"My livelihood depends on my one-person custom furniture and cabinetry business, NR Hiller Design which I operate out of a 1200-square-foot shop. A decade ago--already 25 years into my career as a professional woodworker (yes, it's embarrassing that I didn't have dust collection earlier)--I finally bought my first dust collector, a two-bag system connected with flexible hose, which served me well for many years. Last winter I had to relocate that dust collector to a far corner of my shop, so I bit the bullet and installed galvanized steel ductwork at the ceiling. I made a point of purchasing heavy-gauge material from Oneida because I try to buy American-made products whenever I can.
After making this substantial investment, I was disgusted to find that my longtime dust collector was underpowered to handle the runs--not because of the motor capacity, but due to the overall design. Planer chips clogged the ductwork so badly that I ended up disconnecting the system and shoveling chips off the floor so that I could finish a job with a tight deadline. I hadn't spent that much money to go back to 2003 conditions.
Obviously I had to replace the dust collector, though the prospect was galling after what I had already invested. (I know there are people out there who will shake their finger at me for not doing the necessary research. Yes, all the info is out there, but I already have my hands full with business and didn't have/didn't want to take the time to educate myself fully.)
A woodworker friend suggested that the Oneida system I was considering might not work any better than my old dust collector, since the motors had the same horsepower rating. When I brought this up with Dan, my salesman at Oneida, he ran the numbers for my particular shop situation (shop size, duct runs, number of machines to be run at the same time) and assured me that the molded V-system was what I needed.
I never know whether such assurances are just a salesman's claims, but the documents and reviews Dan referred me to encouraged me to trust him. As soon as I'd set up the new system and flipped the "on" switch, I knew I had entered a new reality. The Oneida is not only vastly more powerful; it's also noticeably less noisy. It will take me a few months to pay the new dust collector off, but this is one purchase that is hands-down worth having made. It's also good to know that there are knowledgeable, helpful human beings at the other end of the phone line whenever I have a question."
