Thread: Can I make a dust collector with these??

Muzza, Welcome. Just about all you'll ever need to know is here;

http://billpentz.com//woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm

or amongst the threads of this Board. Doing a search of this site will turn up Faeces Loads of information along some jocularity general sarcasm and urine pulling.

By the look of your industrial extraction fans I have no doubt they would be suitable for the WW shop system provided the electricals are up to scratch. The amount of Ooomph they have depends on the impeller and housing design and obviously the power available. Shooting from the hip I'd say they look a little small and may have to be connected in parrallel to a collector of cyclone arrangement. Many just have a 2hp mobile unit for the likes of your thicknesser.

You can buy a cheap dust extraction kit from the likes of Carbatec which includes some hoses and all the fittings. A number of posts on this board show homemade collectors and adaptions on a 44 gallon drum.

Putting your dust extractor on wheels really helps when you haven't get a full set-up and heaps of members of this board have just that.

Posts on this board by "Wayne Davey" are well worth reading but avoid that fellow called "Biting Midge" . He has the longest running dust extraction construction project in Australia and probably the southern hemisphere . Seriously though there is some very good reading right here.

Cheers

Originally Posted by muzza

What a great forum to stumble across.

]

Welcome
Most of us in here stumble regularly so you'll fit right in.

Muzza,
Firstly, welcome.

180W is insufficient power for a dust extractor, and even if it was, the gaps between the impeller blades are far too small and would block with chips very quickly. You may find that it would make and excellent extractor for dust from a random orbital sander.

regards

Kev M

180w seems a lil small, but maybe use both, and if the fans are nice and efficient, then sounds like a go, and if fitted after a cyclone, then no problems with chips getting stuck in the blades or causing damage! I'd be giving it a go considering you have the units sitting about, and if it doesnt work, then you still have a cyclone that you can fit to a bigger DC.

Originally Posted by vsquizz

He has the longest running dust extraction construction project in Australia and probably the southern hemisphere

I resemble that remark you, you, you nasty basket you!!!

It's actually NOT running!! (but watch this space! )

P

Yeah Squizz, what are you incinerating? That Midge is slow?

Even the 2 of these fans just won't be adequate for a thicknesser.
Make a bench a bit higher than a 200 litre drum and position the drum under the edge of the thicknesser outfeed table. Its easy enough to swipe the shavings into the drum as the timber feeds through. This will solve most of the mess.
Western Red Cedar is a very bad health risk so wear a good quality dust mask.

Alternatively if you have a trailer: Lay a wide board across the trailer and sit the thicknesser on this. Most of the chips will land in the trailer.

Mick

I reckon the fans look like sitters for a pair of room filters though...they are perfect!!!

Remember filters aren't a substitute for dust collection, but they are a worthwhile addition.

Cheers,
P (also from the Sunshine Coast Chapter!)

Originally Posted by vsquizz

Just about all you'll ever need to know is here;

Originally Posted by vsquizz

http://billpentz.com//woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm

Wow, there's a lot of information there. Too much, almost. Puts you off buying a 1HP dust collector. I now want a cyclone.

Anyone made one?

What do you think of the 6" ducting requirements?

Muzza,

As the pot tummied pancake guzzler implied above.... I do have a 6" system ALMOST ready to fire up!!

MAYBE it'll be working over Easter.... if you want to pop over send me a PM and I'll tell you where to go! :eek:

I have a 2 1/2 HP fan with filter, the Cyclone is next...IF

a) I live long enough, 'cause it's only taken me 18 months so far just to do the ducting!

b) the sucker sucks through the pipes, because I couldn't understand any of the mumbo jumbo about pressure loss and stuff so I just built it so it would look pretty!

Cheers,

P

So much information - SO MUCH!!!!

I'm looking after my youngest with tummy problems today, so lots of internet time.

SO MUCH INFORMATION.

I've now decided to use one of the fans to make a small cyclone based on the triton dust bucket/40litre paint tin (found in a couple of other threads - search for 'cyclone') and make a full sized cyclone when my family move out of my workshop and into the house I'm supposed to be building. (My biggest woodwork project EVER!) I'll use the other one to make a downdraft table. (Good idea or bad??)

I read in one of the threads that someone was going to use a 'bingo blower' to make his cyclone. What do you think? Where can these be purchased? How much? I looked at the Markair website, but they don't say how powerful they are, just speed.

What other blower/sucker would people suggest? (without buying a commercial DC)

Muzza,

Those units are way way to small for a cyclone and just wont work period. The cyclone needs a fair bit of power just to get to working state and a 2hp Blower is considered to be the minimum.

However, I think they could be very nice units for a mini-cyclone which is good for Sanders and some other hand-held tools (my Biscuit Jointer works well with mine).

The bigger tools make big chips which, as the other guys have mentioned, will either just block the smaller pipes or, on a direct design, destroy the impeller (fan blades).

I also dont see that one of them will be real good for a Downdraft table. You have to think about the amount of area you are asking the blower unit to work with. For a Downdraft table, this is lots and even 2hp Cyclone units get pushed. (More inlet area means lots more air to move.)

Check out my site for a bit of a summary of Bill's work and some other ideas.

Wayne,

You used ot be able to download the plan for a cyclone on Bills site but I can't seem to find it now. I downloaded it once before, but that was on another pooter. I don't have Excel so if it's in that format, I'm cactus. Can you provide the plan, or a link to it?

Dan