Thread: Mini Cyclone WIP

I began with the cone and slowly started shaping the cone over the gal pipe until both ends met.

Next to be rolled up were the Upper cylinder the Outlet pipe and the dust chute.

To bend up the inlet pipe I just used a piece of angle iron over the edge of the workbench and worked the sheet metal over the angle iron using a hammer. Due to the size (small) I wasn’t able to bend all the sides on the angle iron I pre-creased the bend lines and then clamped a piece of timber and finished bending the remaining sides of the inlet pipe.

Once I finished rolling and bending the cyclone pieces into shape I was ready to solder them together, Starting with the cone I clamped both ends of the join with some vise grips and cleaned the area to be soldered with some steel wool. I brush on some hydrochloric acid, “I just do a small section at a time” and begin to solder the join using some resin cored solder with an electric soldering iron.

Where possible I soldered both the inside and outside to ensure that the joins wont come apart and try and prevent any areas where dust would get caught in the joins.

Once I finished soldering all the pieces I cut and bent up the tabs along the opening on the upper cylinder to be able to fit the inlet pipe. I also swaged up a flange on both cone and the upper cylinder so that I could join the two together.
The inlet pipe was slid into position and soldered.

Next was the air ramp I marked a 6mm line on the outer and inner sides which I cut tabs along and bent the tabs at approx 90 deg . (The tabs allow the air ramp to be soldered into position)

I start by getting the air ramp roughly where it should go and then slid in the outlet pipe, I solder the top of the air ramp to the top section of the inlet pipe and the slowly work the air ramp into position soldering it to the upper cylinder. Once this was done I flipped the upper cylinder over and sealed along the edge of the air ramp.

I then joined the Upper cylinder to the cone and soldered all the way around the flange.

I also took some Pics of the Mini cyclone next to my Other cyclone to show the difference in size.

Looking good so far Al.
What will supply the sucking power for this one?

I have been thinking about building a small one myself since I built the big one, for my Vax vacuum cleaner I use for my sander etc.

Thanks for the WIP.

Thanks Brad

What will supply the sucking power for this one?

I have got a couple barrel type vacuum cleaners in the workshop so will be using one of them, Not sure how I will be attaching the Mini Cyclone, Vacuum and Collection Drum all together yet, as I want to try and keep it as compact as possible.

I have been thinking about building a small one myself since I built the big one, for my Vax vacuum cleaner I use for my sander etc.

Same here, I actually purchased the sheet metal to make this not long after I had finished building my other cyclone, But just kept putting on the back burner until now.

Another great effort Al, few questions, what do you use to cut the tin? I've got a set of cheap left, right and straight double action cutters and some old shears, would they do?
What size soldering iron do you use?
Did you go with the standard 1.64 cone length ratio, and would it make life much more difficult if I went with the 3 times cone length ratio?
I'll be making a cyclone for a shop vac as well so hight won't be a problem.

Ben.

Originally Posted by Ben from Vic.

Another great effort Al, few questions, what do you use to cut the tin? I've got a set of cheap left, right and straight double action cutters and some old shears, would they do?

Thanks Bens
Yes the snips you have should be fine, The sheet metal I used for the Mini Cyclone was 26 Gauge its pretty easy to cut and work with.

Originally Posted by Ben from Vic.

What size soldering iron do you use?

I used a couple of 25W soldering irons,(I would swap between the two as it cooled down while being used)
The solder I used was 2mm resin cored solder, and I used some Hydrochloric acid as flux.

Originally Posted by Ben from Vic.

Did you go with the standard 1.64 cone length ratio,

Yes, I went with the 1.64 Ratio

Originally Posted by Ben from Vic.

and would it make life much more difficult if I went with the 3 times cone length ratio?
I'll be making a cyclone for a shop vac as well so hight won't be a problem.

Ben.

I don’t see any problems with having your cone longer other than having to use more sheet metal material to make it.

Hi Al B, I am almost finished making a few of the same units ( using the same plans as you) so I am interested to see how they perform.

I want to make a large uint using Bill's plans( to replace my old home made unit, of poor design). I am interested to know how your big unit works and any problems etc

thanks

Originally Posted by INVENTOR

Hi Al B, I am almost finished making a few of the same units ( using the same plans as you) so I am interested to see how they perform.

I want to make a large uint using Bill's plans( to replace my old home made unit, of poor design). I am interested to know how your big unit works and any problems etc

thanks

The large cyclone works really well, as for problems with the cyclone, I haven't really had any, I just switch it on and open the blastgate and it works and empty the collection drum when its full. Overall I am very happy with the performance,

Hi Al B, thanks for that. What size (large unit) did you build (diameter) and what 'blower' ( size, hp etc) did you use ? What thickness sheet did you use?

thanks

Looks really good - unless necessary I tend to avoid metalwork as I have not been that keen on it in the past and getting older I bleed easily, but you make it look fairly easy.

Thanks for sharing,
Bob