Thread: Home made Cyclone

Looks good but don't forget that the really fine (and most dangerous) invisible dust goes straight through the cyclone and the the vacuum cleaner.

Looks like an amazing job etnoord. Is the cyclone fabricated from bending ply?

No, the cyclone is made from 43 individual strips of tapered wood and then glued together.
I did it from a design by Ron Walters you can see the method on the link I posted before
Tom

I eventually had a look at the Ron Walters Website and only then did I realize how small that unit is and especially how small the hoses are but that is a problem with all shop vacs. Maybe you only use it with power tools but my concern with that size of a set up is it simply won't move anywhere near enough air volume (CFM) to capture the visible dust (let alone the invisible dust) from most machines.

The amount of dust scattered over the floor in this picture also suggests there may be a problem.

That is a pretty impressive build.


I also have been fiddling with a similar sized cyclone yesterday and today.

Except that I bought my cyclone from Carba-Tec for $59... Dust Deputy DIY Kit : CARBA-TEC

So far, I have had some interesting experiences in trying to get it to work.

Firstly, I hasten to say that it works beautifully but there are lessons to be learnt in relation to the bucket being used.

Knowing that a stout bucket is needed, I deployed a solid looking bucket that I bought some time ago from Bunnings for $11. "That oughta do the job!", I thought.

The lid was a bit floppy but that helped it deliver a very good seal so I machined a wooden insert to fit neatly into the lid to add rigidity to the lid and also to give a solid platform to mount the cyclone stage.

All good so far.

I borrow some hoses from and old Hoover that was sleeping in the garage and made do with ill fitting connections with duct tape and turned on the vac - an Aldi shop vac.


Great! It works! In fact, the cyclone is slightly transparent so I can actually see the dust swirl downwards into the bucket. You beaut!


Then I happened to suck up a pencil which was swirling around in the cyclone but its weight-to-surface-area ratio was obviously not sufficient for it to fall into the bucket so I decided to stick my hand over the inlet pipe to disrupt the cyclone air flow to see if that would make the pencil drop into the bucket. When I did that, though - whack! - the lid of the bucket sheared off and was sucked into the bucket...

Click for large view - Uploaded with Skitch


Bugger!


Oh well never mind. Time for cup of tea and a lie down.


A new day arrives so, this morning, I made a new lid which essentially comprised 1 1/2 inches thick plywood, well sealed at the edges.


So what happened today? Well, the lid is fine but ....

Click for large view - Uploaded with Skitch


Click for large view - Uploaded with Skitch


Bugger! Heheheh!


I guess that I shall need to go looking for a metal container.


It is alright for a while until I block the inlet pipe with something too solid to go up the hose - like a wood offcut. That is when the bucket collapses.


Obviously,a strong bucket is required with these things.

I found the (metal) pre separator I built for my Aldi vac worked fine, however the very fine dust from sanding went on through and just blocked the Aldi paper filter really quickly.

While it was easy to empty the pre separator, unclogging the vac filter was less than enjoyable. I think with more crud dancing in the aldi body it might help knock the really fine dust off the filter, but I'm going to look at adding a generic vacuum bag to the Aldi's input port to see if that works any better.

Originally Posted by Fuzzie

I found the (metal) pre separator I built for my Aldi vac worked fine, however the very fine dust from sanding went on through and just blocked the Aldi paper filter really quickly.

While it was easy to empty the pre separator, unclogging the vac filter was less than enjoyable. I think with more crud dancing in the aldi body it might help knock the really fine dust off the filter, but I'm going to look at adding a generic vacuum bag to the Aldi's input port to see if that works any better.

I have often wondered if putting a stocking/pantyhose over the filter might at least make removal of the dust easier.



.

Originally Posted by Charleville

I have often wondered if putting a stocking/pantyhose over the filter might at least make removal of the dust easier.
.

I had an original Shopvac paper left over from my first vac which died. It is the right size to fit over the Aldi filter and I keep it in place by a collar made from long cable ties. I think it probably works better than a stocking, but it still gets clogged and is messy to clean.

Hi, Cyclones are used to collect dusts much finer and less dense than grinding dust. The proportions of the cyclone and the gas velocity determine the dust collecting characteristics. The density and size of metal grinding dust is ideally suited to a well-designed cyclone.

I saw a video where a guy built a cyclone from a UK kit. If the intake became blocked the cyclone would collapse. Their solution was to make a pressure relief valve for the top of the lid. Theirs was crude - a magnet and a bottle cap from memory. Too much vacuum and the cap dropped away from the magnet and pressure was relieved. I am sure that enterprising woodworkers could make a self reseating variable pressure relief mechanism with bolts and springs.

It is one thing to try to maximize rigidity to prevent catastrophic failure of the cyclone, the bucket or wherever the weakest link is. The airflow will go to zero if a blockage occurs and the motor may overheat to give another costly failure.

Methinks pressure relief is almost mandatory.

Regards,
Greg

Originally Posted by DeclanJustin

Hi, Cyclones are used to collect dusts much finer and less dense than grinding dust. The proportions of the cyclone and the gas velocity determine the dust collecting characteristics. The density and size of metal grinding dust is ideally suited to a well-designed cyclone.

These and Declan's other responses suggest to me that Declan may be another robot. No one else has mentioned "grinding" or "metal" dust so why refer to it here?

Here's my effort at following the Gospel of St. Bill of the Cyclone. Thanks to Wanita at WWH for a good price on the JET DC1900 guts of the build.

6 months later . . .

The blue cyclone barrel is an old stationary vacuum barrel - a bit smaller than B.P. recommends. The cone is a 1D3D, but Bill told me off in an email (not really ) for not using a 1D1.64D cone - too late now! All the dust either goes in the bin or outside into the 2 x 30 micron bags, with the inlet branch at 90 degrees to where it normally would be, out through the wall in the shed. I've just planed and thicknessed some 90 x 90 brush box legs for the new workbench - everything went into the bin, and some fine stuff outside. Works a treat!

The Pentz guy's a genius. Worship at his shrine. And if you use his ideas (all backed by decent research) send him some $$ by Paypal. He's earnt it, in time, effort and lung tissue. Interesting his tales of dodgy commercial cyclone vendors.

Nice work veloaficionado.

It's a pity your pics aren't a bit bigger.

Originally Posted by BobL

Nice work veloaficionado.

It's a pity your pics aren't a bit bigger.

I haven't quite got the hang of this forum yet, so it was a bit of an adventure posting those ones.