Ultimate DIY Cyclone Build Thread

[HeadScratcher]

Thanks Mat it is a combination of things. As you have no doubt guessed from some of my post, I tend to invent things only to find out someone has already beat me too it. My most recent idea was a sealed box to use a router in like a sandblaster but not as awkward, but BobL informs me that such an animal already exists, so once again I have reinvented the wheel.

I tend to draw inspiration from various sources, sometimes it will be from what is currently available to do the job, sometimes it will be from a totally unrelated product that might just be usable for something else. i.e. witches hats for the cyclone cones…

But generally I tend to work with a refinement mentality. I will take what someone has already done and see if there is a better way to do it. Quite often something comes to market that is designed to be popular with the masses or built to a price, not necessarily the best designed product. I’m not saying that everything I modify is better than the original (sometime they are, sometime there not), only that quite often there is scope for improvement is you just look beyond the obvious.

For example how many potato mashers have you used that are totally useless? You only need to look at the way it is engineered to know what has a hope of working and what is doomed to be a complete failure. For example making a potato masher out of flexible plastic is a no-no, making the handle in an L shape so it flexes on one side is a no-no. Making the holes in the base plate out of something that won’t let the potato through is a no-no. Yet how many $2 shops are filled with this crap?

I kind of work on that same principle… look for obvious ways to make it better. I would use an off the shelf pre made cyclone if they weren’t so dear, so instead use the basic idea and look for ways to improve it… I will have a bit of fun along the way, get a few splinters from scratching my head, but I am fairly confident I can come up with something that is comparable to the expensive model.

More often than not I find myself doing loops going back over old ideas and refining and refining, but I am confident the current industry solution is not the answer for everyone. For example the name brand clear cyclone might be the bee knees, but what if you have limited height to store it in? No point in owning a Rolls Royce if you can shut your garage door. I am operating out of a single car garage full of crap and space is a premium, so what might sell well to the market might be completely useless to me, so time to create…

[doug3030]

Any progress? Inquiring minds are waiting for results.

[HeadScratcher]

Hi Doug based on Bob's thread, I no longer think it is feasible to continue with a triclone design, or at the very least not with using 150mm pipe for the OD pipe.

If I was to build a triclone it would be with three 100mm pipes (as to not choke the 6" DC inlet) meaning the outside pipe or cone would need to be somewhere in the vicinity of 250mm.

Investigations last week to find a traffic cone big enough that would be hard plastic like the ones I used for this rendition proved hopeless, which means I need to go back to the drawing board to create the cones myself.

[Chris Parks]

Have a look at Mylar, I reckon that it would be an ideal material for making cones.

[doug3030]

Have a look at Mylar, I reckon that it would be an ideal material for making cones.

Another possibility is Polycaprolactone (google it). It is very solid at room temperature but very pliable at or below 60 degrees. when it is soft you can roll it into very thin sheets using a pasta machine. If you made a mould for your cone you could layer these strips onto the mould and build up your cone layer by layer, like plywood.

You could easily make a mould for a cone out of rings of MDF, each one smaller than the one before to create the required taper, glue them together and smooth on the lathe.

Polycaprolactone can be worked with any woodworking tool with the proviso that the tool or the speed of working does not heat the product to the point that it becomes soft.

Doug

EDIT: I forgot to mention that if you make a mistake you can just throw it all back in the hot water and start again. This is great for experiments like this one because if the cone is too small or the wrong taper, then the material for the first prototype can be recycled into the next till you get the one that works.

[HeadScratcher]

Thanks guys but I will probably just make it out of some 3mm plexiglass / acrylic / what other names it goes under… There is no real need to do it in one go, in fact I am thinking of doing it in quarters. Would just need to make up a quarter jig, and bend / fold it around that.
I could just use some joining strips on the outside so the inside is smooth and round. But for the time being I am going to put the project on hold and use the 90mmThein baffle I have already made. I’m not giving up, but all these miscellaneous projects have taken me way off course with my speaker building.
Once I have made some progress on the speakers I will come back to this project as I still want to see it through. I just don’t want to rush it to get the speakers done (mind you once I have the speakers done I have no need for further wood work).

[Heuy]

Well well well, am in the the process of making a DC. I have read some Forums, seen different designs, and, walked away scratching my head on which way i should go........ BUT after reading this 4 to 5 page of !@#$^^., and at the end he used a ready made system.
I gave up.. and bought a TRITON DUST COLLECTOR on E-BAY for $70, and now I have all things MATCHING my TRITON GEAR
In all honesty I would say I have seen a "WING WONG FOR A GOOSES BRIDAL"
SORRY MATE!!!!

HUEY