will have to wait). (See pic)I have been using the Rockler DustRight separator for a few years now. Nothing necessarily wrong with that system, but it was not nearly efficient enough for me, and had the added issue of being less efficient the more the bin filled up. So, after doing some research, I decided on the Oneida Dust Deputy and bought the kit that has the hardware, gasket, and a hose. In retrospect, knowing what I know now, I would have just bought the bare cyclone, and saved a few bucks. The hose is cheap, and virtually useless to me. The hardware didn't work for my application, and I know how to make gaskets. If you are going to just use a 5-gallon bucket, then the kit I bought would be worth it. I wanted a little more capacity for chips than a 5-gallon bucket would give me.I won't bore you with build details on the cart. I combined/changed some ideas I had seen on YouTube, and built what I wanted. Something to consider, however, when you put things together. First and foremost - as Oneida has in their instructions - make sure your connections are tight and the system is as leak free as possible. Every single little leak will effect the way the cyclone works. Before I took the weekend to build what I did, I just made a lid for my Dust Right container, clamped it on, and used the Shop-Vac hose. The Dust Deputy wasn't performing much better than the Dust Right had been at that point, because I had some leakage around the lid, and most of the leakage at the actual Shop-Vac hose. With the system as built right now, this thing is well above 95% efficient at dropping it into the container, and not my Shop-Vac bag. If I were to put this on a 5-gallon bucket, I would consider devising some sort of structure to support the cyclone as the plastic flange at the bottom is a bit thin and I would be concerned with it breaking at that point. My Shop-vac has the 2-1/4 hose and fittings, as does the flexible hose I reused from my old Dust Right system, and these fittings snugly fit onto the Dust Deputy. The inlet and outlet areas are tapered, and though I haven't tried them, suspect my smaller jobsite Shop-Vac fittings would fit as well.The actual review? I've never used one of the knock-off cyclones so I can't compare it those. Compared with my old Dust Right system, this one is head and shoulders better. As I've already said, it is well over 95% (estimation only, I know how full my bag got before this) efficient. I reused the Dust Right container (after gluing a foam window insulation seal around the edge of it) and it is about half full right now. This is when I began to see blow by from that old system. No signs of it right now with the Deputy. I've also noticed this set-up has improved the dust collection of my Delta 36-725 table saw (which if you are familiar with those, you know the dust collection ain't the greatest). Overall, I am very happy and satisfied with my purchase. Are they more expensive than the knock offs? Yep. Imo, though, these are the real deal.

All the folks I talked to about it second guessed it’s ability, and it’s effectiveness, and predicted it was not going to do any good. Well, after today I am 100% sold on its capabilities. I produced 10 gallons worth of sawdust and chips running a table saw, miter saw and 13” thickness planer. The planer by far fills it up the fastest. Expect a full 5 gal bucket after 16 passes on a 2x6x10. Still, the trouble to empty the bucket pales in comparison to having to either go to the store to buy a new shop vac filter, or wait for one to ship, or pray that the filter will hold up to a cleaning. My Shop vac filter looks Brand new after a full day of heavy use building furniture. It works extremely well at separating the dust and larger debris. I am using a shop vac bag as a pre filter to prolong the filter life, but even my shop vac bag is essentially empty.The things I did for my build include: building a cart to house the shop vac, building a ring out of plywood to bolt to the underside of the bucket lid, and built a 2” pvc pipe to connect the shop vac to the top of the dust deputy. I used 2 five gallon buckets, one inside the other to increase the rigidity of the bucket and have zero bucket flex under vacuum. The bottom bucket is secured to the cart, the top bucket simply slides out when it needs to be emptied. 5 gal is definitely the weakest point of the dust collector, as it limits my time between emptying. After a heavy day of use I emptied it 2 times. 2 7.5 gal home beer/wine brewing buckets would prolong intervals of emptying, by maybe a day or two.My garage is where I park my cars at night, so I made the cart with casters. 2 360 rotating, and 2 fixed. I had them on hand, and didn’t want to spend extra money for something I already had, but locking wheels would have been a nice addition, that said, locking wheels require a taller base, increasing the overall height of the entire system. The design to be able to access the locking mechanism Was not a deal breaker for me, so For those reasons I opted out of the locking caster option.The suction power is excellent. All things aside, the suction power is ultimately determined by a few things that are not dependent upon this unit. The suction power of the vacuum is dependent upon its capabilities, the cleanliness of the filter, and the air supply from the vacuum to the dust deputy. For this reason I opted for the shortest amount of distance from the vac to the dust deputy by using 2” pvc and 2 90 degree connections. I believe that this connection removes most air turbulence incurred a corrugated ship vac flexible hose from the vac to the dust deputy, Which might have possibly given me the results I have achieved, but I can’t prove that without conducting a test, which I have not done. That said, the air turbulence from a corrugated hose is likely negligible, at best I would assume it is a 2%-5% efficiency gain to use the pvc vs the supplies corrugated hose. Additionally, the hose they supply with this kit is short, only 3 ft long. You would be hard pressed to build a cart using that supply hose imho.Overall, this unit is the best option for someone working on a 20amp circuit, who doesn’t want to install a dedicated 50 amp circuit to power a 240v large dust collection system. This is a point of use option good for the DIY person who doesn’t mind swapping the hose to each tool, or building a hose system with gates. In my garage space is a premium, and keeping it point of use is important, but you could use it for a smaller whole shop setup, but there are larger versions available for that purpose.

Great product