Oneida - Super Dust Deputy (Rating: 1)

I have been fighting with my Oneida Pro 2000 since I bought it. Seems a lot of dust passes the cone and lands in the filter clogging it and making dust collection inefficient. So much so I have to take the filter outside at least once a week and blow it out with an air line the reinstall.

For my drill press I purchased a Dust Deputy and use it on with a shop vac. It works wonderfully. There isn't enough material that gets by the Dust Deputy to measure in the shop vac, so I concluded that if it works that well then a Super Dust Deputy will be the answer I am looking for. So I ordered a Super DD and it finally arrived today.

Okay, so it's a little smaller than I expected. If it does the job then size really doesn't matter. As I have it upside down attaching it to the top of my barrel, I can see light through the joints around the inlet. Upon further inspection there are only to small spot welds around the inlet and the big gaps have been filled with silicone. Same with the outlet on the top, two small spot welds and the big gaps are filled with silicone. The main joint running down the height of the cone is also spot welded and then covered with silicone. But the joint at the bottom where it attaches to the barrel looks to be fully welded.

A call to Oneida Customer Service confirms they only spot weld then fill with silicone. CHEAP!

Okay, if it works as well as the Dust Deputy, then I can live with cheap construction. (Reminds me of some of the crappy construction I have seen at Harbor freight.) After 2 1/2 hours of sanding with no breaks, I can say conclusively it only works about as well as the Thein separator I made and maybe a little worse. Comparing a $210 Super Dust Deputy to a $35 Thein separator makes the Thein look like a real bargain.

I did get a RMA for it and will send it off tomorrow. Sad, I still have the filter clogging problem and Oneida seems to not want to try to find a fix.