Thread: Shop vac vs mini cyclone

I noticed the local charity shop had a whole pile of dead(ish) vacuum cleaners. Try the Salvos or St Vinnies shops near you for hoses.

Got my shop vac at the warehouse $45 works a treat

We have a recycle section at the local tip up here where you can buy plenty of old vacuum cleaners, parts, hoses and fittings. Might be worth checking out your local tip to see if they have a recycling shop or yard.

I have done a WIP pictorial on building a cyclone in the blogs section

Sturdee, I like your observation about the ideal combination of the cyclone and the shop vac. The shop vac comes with a 4in connection. Would you suggest changing all the pipework and connections in the mini cyclone to 4in, or reducing the shop vac to 25mm ID ( I think that was the ID you used, from looking at the construction details)

kind regards,
Jill

Remind me again Jill in about a month time.

At the moment I'm recovering from major surgery http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...054#post728054 and am too knackered to think about this.


Peter.

Ouch!! Bet that hurts, Peter. Glad to see you are on the mend, and the worst is behind you. Best wishes for the future, and keep a postive attitude, and get lots of exercise when you are ready.

A number of colleagues have had this surgery, and I often see them striding out vigorously on their morning walks - they are looking really great, happy and healthy.

kind regards,
Jill

Have a look here. http://www.cgallery.com/smf/ Here is another link http://www.cgallery.com/jpthien/cy.htm And the video http://www.cgallery.com/jpthien/demo.wmv It looks simple enough to make and seems to work. Sorry the last link won't format properly, you can access the video from the second link.

Thanks Chris, but none of these links work for me - "Not found" on each one

Jill

Originally Posted by JillB

Thanks Chris, but none of these links work for me - "Not found" on each one

Jill

Try them now Jill, the url was corrupted and I have fixed them

Thanks DJ. What is the difference between the cyclone with the cone and the cyclone with the baffle boards, as shown in the links you provided?

Which would be best for collecting the very fine dust , like sanding and saw dust?

kind regards,
Jill

Thanks DJ. My sporadic formatting issue continue to be a pain, I wish I knew why/

Originally Posted by JillB

Thanks DJ. What is the difference between the cyclone with the cone and the cyclone with the baffle boards, as shown in the links you provided?

Originally Posted by JillB

Which would be best for collecting the very fine dust , like sanding and saw dust?

kind regards,
Jill

Hello. I am Phil Thien, designer of the separator/baffle mentioned above.

I recently read a magazine review of the Dust Deputy (a commercial mini cyclone sold here in the U.S.) that had a picture of the bottom of the bin the cyclone was connected to, and the bottom of the shop vac that had powered it. There was maybe 1/4 or so cubic feet of debris at the bottom of the cyclone bin, but there was also already a nice swirl at the bottom of the shop vac. I thought to myself, "my design works better than that!"

In all fairness to the Dust Deputy guys, I have no idea how much time the author spend cleaning out his shop vac before performing the test.

I will say that if your concern is portability, my design on a 10-gallon can is less top heavy and perhaps more portable than the Dust Deputy. My design also allows you to use standard shop vac size hoses and fittings (2-1/4"), whereas the Dust Deputy fittings are smaller and not standard.

My baffle can also be adapted to single-stage DC's (by inserting it in the ring). This will bring near cyclone like performance to your dust collector, preventing much of the dust going to your filter.

The problem with my design, though, is that it is really just a set of guidelines how on to build one yourself. Much depends on the size of the vessel you're going to use. But I'm happy to help if any questions arise.

Also, I should mention that my page mentions donations. Most builders have not made any contribution. The contributions I've received so far (less than $200) have gone to purchasing more MDF and fittings for experimental tops, and a couple of used blowers for testing. Oh, and a meter. But like I said, it is entirely up to the builder if they want to contribute, I will help regardless of whether someone contributes.

Nonetheless, the design is really catching on and people the world over have built there own. There isn't a week that goes by that I don't receive E-Mail from 5-10 new builders telling me how great it works. Here is one I received recently:

Subject: WOW!

I have been searching everywhere for a suitable container in the 10 to 20 gallon range and have been unsuccessful. My shop is in a small 2-car garage and I do not have the space for a 30 gallon container. I don’t have a dust collector-I use a 16 gallon shop vac. I finally broke down and bought the dust separator lid at a local Woodcraft store. I got a 5-gallon paint bucket at Sherwin Williams. The lid has a gasket and fits the bucket perfectly. The lid even has a rim a couple inches below the top so that I was able to fit a bungee cord over the lid and attach it to the rim…just in case. I constructed the baffle as per your instructions and have had marvelous results. I tested it with a clean vac and new filter with 1 quart of sawdust and a dozen or so 1” x 1” wood chips. Less than a teaspoon of sawdust and no chips went into the vac. Over 99% stayed in the bucket. I was amazed.

And that is from a user that modded a commercial lid where the outlet isn't centered (so sub-optimal).

I recently had to empty my 10-gallon can. I checked my shop vac bag (I used a bag because I weigh the contents on occasion--I know this sounds strange but it is my research) and it is really, for all intents and purposes, empty.