DUST COMMANDERDLX ESD MKII – Professional Cyclone Dust Extractor/Filter/Separator - antistatic

I considered making my own Thein separator for my Henry vacuum cleaner that I use in my work shop, particularly as it is a pain to regularly empty after power planing with an electric hand plane. However I am very glad I decided to go down the bought cyclone route as it works very well.The Dust Commander DLX comes with two metal clips to seal your hose to the inlet and outlet tubes if you have vacuum tubing of the right size. I do not and have made some wooden adaptors. It also comes with a self adhesive template, which allows you to cut the hole to mount the cyclone to your drop box and position the provided screws to attach it. I have used a small clear plastic seed container, which is fine but because of the height of the cyclone and the hose from your vacuum cleaner coming in through the top it keeps falling over. Although it carries on working on its side! So I need to either use a bigger more stable container or attach it to a wooden base. The unit itself is relatively small, which is fine and seems very robust, made of thick plastic, it feels like it will last a long time. The real question is does it work? Well I only received it today (it takes a few days to come from France but is well packaged) but even with my thrown together container and connections it sucks up the dust, swirls it around impressively and deposits it in the bottom of your container.I am very impressed.Edited 24th October 2014I have now attached a wooden base to my dust bucket, which keeps it stable and hot glued the Qualtex 1.8m Hoover hose to the inlet connection. I can now connect to all my electric hand held workshop tools and I am collecting chippings, shavings and fine dust before they get to my Henry Hoover with no obvious drop off in suction power. I still may upgrade the bucket as it has a tendency to flex inwards if the vacuum blocks but so far so good! The vortex itself is very sturdy, as ever I should have bought one of these years ago!

I was very nearly persuaded to buy one of the cheaper imported versions, but in the end decided on this one. I can say that I am not disappointed with my decision at all. The build quality is excellent. The supplied adapters fitted everything that I needed to hook this up to my chosen set-up. And performance is excellent.I have this on top of a 30l blue barrel, with a Vacmaster multi 20 pto providing the suction. I can absolutely say that this cyclone has separated dust, shavings, chips and general garage floor sweepings with nothing getting through to the vacuum.Would I buy this combination again? Absolutely. This cyclone is solidly built and does everything I need it to with ease.This has opened may eyes as to how important dust collection is in a small workshop.

This dust commander is unbelievably powerful.I bought this to extend the lifespan of my dust extractor - I figured if I could pre-filter the dust with this, I would need less filter bags for the dust extractor and there's less chance of dust making it's way into the motor unit. The cost of this unit vs the cost of the dust extractor makes it a no-brainer - even if it extends the extractors life for another year, it pays for itself.The construction is pretty solid, quite a hard plastic (though I imagine it is quite brittle and will not endure being dropped a few times).Performance wise, it works great! In fact, it's too good for the collection tub I am using!I decided to use an old protein powder tub as you need to have a round container for the cyclone effect to work. The suction produce when combined with my dust extractor is enough to collapse the container (which is relatively thick plastic).I fitted a pressure reducing valve which has improved it somewhat, but I think I need to invest in the recommended blue tub frequently shown with this item.Very little dust will make its way past the collection bucket and into the main bin of my dust extractor so it is working very efficiently.A great purchase for woodworking enthusiasts, DIYer's and shed tinkerers!

The only problem is: the size of the couplings do not match the standard hoses I have so it was a bit of a fiddle to get the hoses attached. I used a couple of inches off my camping mat wrapped around the inlet and outlet and that made up the difference. I have only cleaned the bench and floor so far, but the unit seems to work effectively. I inadvertently sucked up a few square inches of bubble matting and it ended up in the bin, not the vacuum bag.By dispensing with the camping mat and using a hot air gun on the hose connections, it is possible to expand the hose connections and force them onto the cyclone connections. Once cool, they are not coming off without heat. I have now used the unit repeatedly for collecting shavings off my planer and it is fantastic, the only trouble is the bucket fills so quickly it needs emptying regularly, but the vacuum bag is clean. It works well collecting sawdust from my power saw.

Buy one!I wish I'd come across one of these years ago. Used in conjunction with a Vacmaster Wet Dry 20L, a Sealey VacHose5m and an Oipps 30L Plastic Blue Barrel, to make a very effective cyclone dust collection system.The cyclone is made from a very sturdy plastic and comes with accessories to easily connect to the above hose and vacuum.It also comes with a template to make attaching it to the lid of the barrel easy enough with a drill, Stanley knife and file. It also comes with two lengths of screws to allow for different lid thicknesses. There is also a gasket to seal the cyclone to the lid.It really does seem to collect most of the dust and I have been using the same 20L vacuum bag for weeks now and there is barely anything in it, whereas the barrel is half full. There is no appreciable loss of suction and I have used it with an Evolution Rage mitre saw, a Bosch Professional circular saw, a Ryobi plane and a Ryobi 18v sander. The difference in the amount of dust that gets into the room is huge.I'm glad I spent the bit extra on this one.