Well, a few months ago I ordered a 3HP dust collector for the shop.... It
got here pretty quick (more or less on time), then spent a few weeks sitting
waiting for me to get the time to put it all together....
My observations so far:
Hanging the DC blower/separator/cyclone
That sucker is *heavy* you've got to lift the motor/blower about 9 feet
up, and secure it to a bracket mounted to the wall (or some other supporting
device). This is not a job for one person. 2 can do it, 3 would make it a
*lot* easier (if you've got the space)...
The second part (the separator) is also heavy, but you don't have to get
it up 9 feet. Only about 7 1/2. Then you have to secure it in place by
placing a long (like 3' diameter) band clamp over a lip in the top of the
separator and another lip in the bottom of the blower. Add the fact that
there is a large piece of loose sheet metal that sits inside this part, and
it tends to like to fall out as the unit is lifted into place..... 4 people
would be good for this, but unless you're mounting the DC unit in the middle
of a room, count on doing it with one or two. Creative use of verbs is
encouraged here...... Oh yeah, and you're supposed to put a bead of silicone
sealer on the joint before you put it up. And if you get it place, and its
not pointing in the right direction (this is where you determine which way
the intake duct points) plan on redesigning your ductwork.....
Once the separator is in place, the cyclone is pretty easy to deal with. Its
light (sort of), not very high, and pretty easy to get on....
Overall, I can think of a couple of places that could use major improvement
(like the fastening system between the components). My advice would be to
ignore the directions, put the whole thing together on the ground
(preferably on a pallet or something), then jack it up the 3 or 4 feet
needed to get it into the right position.....
It took me 2 half days to get this installed. Half days because after I got
the motor/blower installed, I really didn't want to deal with the next bit,
so I put it off....
Ductwork:
I've got something like 350 pounds of snap-lock ducting to put in place.
The snap-lock stuff is easy to work with. The pre-crimped ends are great,
and slide together nicely. I wish I could say the same for the "Y" joints.
they're all nicely made, but the QC seems to be spotty at best. Almost all
of the ones I used needed to have their crimps redone (or the crimps of the
pipe going into them needed to be re-done). The larger diameter Y joints
were the worst, with the "finished" ends being a little to small to allow a
crimped pipe to slip into them, and a little too big to slide into a
non-crimped pipe. These were bad enough that if I was repeating this
exercise, I'd buy all them locally.....
The long radius elbows are supposed to be adjustable from 90 degrees to
straight. They may be, but Arnold S would have a tough time getting the
joints to move. The manual recommends "tapping the ends lightly on the
floor" to loosen them up, but that didn't seem to do anything. I ended up
building a set of clamps using romex and a stick to make something like a
giant oil filter wrench. I made two, and used them on adjacent sections to
twist them to the desired position. I probably spent as much Time trying to
get these things set right than I spent putting the rest of the system
together. recommendation: don't bother with these unless you need an odd
angle. Find a shop that sells 45 degree long radius corners, or have a local
sheet metal shop make them for you. It'll probably cost about the same as
Oneida charges (I'm including the cost of the angst of dealing with them
here). All of the ones I needed were for either 90 or 45 degree corners, so
it should be pretty easy to get them made, and it'll be worth it.... It took
me 2 days to install all of the ducting...
The method of installation that I used was to build a small section of
ductwork - usually 2-4 pieces, depending on what it was - seal all of the
joints and seams, then carry it downstairs and install it (all of the
ducting runs under the floor). I chose to not bother screwing the pipes
together. The metal tape I used to seal the joints seems to be plenty
strong, and I used a lot of supports (roughly one every 2 feet).
Overall, the ductwork setup wasn't that bad. Their design team blew one
section - they tried to feed 2 machines that are fairly close together by
putting flex hose and a splitter at the end of a run. They missed the fact
that the machines were "close" in relation to the shop, but the shop is 40 x
52 feet, so I ended up with a 10' run of flex tube. I redesigned that
section to use more snap-lock. I must admit that I missed this until I
started building it, so the fault isn't entirely with Oneida....
I still have to hook up the machines to the ductwork, but based on the
ductwork experience, I don't think it'll be too bad. I'm expecting to spend
about a day at it.
That makes a total install time of 4 days, mostly working alone. a couple of
helpers would probably speed it up a lot, especially the ductwork - one
person could build the small units, and another could install them, and they
would both be able to keep busy.
For wiring I'm building a system that will turn the DC on whenever a blast
gate is opened. I figure probably a day or so at that. most of it will be
low voltage wiring and getting the switches installed into the blast
gates....
Overall, I'm pretty happy. There are a couple of areas that I think Oneida
really screwed up on, but they only matter when the system is being built
(biggest gripe is what it took to get the blower/cyclone hung on the
wall)....
share and enjoy
--JD
You had more trouble than I did. I fabricated weldments that hang the
components from the floor joists above my basement shop and then put the
DC and cyclone in and bolted them down. The longest time was spent
waiting for the paint on the weldments to dry.
I don't always have my wife here so I've gotten to be pretty quick at
lifting and moving tools by myself. A little cribing and a hoist are
all it takes.
Not a difficult installation.
Phil
jduprie wrote:
> Well, a few months ago I ordered a 3HP dust collector for the shop.... It
> got here pretty quick (more or less on time), then spent a few weeks sitting
> waiting for me to get the time to put it all together....
>
> My observations so far:
> Hanging the DC blower/separator/cyclone
>
> That sucker is *heavy* you've got to lift the motor/blower about 9 feet
> up, and secure it to a bracket mounted to the wall (or some other supporting
> device). This is not a job for one person. 2 can do it, 3 would make it a
> *lot* easier (if you've got the space)...
>
> The second part (the separator) is also heavy, but you don't have to get
> it up 9 feet. Only about 7 1/2. Then you have to secure it in place by
> placing a long (like 3' diameter) band clamp over a lip in the top of the
> separator and another lip in the bottom of the blower. Add the fact that
> there is a large piece of loose sheet metal that sits inside this part, and
> it tends to like to fall out as the unit is lifted into place..... 4 people
> would be good for this, but unless you're mounting the DC unit in the middle
> of a room, count on doing it with one or two. Creative use of verbs is
> encouraged here...... Oh yeah, and you're supposed to put a bead of silicone
> sealer on the joint before you put it up. And if you get it place, and its
> not pointing in the right direction (this is where you determine which way
> the intake duct points) plan on redesigning your ductwork.....
>
> Once the separator is in place, the cyclone is pretty easy to deal with. Its
> light (sort of), not very high, and pretty easy to get on....
> Overall, I can think of a couple of places that could use major improvement
> (like the fastening system between the components). My advice would be to
> ignore the directions, put the whole thing together on the ground
> (preferably on a pallet or something), then jack it up the 3 or 4 feet
> needed to get it into the right position.....
>
> It took me 2 half days to get this installed. Half days because after I got
> the motor/blower installed, I really didn't want to deal with the next bit,
> so I put it off....
>
> Ductwork:
> I've got something like 350 pounds of snap-lock ducting to put in place.
> The snap-lock stuff is easy to work with. The pre-crimped ends are great,
> and slide together nicely. I wish I could say the same for the "Y" joints.
> they're all nicely made, but the QC seems to be spotty at best. Almost all
> of the ones I used needed to have their crimps redone (or the crimps of the
> pipe going into them needed to be re-done). The larger diameter Y joints
> were the worst, with the "finished" ends being a little to small to allow a
> crimped pipe to slip into them, and a little too big to slide into a
> non-crimped pipe. These were bad enough that if I was repeating this
> exercise, I'd buy all them locally.....
> The long radius elbows are supposed to be adjustable from 90 degrees to
> straight. They may be, but Arnold S would have a tough time getting the
> joints to move. The manual recommends "tapping the ends lightly on the
> floor" to loosen them up, but that didn't seem to do anything. I ended up
> building a set of clamps using romex and a stick to make something like a
> giant oil filter wrench. I made two, and used them on adjacent sections to
> twist them to the desired position. I probably spent as much Time trying to
> get these things set right than I spent putting the rest of the system
> together. recommendation: don't bother with these unless you need an odd
> angle. Find a shop that sells 45 degree long radius corners, or have a local
> sheet metal shop make them for you. It'll probably cost about the same as
> Oneida charges (I'm including the cost of the angst of dealing with them
> here). All of the ones I needed were for either 90 or 45 degree corners, so
> it should be pretty easy to get them made, and it'll be worth it.... It took
> me 2 days to install all of the ducting...
>
> The method of installation that I used was to build a small section of
> ductwork - usually 2-4 pieces, depending on what it was - seal all of the
> joints and seams, then carry it downstairs and install it (all of the
> ducting runs under the floor). I chose to not bother screwing the pipes
> together. The metal tape I used to seal the joints seems to be plenty
> strong, and I used a lot of supports (roughly one every 2 feet).
>
> Overall, the ductwork setup wasn't that bad. Their design team blew one
> section - they tried to feed 2 machines that are fairly close together by
> putting flex hose and a splitter at the end of a run. They missed the fact
> that the machines were "close" in relation to the shop, but the shop is 40 x
> 52 feet, so I ended up with a 10' run of flex tube. I redesigned that
> section to use more snap-lock. I must admit that I missed this until I
> started building it, so the fault isn't entirely with Oneida....
>
> I still have to hook up the machines to the ductwork, but based on the
> ductwork experience, I don't think it'll be too bad. I'm expecting to spend
> about a day at it.
>
> That makes a total install time of 4 days, mostly working alone. a couple of
> helpers would probably speed it up a lot, especially the ductwork - one
> person could build the small units, and another could install them, and they
> would both be able to keep busy.
>
> For wiring I'm building a system that will turn the DC on whenever a blast
> gate is opened. I figure probably a day or so at that. most of it will be
> low voltage wiring and getting the switches installed into the blast
> gates....
>
> Overall, I'm pretty happy. There are a couple of areas that I think Oneida
> really screwed up on, but they only matter when the system is being built
> (biggest gripe is what it took to get the blower/cyclone hung on the
> wall)....
>
> share and enjoy
>
> --JD
>
>
yep. A hoist would have helped a lot. The only problem is htat the cieling
is suspended (read nothing to hook to), and the walls are the structural
unbits. There wasn't enough head room over the blower to wall mount a lift
of any sort, so I ended up sliding the whole thing up a ladder and on to the
wall brackets......
thanks
--JD
"Phil" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> You had more trouble than I did. I fabricated weldments that hang the
> components from the floor joists above my basement shop and then put the
> DC and cyclone in and bolted them down. The longest time was spent
> waiting for the paint on the weldments to dry.
>
> I don't always have my wife here so I've gotten to be pretty quick at
> lifting and moving tools by myself. A little cribing and a hoist are
> all it takes.
>
> Not a difficult installation.
>
> Phil
>
> jduprie wrote:
> > Well, a few months ago I ordered a 3HP dust collector for the shop....
It
> > got here pretty quick (more or less on time), then spent a few weeks
sitting
> > waiting for me to get the time to put it all together....
> >
> > My observations so far:
> > Hanging the DC blower/separator/cyclone
> >
> > That sucker is *heavy* you've got to lift the motor/blower about 9
feet
> > up, and secure it to a bracket mounted to the wall (or some other
supporting
> > device). This is not a job for one person. 2 can do it, 3 would make it
a
> > *lot* easier (if you've got the space)...
> >
> > The second part (the separator) is also heavy, but you don't have to
get
> > it up 9 feet. Only about 7 1/2. Then you have to secure it in place by
> > placing a long (like 3' diameter) band clamp over a lip in the top of
the
> > separator and another lip in the bottom of the blower. Add the fact that
> > there is a large piece of loose sheet metal that sits inside this part,
and
> > it tends to like to fall out as the unit is lifted into place..... 4
people
> > would be good for this, but unless you're mounting the DC unit in the
middle
> > of a room, count on doing it with one or two. Creative use of verbs is
> > encouraged here...... Oh yeah, and you're supposed to put a bead of
silicone
> > sealer on the joint before you put it up. And if you get it place, and
its
> > not pointing in the right direction (this is where you determine which
way
> > the intake duct points) plan on redesigning your ductwork.....
> >
> > Once the separator is in place, the cyclone is pretty easy to deal with.
Its
> > light (sort of), not very high, and pretty easy to get on....
> > Overall, I can think of a couple of places that could use major
improvement
> > (like the fastening system between the components). My advice would be
to
> > ignore the directions, put the whole thing together on the ground
> > (preferably on a pallet or something), then jack it up the 3 or 4 feet
> > needed to get it into the right position.....
> >
> > It took me 2 half days to get this installed. Half days because after I
got
> > the motor/blower installed, I really didn't want to deal with the next
bit,
> > so I put it off....
> >
> > Ductwork:
> > I've got something like 350 pounds of snap-lock ducting to put in
place.
> > The snap-lock stuff is easy to work with. The pre-crimped ends are
great,
> > and slide together nicely. I wish I could say the same for the "Y"
joints.
> > they're all nicely made, but the QC seems to be spotty at best. Almost
all
> > of the ones I used needed to have their crimps redone (or the crimps of
the
> > pipe going into them needed to be re-done). The larger diameter Y joints
> > were the worst, with the "finished" ends being a little to small to
allow a
> > crimped pipe to slip into them, and a little too big to slide into a
> > non-crimped pipe. These were bad enough that if I was repeating this
> > exercise, I'd buy all them locally.....
> > The long radius elbows are supposed to be adjustable from 90 degrees
to
> > straight. They may be, but Arnold S would have a tough time getting the
> > joints to move. The manual recommends "tapping the ends lightly on the
> > floor" to loosen them up, but that didn't seem to do anything. I ended
up
> > building a set of clamps using romex and a stick to make something like
a
> > giant oil filter wrench. I made two, and used them on adjacent sections
to
> > twist them to the desired position. I probably spent as much Time trying
to
> > get these things set right than I spent putting the rest of the system
> > together. recommendation: don't bother with these unless you need an odd
> > angle. Find a shop that sells 45 degree long radius corners, or have a
local
> > sheet metal shop make them for you. It'll probably cost about the same
as
> > Oneida charges (I'm including the cost of the angst of dealing with them
> > here). All of the ones I needed were for either 90 or 45 degree
corners, so
> > it should be pretty easy to get them made, and it'll be worth it.... It
took
> > me 2 days to install all of the ducting...
> >
> > The method of installation that I used was to build a small section of
> > ductwork - usually 2-4 pieces, depending on what it was - seal all of
the
> > joints and seams, then carry it downstairs and install it (all of the
> > ducting runs under the floor). I chose to not bother screwing the pipes
> > together. The metal tape I used to seal the joints seems to be plenty
> > strong, and I used a lot of supports (roughly one every 2 feet).
> >
> > Overall, the ductwork setup wasn't that bad. Their design team blew one
> > section - they tried to feed 2 machines that are fairly close together
by
> > putting flex hose and a splitter at the end of a run. They missed the
fact
> > that the machines were "close" in relation to the shop, but the shop is
40 x
> > 52 feet, so I ended up with a 10' run of flex tube. I redesigned that
> > section to use more snap-lock. I must admit that I missed this until I
> > started building it, so the fault isn't entirely with Oneida....
> >
> > I still have to hook up the machines to the ductwork, but based on the
> > ductwork experience, I don't think it'll be too bad. I'm expecting to
spend
> > about a day at it.
> >
> > That makes a total install time of 4 days, mostly working alone. a
couple of
> > helpers would probably speed it up a lot, especially the ductwork - one
> > person could build the small units, and another could install them, and
they
> > would both be able to keep busy.
> >
> > For wiring I'm building a system that will turn the DC on whenever a
blast
> > gate is opened. I figure probably a day or so at that. most of it will
be
> > low voltage wiring and getting the switches installed into the blast
> > gates....
> >
> > Overall, I'm pretty happy. There are a couple of areas that I think
Oneida
> > really screwed up on, but they only matter when the system is being
built
> > (biggest gripe is what it took to get the blower/cyclone hung on the
> > wall)....
> >
> > share and enjoy
> >
> > --JD
> >
> >
>