Hey, I just thought of the sign I could make for my wood shop as I wrote the subject... haha
A question by [member=18240]Max Fracas[/member] regarding my Supercell upgrade made me realize others might find value(or at least a laugh) in my garage work shop journey.
One of the recent changes I made was to upgrade from an Oneida Mini Gorilla to the Supercell.
The Mini Gorilla was the first big equipment purchase I made when I moved into my current house a few years ago. Previously, I only had a bandsaw and lathe for 'equipment' and got by without DC. When I added a DeWalt lunchbox planer I realized I needed some real dust collection.
The MG has worked well for me the last few years and I had few complaints.
I think the real catalyst for changing to the Supercell was my wife getting tired of me complaining about filling the dust bin on the MG. She was helping me in the shop a while back and heard me mumbling about it. Her words 'why don't you just upgrade to a unit with a bigger bin'. That thought had already been in the back of my head, but hadn't been a priority.
I recently finished building my kitchen cabinets and milled all the face frame and door/drawer panel stock. Lots of board feet of maple and I could fill that 22 gallon bin within 30 minutes or so.
I had also really wanted to get the dust collection on the wall instead of on the floor. Yes, wheeling around is convenient, but it leaves the perception of a disorganized shop. My big tool locations had become more fixed vs rolling around so it made more sense now.
When I looked at alternatives I already had the Supercell in the back of my head, but called Oneida to talk to a rep. I ran through my shop setup, J/P combo, bandsaw, Sawstop JSS(which is a newer addition to my shop as well), CMS-OF. With the smaller ports on the CMS and Sawstop he didn't hesitate to recommend the Supercell instead of the V series. Especially since I'm a one man show and don't run more than one big tool at a time. I also confirmed that the Supercell should perform as well(or better) on the A3-31(oh, that's new too - January). I ordered the Supercell as we were on that call, just get 'er done.
The Supercell actually showed up faster than expected. I was anticipating a 4-6 week wait and it showed up in 2.
Everything showed up in good shape and was only missing a small bag of parts which they were quick to ship out.
Install was super easy. I think it was like a fraction of the time it took me to put the MG together a few years ago.
It took longer to re-route conduit and change my receptacle situation to accommodate the Supercell location.
I also moved my 120v receptacles around to where the compressor sits. Keeps them convenient, but out of harms way.
That was like the 3rd revision of my garage wiring. Hopefully, it's that way to stay - other than adding things if needed.
I had to switch out my recently acquired Magport 5" fittings to 4" to go with the new 4" hose size. Along with some parts/hoses from Rockler I switched out my connection to the CMS and Sawstop(they use the same size 2 port setup). I have a 2.5" hose for the big size and 36mm Festool hose for the smaller ports.
That change, along with the Supercell suction makes a CRAZY difference! The router table used to fill up when I was milling, especially routing stile profiles. I would have to stop after a couple feet or so and use the vacuum to clean out the top of the router. The OF port just wasn't sucking enough air to pull the dust through, it would constantly plug.
Now, I can literally watch all the dust fly down past the router bit as the boards fly through the table. Same thing with the Infinity big chamfer bit. No clogging, no dust left behind, I don't have to stop to clean out the router.
The Sawstop also is like sparkling clean after running hardwood through it. The MG worked ok, but the Supercell doesn't really leave anything behind.
It's also really nice that the Supercell comes with a remote and a dust bin sensor. I was almost ready to just add those items to the MG, but I'm glad I went with the Supercell instead. I am actually super satisfied with the purchase.
I will say the machine is a bit louder - or, at least, the pitch is more noticeable. I'm super sensitive to loud noises, others may not notice the difference. That said, I'm very happy with the performance and I'm ok with the noise.
I will try to add more posts about my other upgrades. I've also been messing around with different layouts for MFT's/CMS/Assembly tables. Oh, and I built my own version of a Sysport.
And now I'm working on a variation of the cutting table Peter Parfitt shared. It will be mounted to the STM 1800 when I need to crosscut bigger pieces.
A question by [member=18240]Max Fracas[/member] regarding my Supercell upgrade made me realize others might find value(or at least a laugh) in my garage work shop journey.
One of the recent changes I made was to upgrade from an Oneida Mini Gorilla to the Supercell.
The Mini Gorilla was the first big equipment purchase I made when I moved into my current house a few years ago. Previously, I only had a bandsaw and lathe for 'equipment' and got by without DC. When I added a DeWalt lunchbox planer I realized I needed some real dust collection.
The MG has worked well for me the last few years and I had few complaints.
I think the real catalyst for changing to the Supercell was my wife getting tired of me complaining about filling the dust bin on the MG. She was helping me in the shop a while back and heard me mumbling about it. Her words 'why don't you just upgrade to a unit with a bigger bin'. That thought had already been in the back of my head, but hadn't been a priority.
I recently finished building my kitchen cabinets and milled all the face frame and door/drawer panel stock. Lots of board feet of maple and I could fill that 22 gallon bin within 30 minutes or so.
I had also really wanted to get the dust collection on the wall instead of on the floor. Yes, wheeling around is convenient, but it leaves the perception of a disorganized shop. My big tool locations had become more fixed vs rolling around so it made more sense now.
When I looked at alternatives I already had the Supercell in the back of my head, but called Oneida to talk to a rep. I ran through my shop setup, J/P combo, bandsaw, Sawstop JSS(which is a newer addition to my shop as well), CMS-OF. With the smaller ports on the CMS and Sawstop he didn't hesitate to recommend the Supercell instead of the V series. Especially since I'm a one man show and don't run more than one big tool at a time. I also confirmed that the Supercell should perform as well(or better) on the A3-31(oh, that's new too - January). I ordered the Supercell as we were on that call, just get 'er done.
The Supercell actually showed up faster than expected. I was anticipating a 4-6 week wait and it showed up in 2.
Everything showed up in good shape and was only missing a small bag of parts which they were quick to ship out.
Install was super easy. I think it was like a fraction of the time it took me to put the MG together a few years ago.
It took longer to re-route conduit and change my receptacle situation to accommodate the Supercell location.
I also moved my 120v receptacles around to where the compressor sits. Keeps them convenient, but out of harms way.
That was like the 3rd revision of my garage wiring. Hopefully, it's that way to stay - other than adding things if needed.
I had to switch out my recently acquired Magport 5" fittings to 4" to go with the new 4" hose size. Along with some parts/hoses from Rockler I switched out my connection to the CMS and Sawstop(they use the same size 2 port setup). I have a 2.5" hose for the big size and 36mm Festool hose for the smaller ports.
That change, along with the Supercell suction makes a CRAZY difference! The router table used to fill up when I was milling, especially routing stile profiles. I would have to stop after a couple feet or so and use the vacuum to clean out the top of the router. The OF port just wasn't sucking enough air to pull the dust through, it would constantly plug.
Now, I can literally watch all the dust fly down past the router bit as the boards fly through the table. Same thing with the Infinity big chamfer bit. No clogging, no dust left behind, I don't have to stop to clean out the router.
The Sawstop also is like sparkling clean after running hardwood through it. The MG worked ok, but the Supercell doesn't really leave anything behind.
It's also really nice that the Supercell comes with a remote and a dust bin sensor. I was almost ready to just add those items to the MG, but I'm glad I went with the Supercell instead. I am actually super satisfied with the purchase.
I will say the machine is a bit louder - or, at least, the pitch is more noticeable. I'm super sensitive to loud noises, others may not notice the difference. That said, I'm very happy with the performance and I'm ok with the noise.
I will try to add more posts about my other upgrades. I've also been messing around with different layouts for MFT's/CMS/Assembly tables. Oh, and I built my own version of a Sysport.
And now I'm working on a variation of the cutting table Peter Parfitt shared. It will be mounted to the STM 1800 when I need to crosscut bigger pieces.
