Dust Deputy Deluxe
Reviewed by Raf Nathan
The latest Dust Deputy Deluxe release from Oneida Air Systems has some small mods over the original model released some years ago. This is a unit which connects to a shop vac and improves its efficiency immensely.
Basically there are two plastic buckets that sit under the special semi-transparent cyclone. One bucket collects the waste while the other acts as a cradle for the assembly. The hose from your power tool fits to the top of the cyclone which acts to direct the dust laden air down in a spiral, like a cyclone. Large particles fall down into the bucket while the air is then carried up into the hose exiting to the dust extractor. Separating the larger waste extends the life of your dust extractor bags immensely. Plus the extractor runs more freely with larger breathing capacity.
I had a large routing process that would have almost filled the expensive paper bag in my extractor. The Dust Deputy however collected masses of the waste and appeared to offer more sucking power. I was sold on the spot.
The downside is setting up the assembly. The instructions recommend attaching the supplied wheel kit to the base of one bucket and using a foam spacer to bolt it to the side of your dust extractor housing. However I wasn’t comfortable with fixing it to the thin plastic on my extractor. An alternative mounting sits it on top of the extractor which required some shop built brackets and fixings.
Visually the two plastic buckets atop a modern designed dust extractor are not pretty. I appreciate the price of the unit but painting the buckets would help.
But with a fair price ($189 on Jan 14, 2017) and excellent performance, in this case functions wins over form.