Thread: New Cyclone from HFMW - is it good?

Originally Posted by Evanism

Gday all,
Im tired of changing my bags on the DC daily. a royal PITA! (I use rare earth magnets to hold, plus clear packing tape to seal 100%) I'm thinking of getting a cyclone and what magically appears in my email as i'm thinking this????.... a catalogue from HFMW offering the next you-Beaut cyclone doohickey.
http://www.machineryhouse.com.au/W316
It has 6" inlet and outlet, clip on barrel and looks pretty good. The price is right in my ballpark and on special its only $299 with $30 delivery.
Anyone have any ideas or opinions?

It looks like at least a 40 year old design.
The Non-ramped circular entry and
The main/barrel and cone are too small for a 6" intake,
Means it won't be very good at separating the fine dust out of the air stream
AND
more importantly this design will generate a significant back pressure and restrict air flow.
It's really not much more than a glorified chip catcher.

For background, I have an unusually strong 2HP generic with pleated filters. I say its unusual as it sucks a hell of a lot harder than other peoples 2hp units I've seen. Ive freed up the guts and removed any impediments. It is housed inside, outside isn't yet an option (yet!).

Apart from the grill on the inlet, from what I remember there's are no guts to free up. The next critical things to attend to are increasing the size of the inlet to the impeller to 6" and upgrading the 5" hose between the impeller and the filter to a 6" or equivalent opening.

For $299 I might use it for chip collection then.

I'll rip apart the 2HP dusty and mount the blower directly on top of the cyclone, no pipe, then pipe that to the bag/canister "side" of the dusty.

Replacing bags is my greatest hate, it's a tedious process, so even if this thing only collects 90% then I'll be pleased.

I might lash out and get some 6" hose from CT and replace the 4" too.

Shame a big cyclone costs so damned much.

Originally Posted by Evanism

For $299 I might use it for chip collection then.

I'll rip apart the 2HP dusty and mount the blower directly on top of the cyclone, no pipe, then pipe that to the bag/canister "side" of the dusty.

Replacing bags is my greatest hate, it's a tedious process, so even if this thing only collects 90% then I'll be pleased.

I might lash out and get some 6" hose from CT and replace the 4" too.

Shame a big cyclone costs so damned much.

Even better idea if your shed situation permits, is to ditch the bag completely and blow straight outside. Best party is never having to clean a filter again.....

( BTW if you are looking for a full size, modern designed cyclone for very good price, send me a PM.)