Thread: Dust Extractor Options - now that ClearVue isnt one ?

What sort of machinery/tools have you got?

In most cases, DIY operators in a single car garage can get away with a 2HP DC (outside the shed) and even just 4" ducting ( ) to collect chips, and a couple of exhaust fans to exhaust fine dust.

If you wanted to get a bit fancier then mod the 2HP DC and machines to utilise 6" ducting.
A 3HP DC will usually save you the trouble of a 2HP DC mod.

Also, keep in mind that all cyclones restrict air flow especially on small DCs.

Hi BobL

I have a table saw, bandsaw, router table, drill press, mitre saw and sander, plus your standard hand operated power tools (track saw probably the worst offender). A small thicknesser is the next tool but want to get the DE sorted beforehand.

There is one door in and one door out, so ventilation /air flow isn't great, so would rather capture the fine dust at source if I can. I should have also said that although it is a garage, it has been modified and is only used as my work shop.

Understand the flow is reduced with cyclones, further if I am adding filters, so would ultimately like to vent outside if I could, but this may not be possible.

Happy to go down the 3HP route and my preference was to purchase a CV1800 from Stephen, but that is no longer an option, so curious what the next best option is in Australia at the moment?

Thanks again

Originally Posted by BrettGG

Hi BobL

I have a table saw, bandsaw, router table, drill press, mitre saw and sander, plus your standard hand operated power tools (track saw probably the worst offender). A small thicknesser is the next tool but want to get the DE sorted beforehand.

There is one door in and one door out, so ventilation /air flow isn't great, so would rather capture the fine dust at source if I can. I should have also said that although it is a garage, it has been modified and is only used as my work shop.

Is it rented place? If so, replace one door with another with 2 exhaust fans in it.

I have do doubt that the advice Bob has given you is very sound.

If the installation was for myself and I was not inclined to build another DC-cyclone (I've built 2, easy enough, but obtaining a suitable sized impeller is the snag with DIY unless you also make and balance the impeller yourself), I would go with the Laguna for no other reason than you can at least see what you are getting, including a fan curve performance graph (and the conditions under which the measurements were obtained)...

C|Flux: 3 >> Dust Collectors >> Laguna Tools

One thing to take into account with those specs is that they are based on US 220v 60Hz power supply and ours is 240v 50Hz.... so here we would get a bit less air moved (cfm) and a bit less static pressure (inch/H²O).

The Sherwood might be as good as the Laguna, but the information on it is scant. At one stage I tried to get information on the impeller size from Timbecon, but nothing was forthcoming.

If you intend to vent outside, the downside of buying either of the two options is that you have purchased expensive filters that come bundled with both that you will not use. Unless you can get either of them to supply without the filters, or can on-sell the filters, then that has made both more expensive than they need be. I'm not sure how you get around that. One of advantage of the CVs was that you could purchase without the filters.

As Bob points out, a cyclone adds resistance to a DE system. Venting a cyclone outside without filters wins some of that loss back.

Now, I began with, if the installation was for myself.... so the above is just opinion based on my needs. In my situation I have chosen not to vent the DE outside or ventilate my workshop with extractor fans. Noise escaping my workshop is one of the considerations where I'm located.

Both of those machines are single phase, so full bore, full roar all the time, and the noise can get tedious.

If I had my time again, I'd get a 3P motor and a VFD so I had speed control.

At this time beggars can't be choosers as all the retailers have low or no stock of capable dust extractors due to multiple factors ranging from production to transport to rising costs so the Laguna might be the pick of what is now available. If you have the skills making a CV clone is an option but the impeller will be the hardest part though I have had one made recently as I did not have the equipment to bend the vanes or cut them accurately enough. T91 a fellow forum member has recently gone down this path and would be able to advise you on making one.

Oh no! I was another one saving to purchase CV1800 in the near future...
I know cost of manufacturing and importing is high in Australia, but surely not prohibitively so... I'm no engineer, but the Clearvue's basic components don't look too complicated to build for an astute entrepreneur and surely there is a strong market in Oz... We have so few good options for small medium 1 man shop...

Originally Posted by aleron

Oh no! I was another one saving to purchase CV1800 in the near future...
I know cost of manufacturing and importing is high in Australia, but surely not prohibitively so... I'm no engineer, but the Clearvue's basic components don't look too complicated to build for an astute entrepreneur and surely there is a strong market in Oz... We have so few good options for small medium 1 man shop...

Up to the time the plague started the cost to manufacture in Oz was just not feasible but that is no longer the case due to transport costs, sorry but I won't divulge that but lets say they have risen over 300% per unit. The market weakens as the price rises and I know there would be zero sales at the price needed to cover costs let alone make any money out of it when the retail would have to be north of $6000 retail. With that number it becomes cheaper to make them here if anyone wants to have a go and I can guarantee and will recommend customers. Before anyone gets stars in their eyes do your homework because there is a lot more to selling a cyclone than just making it.

Thanks everyone for their thoughts and comments so far.

Bobl - premises are not rented, it is my residence and the garage is located under the house. The one door in is the same door out (re-read what I wrote, can now see that it could have been misleading, apologies if it was). I do plan to install an air filter in the ceiling space along the lines of;

https://www.timbecon.com.au/sherwood...ner-air-filter

NeilS - hadn't picked up that on the specs for the Laguna, thank you. I am leaning that way, but it's height might be an issue (>2,200) so need to either reconfigure like you could with the ClearVue for low ceiling heights, or find somewhere I can find 2,350

Bernmc - unfortunately I only have single phase so double earplugs it is! Would get a VFD if building myself but that leads me to....

ChrisP - I have crunched the numbers too and you're 100% on it. I even looked into ordering parts on the US site and getting them shipped to my uncle in the US then getting him to stick it on a slow boat here, but the volume (not actual weight) is what kills it. And while I could probably make everything, you're right, its the impeller that is my issue and above my paygrade.... don't really want that coming apart at those revs either. Re T91, I think I read that thread on here, might look for that again as a possible - thank you

Aleron - I am sure there are a few of us, but don't expect it's a high volume market (CV1800 demand in Oz). I mentioned to Stephen (ClearVue Oz) that if there was a bunch of peps interested in one last order, I'd be happy to wait and be part of that last hurrah, but it appears that window too has closed

Such a shame that CV Oz is no longer ..... really not a lot of (decent) options left....

Originally Posted by BrettGG

Thanks everyone for their thoughts and comments so far.

Bobl - premises are not rented, it is my residence and the garage is located under the house. The one door in is the same door out (re-read what I wrote, can now see that it could have been misleading, apologies if it was). I do plan to install an air filter in the ceiling space along the lines of;

I'm not suggesting you do this but this is what my brother did and it might give you some ideas.

Said brother has a 4 bay garage under his house and 2 of the bays (the back two) are used as a motor cycle mechanical workshop. Like yours it has one (double) door way into that space. As he wants to be able to run engines and use solvents in that space he installed two 6" exhaust fans. He got a specialist concrete cutting service in to cut/bore two neat holes through a side/top/rear brick wall. Then he dug down about a meter on the outside and installed the ducting. He can connect a running exhaust to one of the 6" fans using Al flex while the other one extracts any escaping gasses.

From what he said that concrete drill/cutting service was not that expensive.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

T91 a fellow forum member has recently gone down this path and would be able to advise you on making one.

(WIP) RH Pentz cyclone, DIY 16" BC impeller & 3Kw Teco & Vevor VFD

I visited a men's shed yesterday morning that made their own cyclone body (to Pentz design), but purchased the CV impeller, housing and the VFD control. The advantage of that approach is that the transport of the bulky cyclone component is eliminated from the cost. That just leaves the transport cost for the more compact impeller unit and motor.

Most men's sheds will have a few chaps that could knock up a cyclone body to the Pentz spec, as could many home workshoppers. The cyclone body doesn't have to be made from sheet metal or thermoformed plastic if those are not in your skill set. Laminated bent wood, coopered wood staves, woodturned components, fibreglass, routed segments, scrapyard components and 3D-printing (just kidding on that last one) are all possibilities. As long as the internal dimensions are compliant with the Pentz design it doesn't matter what the outside of the cyclone looks like!

Whether a one person workshop needs a cyclone as part of their DE system is a separate issue that has probably been adequately covered in a previous thread.

Originally Posted by BrettGG

Thanks everyone for their thoughts and comments so far.

Bobl - premises are not rented, it is my residence and the garage is located under the house. The one door in is the same door out (re-read what I wrote, can now see that it could have been misleading, apologies if it was). I do plan to install an air filter in the ceiling space along the lines of;

https://www.timbecon.com.au/sherwood...ner-air-filter

NeilS - hadn't picked up that on the specs for the Laguna, thank you. I am leaning that way, but it's height might be an issue (>2,200) so need to either reconfigure like you could with the ClearVue for low ceiling heights, or find somewhere I can find 2,350

Bernmc - unfortunately I only have single phase so double earplugs it is! Would get a VFD if building myself but that leads me to....

ChrisP - I have crunched the numbers too and you're 100% on it. I even looked into ordering parts on the US site and getting them shipped to my uncle in the US then getting him to stick it on a slow boat here, but the volume (not actual weight) is what kills it. And while I could probably make everything, you're right, its the impeller that is my issue and above my paygrade.... don't really want that coming apart at those revs either. Re T91, I think I read that thread on here, might look for that again as a possible - thank you

Aleron - I am sure there are a few of us, but don't expect it's a high volume market (CV1800 demand in Oz). I mentioned to Stephen (ClearVue Oz) that if there was a bunch of peps interested in one last order, I'd be happy to wait and be part of that last hurrah, but it appears that window too has closed

Such a shame that CV Oz is no longer ..... really not a lot of (decent) options left....

So further to the initial post, what would people's opinion as the best cyclone option in Oz if money we're no object? Or are they all poor alternatives to the clearvue option and you may as well buy a cheap Chinese one from the big boys as you're going to get roughly the same result?

There is a CV Max for sale on this forum now and Gregory Machinery had one short cone cyclone with 16" impeller left in stock early last week, beyond that making one is the answer AFAIK. Major Woodworking has none in stock and the rest use small impellers under 15", the Laguna from Carbatec or Trend Timbers might be a starter depending on the impeller size.

I too was saving for a CV DE. There's no updates to their website? Are they just getting out of importing/selling?