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

As an amateur furniture refinisher, I’m always sanding, so I picked up the Oneida Air Systems Dust Deputy to manage the airborne dust. It works fantastically and has completely stopped my shop vac from clogging. My setup is simple: I attached the Dust Deputy to a 5 gallon metal can from a previous fence stain project. It maintains great suction, and the bin takes a long time to fill. A great side benefit is that I can now easily collect and reuse the sawdust for patches and glue ups to ensure a perfect stain match. The dust reduction is incredible, I'd estimate it at about 85-90%. I used to have to sand outdoors or spend hours cleaning the garage before applying a final finish. Now, I just clean the immediate area and I'm ready to go. If you're a hobbyist who sands in the same area where you finish, this is an absolute "must have."

I almost returned this after trying it for the first time, but I am glad I decided to keep it. The part that is kind of a pain is finding the right hoses to make it work. It is also too much money, in my opinion, for what it is. However, it really does a pretty admirable job of removing a lot of the dust before it gets to the vacuum. I used it for drywall sanding. I used a DeWalt random orbital sander with the extractor vacuum hose attached to the back of the sander. Then I attached the vacuum hose to a Kirby vacuum hose and attached that to the Dust Deputy. So yeah, not a super simple setup, but it gave me about 15-20 feet of hose to work with. To make sure I didn't wreck the shop vac, I used a HEPA filter with high efficiency bags. It might not have mattered. Most of the dust was in the 5 gallon pail I used with the Dust Deputy. It was easy to set it up: just cut a hole in the bucket lid...drill some holes and install the Dust Deputy with the included bolts and gasket. I just used a regular, plastic 5 gallon bucket and plastic lid and it worked fine. As far as suction, it seems to have about the same suction as it would without using the dust deputy. Overall, it was really nice not having a cloud of drywall dust all over the house after sanding and it was nice not wrecking my shop vac. So, for those reasons, I think it was a good purchase and I am glad I kept it.

I've got to say that I was skeptical at first with this thing, but after just one use I am thoroughly impressed. At $50+ the price is steep for just the cyclone piece, I think they could throw in a gasket, or maybe some various hose adapters. I'm using mine on a white "food grade" 5 gal bucket I bought from Home Depot. A quick squeeze of this bucket compared to the typical orange Homer bucket revealed the white one was a tad thicker and I thought would be better at not squeezing in. I made a rigid round doughnut for the lid about 9 inch diameter and and caulked it to the lid. I also printed out Oneida's template for the bolt pattern. I got a 1/8 inch thick 6" x 6" piece of rubber from Ace Hardware to make a gasket seal between the cyclone and the top of the lit. I used 1/4inch x 1 1/2 long bolts with washers and nuts to attach it. Came out looking sweet and feeling really solid. Attached to the bucket and gave it a whirl. Only minor lid depressions from the suction, and no leaks. Like other people complained, it is a little tippy. But I'll resolve that with some concoction of a cart to hold the vacuum too. I don't do a ton of woodworking, so I feel the 5 gal bucket size will be fine for my need. As far as the vacuum, I'm using a Home Depot Rigid model WD4070 bought for $69. I looked around for the something that sucked but didn't suck* and thought that was the best value. I am very happy with the power, size, and abilities of it. It's not as loud as people complain too. I felt that since I was using the dust deputy, I didn't need a huge shop vac, so I opted for a similar power one with a smaller volume. Not sure about the science behind all the static pressure, and suction pressure. But this one gets the job done well. After a 20 minute run sucking up saw dust of poplar, pine, and fir, and some plane shavings, the dust deputy did incredible. Its satisfying seeing it swirling around in there too, and even more satisfying when I opened the vacuum up after and not a freakin spec of saw dust was found. Its almost like magic! haha. The only frustrating occurrences I had were with the hoses, attachments, and adapters. Since I can't really blame Oneida for that since they didn't provide any, and it would be hard for them to because of all the different sizes out there. The adapter and hose companies really ought to dumb it down for us DIYers, and color code which hose will fit on which connections. The outer diameter and inner diameter sizes are a nightmare, and it really forces you to over-buy several different options bring it home and see what fits, then return what doesn't. The good thing about the dust deputy is [that I thought at the time] that the nozzles are tapered so maybe it could fit a few different close sizes. I ended up buying a larger hose for the vacuum end, and using the original hose that came with the vac, on the opposite end before the dust deputy. Ugh. My local HD didn't have a big selection of adapters, nor did they have optimal size rubber-and-hose-clamp ones. PROs: would buy it again, well engineered and gets the job done well. Con's: prepare for an annoying time getting hose fittings to work.

I've got this connected to a 6-gallon bucket and I've filled the bucket 3 times with no noticeable gain in the amount of dust in the shop vac body or filter. So they aren't kidding when they say the dust deputy keeps 99% of the dust out of the vacuum. In my case, one bucket of sawdust came from the Paint Shaver Pro (highly recommended) which produces larger particles of wood or even splinters up to 1" long on some older deck boards. The remaining buckets came from 24 grit and 60 grit sandpaper. I only knock this thing a star because it's $50 for a piece of plastic and that's kind of crazy. Yeah, it's supposed to be fancy anti-static plastic, but it still develops static and I find a little dust sticking to the outside. Also, the base on mine was warped so there are a couple 1/8" gaps when you set it on a flat surface. Adding caulk as per instructions takes care of that, but for $50 I kind of expect no flaws like a warped base. I'm also not entirely happy about them putting a "male" end on both air intake and exhaust. If you connect a 2.5" hose to the air intake, you end up pulling your material past a narrower point that's about 1.6" interior diameter and you may create a clog there. Not a problem if you're only creating dust but long splinters or other large things can be a problem. In my case, I stuck the 1.5" shop vac hose inside the dust deputy intake tube and duct taped it in place, so none of my material goes through a narrower point and I never got a clog. If you don't have a 5 mil thick plastic bucket available or you aren't sure your local hardware store carries 5 mil, it may be worth buying the "deluxe" dust deputy for $30 more. I had a 5 gallon bucket from Lowes laying around which had no thickness indicated and it promptly collapsed when I tried to use it with the Dust Deputy. The local hardware store had only 0.7 mil plastic buckets, so I was forced to buy a metal bucket for $20. In retrospect I may have been able to buy a couple 0.7mil buckets and nest the three together to get something strong enough (maybe) but I didn't think of that. Then it took 3 hours to get the handle removed from the metal lid and get holes cut/drilled (I don't have good tools for metal work) and after waiting overnight for caulk to dry the vacuum suction was poor. I found some gaps in the bucket side seams (could hear them with the vacuum running) so had to caulk them and I added soft weather stripping beneath the lid. I held the weather strip with just a few squares of thin double-sided tape since I didn't really expect it to work. The vacuum pulled the lid down, making it concave instead of convex, but it did the job. Note that the latex (Big Stretch) caulk I used did not cure enough overnight to prevent it from getting pulled into the bucket at two points, so I had to redo those points. Even 5 days later there is still a bit of white caulk visible (it turns clear when cured) because it gets squished down into a wide area where most of it is far from the air it needs to cure. So follow the directions and only use a narrow line of caulk and wait until it's completely cured if possible. Or use the recommended silicone caulk. Or buy the deluxe kit which includes gaskets and I don't think caulking is required. Having two buckets in the deluxe kit lets you move the lid with dust deputy attached from the full bucket to the empty bucket instead of detaching hoses from the deputy or dragging hoses out along with your full bucket. Simply setting the lid down while you empty the bucket is not a great option because a thick layer of sawdust will stick underneath the lid (due to static, I guess) and large amounts can fall off when you set the lid down. I have a feeling my contraption still leaks a little under the lid and that I would get better suction from a tighter-sealing container. The instructions describe creating a DIY lid out of plywood by routing out a groove around the edge and putting "gasket" rubber into the groove. I don't have a router so that's not an easy option, and they also don't mention how to hold this lid in place. I guess weight and vacuum suction, but that sounds too easy to dislodge when the vacuum is off. Note that one advantage of using a metal bucket is that its weight prevents the system from easily tipping, and the one I bought is a lot shorter and wider than a typical 5 gallon plastic bucket so that also helps. A disadvantage of the metal bucket is you can't see how full it is, but even letting dust accumulate to about 2" from the base of the deputy didn't stop it from working. You'll start seeing more material swirling around the base of the deputy when the bucket is nearly full so that's a decent warning (although not entirely reliable as even a half-full bucket can exhibit some stuff swirling around the base - I also theorize that could be a symptom of having an air leak).

A great dust collection separator for any wood working machine. The cyclone separator is easy to install and use. The stability and sturdiness are achieved with a nicely configured dust collection system. The price and reasonable and comparable to similar items. Recommended for any workshop.

Works way better than I thought it would. It can actually suck in a plastic 30 gallon container if it is left on to long.

Miracles still happen! First of all, I live in Japan. I recently burned out a shopvac while doing drywall repair; too much of the fine dust from sanding clogged the 'vac's filter and the thing just overheated. I had already blown out the filter with compressed air a couple of times that day, but I waited a bit too long that last time. I don't like the clouds of dust created when blowing out the filter; both healthwise and aesthetically it's a downer for both me and my neighbors. I immediately bought a new replacement vac and while looking for generic vacuum bags here, I discovered the "Dust Deputy". Although it arrived a couple of weeks ago, I didn't get around to building it until today, using a plastic 25L bucket with lid. I reinforced the lid with a 25cm disc of 12mm plywood. The build itself is simple; I had the hardest time, tho, finding a way to fit the Japanese hoses to the Dust Deputy, since sizes aren't the same a those in the US.When I finally got done, I tried an initial test cleaning up more dust from drywall compound and dried paint. Done, I opened the shopvac to see how much dust had gotten past the "DD"; honestly, I couldn't find a spec of dust newly picked up by the vac; it was all in the DD's plastic bucket. I almost cried. It's been a long time since I've bought a product that works as perfectly as claimed, but at least for now, the Dust Deputy DOES! My one complaint isn't directed toward the DD at all: although I thought the plastic pail I used was strong, the vacuum pressure was stronger and caused the pail's walls to partially collapse while vacuuming. The walls popped back out when I turned off the vac, but I've decided to reinforce the bucket walls by nesting another bucket inside the original one. [Later edit: I had to cut down the second bucket about 30mm to avoid the lid lock and pail handle, but with that done, the two buckets nest perfectly, and the second (liner) bucket provides sufficient strengh to prevent the outer bucket from collapsing. The interior volume is reduced by a very small amount, so I'm happy.] While $50 is admittedly a bit steep for this bit of plastic, I don't begrudge Oneida the price when considering how well it works. I assume that the angle of the body, the placement of the inlets and outlets, and other aspects of the design were the result of money invested in R&D, and not merely values pulled out of thin air.

This thing is AWESOME! So much so it has prompted me to write my first ever Amazon product review. I needed something to catch drywall dust since the sander handle for my older water bucket system broke and I was not terribly enamored with it anyway. Working without some sort of catch device clogs the filter way too quickly and I'm tired of scraping it clean or buying new filters. After some research I found the Dust Deputy from Oneida. I was already familiar with the excellence of their larger cyclone products. I paired the Dust Deputy with one of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0026GO5CA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I used a piece of 3/4" plywood on the underside of the bin lid to provide support for the cyclone. I put a 4" hole in the plywood as well as the bin lid and used a ring of Loc-Tite mounting putty to create a seal between the wood and the bin lid. A few screws and the Cyclone was mounted. To sand the drywall I got one of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000M2WSHY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1 And it works even better than I expected for the drywall dust. Nearly all (if not all) the drywall dust drops out of the air flow thanks to the cyclone. Very, very little gets into the 5.5 Gal Shop Vac I have powering it. My Shop Vac also was a 20' hose and it still works great. One thing worth noting is my hose/cyclone connections are *not* sealed too well, so there is some loss in suction. This turns out to be a *good* thing in this case as it leaves enough suction to draw stuff into the cyclone but is not strong enough to pull it through the cyclone into the Shop Vac. Some vacs come with a collar that lets one reduced the suction through the hose. Same principal only mine was done with some blue painters tape since that is all I had within reach... I have also used it to clean out my wood pellet stove and wood stove (once cool of course) and *everything* went into the Blue Bin. My Shop Vac has no stove ash in it. For other stuff, like wood dust from a table saw, wood scraps, etc, it is fantastic. Summary: If I had merely borrowed one it would be 2nd only to a slop sink on the list of necessary stuff one should get when first buying a house.

Muy util, lo compre para una lijadora y me tiene bastante contento, evito estar utilizando bolsas para aspiradora cada que esta se llena y solo me preocupo de tirar lo que se acumula en el bote donde tengo este separador. Excelente opcion para talleres.

Muito bom a muito tempo que eu queria comprar

Excellent system, works great and strong construction

The system works pretty good. It is ease to install the cyclone. I bought the simple kit so no hoses or adaptors so needed to acquire those. The unit collects the big shavings from the planer excellent! I have not tried it with the sander of Chop Saw yet but it looks promising. At this point I am VERY IMPRESSED with this bit of kit. I saw a Video comparing this to unit to others and they classed it as Number One and I would agree. I think it works Outstanding and I would recommend it. Update: I connected the Cyclone Separator to my Mitre Saw (Chop Saw) and it worked great. I did not find any saw dust in the vacuum container. Very Impressed

Alv si funciona, increíble como algo tan simple puede dar solución a un problema. Recoge perfecto el aserrín y el polvo, incluso pelos de mis mascotas. Solo le hice unos adaptadores con mi impresora 3d para usarlo con mi aspiradora truper y listo. Pasa muy muy poco polvo a la aspiradora, menos gasto en filtros qué son carisimos.