I’m looking to upgrade my dust collection and a Laguna cflux 1 has come up in the local craigs list. Other than “like new” condition and a picture that looks good there isn’t any information. Would like to get opinions from any of you who have one before I call him. Good or bad points? The only bad comments I could find centered on putting it together and this is already built. He’s asking $1200 Can which is less than half the Lee Valley price new. Thanks for your help.
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Replies
I have the Laguna Cflux 1 for many years. I like it a lot.
A few things to note: the caster wheels on the chip receptacle about double the noise when running, I put an elastic bungee cord around them so they don't rattle. Also discovered the chip separator needs a minimum airflow to work right, so I leave two 4 inch ports open all the time and open other ports as needed. Lastly you need to empty the barrel more often than you think, if it gets fairly full (75%) the performance drops off fast.
The Laguna CFlux 1 is a solid dust collector with great suction power, especially at that price. It’s efficient for small to medium-sized shops, and if it's "like new" and already assembled, that's a big plus. Some users mention the collection bag filling up fast, but overall, it’s a great deal. Just make sure to check the motor and filter condition before buying. At $1200 CAD, it sounds like a steal! Cheers, Jefferson from https://www.concretesrichmondva.com/
Sounds like oldgrind has found a solution to the 'short cone syndrome'. This makes sense as the air velocity would reduce and allow the shorter cone to separate better. Short cone cyclones do not generally separate well. This is not exclusive to Laguna. You will find similar conversations about the Jets, Grizzlys, Powermatics, Baileys, etc.
Don't get me wrong. We don't all have the headroom for a regular height separator cone. In that situation I would take a short cone over a bagger any day. When it comes to DC we need to do the best we can. This is one situation where literally anything is better than nothing ;-)
Yes. Those stubby cyclones never made much sense to me. More of a marketing gimmick than a practical solution, particularly for fine dust.
As far as separation goes you could add something external to the collector. It works pretty darn good.
My DC is an old style one without the cyclone. I have a couple of garbage can separators going. The 30 gallon cans get filled and emptied 8-10 times before I need to empty the dust from the collector bags. I empty the collector when the bags are about half full.
Thanks for all the input,I went and got it Saturday. Everything seemed to work well except the remote doesn't work, but he never used it, and it was only used for a CNC. I took a tote of shavings with me to see it working. It is 7 years old, so hoping it may only be a dead battery in the fob, died of old age. Got it for less than he was asking, so more than covered gas for the round trip. Just have to wire up a 220, 15 amp outlet. I'll try the idea of leaving the second intake open.
I had an intermittent problem with the remote on mine when it was new. Turned out to be the battery in the remote. It's an odd one but available on Amazon.