Thread: Building a Cyclone

That is a really interesting watch. I think if I had my own mig I might have a go. I don't remember him referencing the Clearview. His beginning point seems to be Bill Pentz, but he sensibly opts for spiraling the top of the cylinder rather than having an internal spiral. That's a feature that has appeared in papers and on industrial cyclones for a long time.

Really looking forward to seeing him build a fan from scratch.

Thanks Chris.

Bill Pentz designed the Clearvue and the plans which I presume he used are available for free on BP's site along with enough reading about dust to give anyone a headache. I built a fan from scratch not all that long ago which was a copy of the CV 16" version. The spiral ramp was a feature that BP included in the original design of the CV & that was a first for hobby cyclones and still maybe but I suspect Oneida also use it now. His idea of attaching the cone directly to the lid does not seem to be the best idea and I will be interested to see how he makes that work.

This popped up on my youtube feed already, and I was kindly told there was a discussion on here about it.
I'm wondering why there isn't more of a discussion about it, as he seems to be doing it the right way.

From someone who has pondered about this and skim read through Mr Pentz's website, trying to make sense of it,
it seems the best content yet in regards to making it, and will be interesting to see if the technical stuff is as thorough.

Seems Jer is even making his own impeller, which is quite exciting.

I'd love to see something not quite as powerful, i.e with a 3 or 4hp motor and matching impeller/larger body,
as I don't have a whole lot of space nor machinery....for the time being anyway,
so this video series might hopefully get into ducting and CFM figures.

Thinking I could get away with less horses and less ducting.
I have ponderings about what size 3 phase motor I would be best getting,
as I'm thinking a 4 or 5 hp motor could be de-rated via VFD, and wondering if I would be better off with the heavier shaft
due to centrifugal force of the impeller,
if even just to come up with a reliable method of fine tuning the impeller with abrasive of some sort. (unpowered of course)
but would be interested to see what the possible niggles might be, using the larger but de-rated motor.

Other stuff like the size of the unit, whether there's much difference between 3 and 4hp
as I'm not sure how many amps I'd be pulling, and would like to make use of a 3 hp system for sucking out the dust from my stationary machines after use, should it even be possible to make this efficient enough to run for short periods,
i.e 10 mins or so from a 13a plug.
Yes I could use a shop vac instead, but being a hand tooler mainly, I'd rather have a cyclone for futureproofing things and make do with a lousy shop vac for now, as those good ones are probably the same cost, and makes no sense for someone as scrimpy as myself.

Can't wait for part 2
Cheers

Tom

Part 2 is out.
Building a Blower (DIY dust collector part 2) - YouTube

Pete

Wow, this build is fantastic. Makes it look easy!

Final part is out now.

with out watching all of it.... does he break down the costs involved?

At the end, unfortunately, he says that performance is not good, it is loud, and it only saved him about 500-800 dollars compared with a ClearVue

Originally Posted by pippin88

At the end, unfortunately, he says that performance is not good, it is loud, and it only saved him about 500-800 dollars compared with a ClearVue

I think I might know why and I will contact him to discuss it.

Originally Posted by havabeer69

with out watching all of it.... does he break down the costs involved?

He quoted the number against the CV retail price but it has absolutely no comparison to what was the price for a CV in Oz. Building one here would be thousands cheaper than trying to import one as a one off.

Having built the cyclone, these were the actual costs of the major components here in Australia. Mine is a Pentz with a 18" diameter (9" exhaust)
It is about $200 for the sheet metal for the cyclone unit. I used 1mm sheet
I used a 3Kw 3ph motor ~ $400
The VFD was rated at 7Kw and was $200 (it is now $240).
The metal plate for the impeller was ~ $60
The weldable hub and taper lock was $34 from memory.
The impeller housing was about the same as the impeller.
A decent frame would be about $200 in RHS. I used stuff we already have

The cyclone body was welded with 0.6mm Mig wire, which makes not blowing holes much easier.
Everything else was welded with 0.8mm wire
The Mig welder was $800. The bottle and gas was $300.

The test rig for balancing the impeller was about $80. It consists of a dummy shaft and a few bits of angle iron.
Mine is exhaust to atmosphere, no filters

All the stuff needed to build one is available in the market place at the moment, this deal won't happen again and all that needs doing is make the cyclone body.

FOR SALE:NSW Damaged Clearvue Max - Cyclone Body (woodworkforums.com)

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

I think I might know why and I will contact him to discuss it.

I'm curious what you think what the cause/s might be?

Pete

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

All the stuff needed to build one is available in the market place at the moment, this deal won't happen again and all that needs doing is make the cyclone body.

FOR SALE:NSW Damaged Clearvue Max - Cyclone Body (woodworkforums.com)

Isn't the impeller damaged and vibrates, though?