Thread: Shaker vs cyclone

I was having a paddle around in the ebay last week and came across a DCE Unimaster - see Bag Collectors | Bags Filter | Bag Dust Collection - Donaldson Filtration Solutions - for sale, for the princely sum of $150. By the time I'd figured out what it was and how I could get it home it had of course been bought by someone else, but it got me thinking about the pros and cons of these shaker type collectors vs the Pentz et al cyclones.

In terms of preseparation, I imagine the cyclones should have it all over the shaker units. However, the shakers offer a large filter area and should be able to use more efficient impeller designs because the filter is before the impeller and therefore don't need to handle solid material. It also allows further filtering after the impeller, but given these things are built to be located outdoors, it hardly seems necessary. So I wondered if it's worth going to the trouble of building a cyclone or even an external enclosure for a dusty if these are available at auction relatively cheaply.

Unfortunately I can find no info on CFM rates and static pressure to be able to compare to the bag filter and cyclone designs, and the filter cost is of course a big consideration, but would appreciate comments as to the merits or otherwise of these dust units. I'm sure there's someone here with the knowledge and experience to point me in the right direction