Cyclone system filters still clogging

[mickthetree]

I purchased one of these and have it sat on top of a dustbin. My dust extractor is clone of one of these albeit with a 2" inlet. The motor is protecdted by a filter cartridge which is in turn wrapped in a paper filter bag.

The trouble is there is still a fair bit of very fine dust getting through to the extractor which quickly clogs up the outer paper filter and dramatically reduces suck. The motor has to work harder and the suction keeps reducing.

Lots of the mess ends up in the dust bin, but from what I had read I expected my dust extractor to stay squeaky clean

Any pointers on where I could be going wrong?

 

[novocaine]

cyclone separators don't do to well with fine dust, not enough mass for it to drop out of the air flow, especially on small units like the one you show which won't have enough time inside the cyclone for it to drop out. either increase the size of the cone or decrease your air flow, neither of which is ideal. you could add a large surface area filter box between it and your vacuum (which is all it is really) which would catch fine dust without the loss of suction.

 

[mickthetree]

Thanks for the info novocaine.

The holy grail is a system that is low noise, can handle fine dust and chips, works with powertools and larger machines and easy to empty. Oh and reasonably priced!

I am impressed with the cyclone especially for £13 delivered from China!! Perhaps a fine filter drop box between my dustbin and extractor like you say would do the trick. I think Mike G had a design that I took note of in the past. I have some spare board which I could make a drop box from. A removable bin on wheels would make it easy to empty too.

I presume as long as the box is tightly sealed there shouldn't be much noticeable drop in flow?

 

[Robbo3]

I suspect the design is wrong. The inlet is too high.
I've had mine in use for several years & can't feel anything in the bag of the shop vac.
- https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Plastic-Clea ... SwETJZ8fuM
Only problem (for you) is that the port sizes are smaller.

 

[Brandlin]

i dont think its the cclone design - i have the same one.
However i'm running it with a shop vac, so i dont have the same airflow.

 

[MattRoberts]

Are you using a bag in your extractor? Or is it empty and you're just relying on the filter?

My setup has three stages: cyclone (catches 95%), bag (catches 4.5%), filter (catches 0.5%)*






* percentages are obviously a complete guess and have no scientific basis whatsoever

 

[mickthetree]

My extractor doesn't have a bag, just a drum with two stage filtration around the motor. Reckons 0.5micron filtration if just using the extractor on its own. The extractor itself works really quite well even on my thicknesser despite only having a 2" / 50mm tube. The reason for wanting an in between stage is that its a right royal pain trying to empty it as the shavings, dust etc form around the filter. When you take the top off, the filter pulls a load of the muck out with it.

Funnily enough if I just use the extractor on its own there is no problem with lack of suction until it is completely fit to bursting, but since using a cyclone only the very fine stuff goes to the extractor now and goes straight to the two stage filter, clogging it and reducing suck.

I dont believe the claims of 0.5m filtration either as when the unit is turned on a puff of dust is sent into the air from the exhaust of the extractor.

 

[MattRoberts]

My extractor doesn't have a bag, just a drum with two stage filtration around the motor.

That's the issue then. Stuff gets past the cyclone, very fine dust and larger stuff if you're sticking lots up in one go. Without a bag to catch it, anything that gets past the cyclone is just going straight on to the filter

 

[Gus900]

Because I'm an idiot, when I first got my dust commander I connected the vacuum source to the horizontal port on the cyclone. That setup caught all the shavings in the dustbin but let dust through to block the filter.