DIY Dust Cyclone - backwards WIP

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Krysstel

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Actually this is not really a WIP since to avoid making a fool of myself I’ve finished and tested the cyclone already, so this is more a reverse-engineering report :)
I know it’s been done before but it’s a while since anyone posted theirs so I thought I’d show this anyway.
After suffering for many years with various shop-vacs and their inherent blocked filters I’d decided to go for a Super-DD combined with a Camvac 2-motor 286. This idea soon became a non-starter however when the shipping quote came in from Oneida :shock:
The alternative could have been a Record RX5000 but I thought it would at least be worth a try to construct my own cyclone provided I could do it cheaply and it worked :wink:
It also had to be structurally sound and built to last a good while. That meant better that a paint bucket, 3 pipes and a load of glass fibre car body filler (no offence meant to those who’ve done that !).
As a start point I bought a bright orange traffic cone, new ! (yes, really !!) :shock: :roll: + a black plastic concrete mixing pail (which cost next to nothing).
And this is how I put it together as a dust cyclone :-

First I removed the rubber foot from the cone which revealed a moulded flange perfect for attaching an upper cylinder. I also cut the top off the cone to suit a 4” waste pipe.
I then made a flange ring from 18mm timberboard and glued and screwed it to the flange on the cone. On top of that I glued and screwed a 12mm MDF square plate. A similar MDF plate, but 19mm, supports the outlet pipe and will form the lid of the waste box (which I havn’t made yet).
To tie the 2 plates together I used 4 lengths of M10 threaded rod inside 4 lengths of 32mm plastic pipe which sit in routed locating grooves in the support plates.
Here’s the complete cone assembly with top and bottom plates and outlet/waste pipe at the bottom of the cone.
4098071782_297c59b47e.jpg

4098071898_0bb385e880.jpg


The upper cylinder is cut from the concreting pail and then rolled to fit the inside diameter of the cone flange and joined with a metal strip pop-riveted and glued. The cylinder is then screwed into the edge of the timeberboard flange ring from the inside with small countersunk screws.
The side intake pipe I made as a box from ½” ply that narrows to a rectangular funnel directing the air/dust stream around the outside of the top cylinder instead of just squirting it in like a fountain. The whole box then hangs from another plate made from 18mm timberboard which also forms a top flange for the upper cylinder. Again, small countersunk screws from the inside.
Here’s the complete upper cylinder and side intake assembly :-
4098071982_b2e55b5067.jpg


To keep the upper assembly rigid and to avoid any structural load being placed on the plastic cylinder, I mounted the whole cylinder arrangement on the threaded bars with 4 more plastic tube spacers in locating grooves.
Here’s the complete cone and upper cylinder assembly :-
4098072082_94ab7f2d8b.jpg


I wanted to be able to easily access the inside of the cyclone in case of blockages so the top vacuum pipe is mounted through another MDF plate which then fits over the side outlet support plate and is sealed with rubber weather seal strip (white strips in previous picture). The plan is to hang the whole cyclone from the ceiling so on the top I used ring nuts.
Finally I sealed all the seams and joints with loads of hot glue.
Here’s the vacuum extract pipe arrangement and the complete cyclone :-
4098072170_ee9413008a.jpg

4097315903_ae69f54162_b.jpg


So, what we’ve got now is a contraption that looks like an upturned traffic cone with a black plastic bucket stuck on top. Not very pretty, but I have a plan to do something about that next ……………. Watch this space !

And the 6 million $ question; “does it work ?”
I didn’t want to buy the planned Camvac if the cyclone didn’t work so I havn’t been able to run a proper test yet. I did however borrow a small 3/4hp chip collector with 4” inlet and connected to that the cyclone sucked up everything I threw at it whilst the chip collector only spat out a small amount of fine dust.
So I think the answer is yes it does work, probably ……………..
:D :D

Mark
 
looking good!, I like the idea of the traffic cone 8)

can't see inside the top, is there an air ramp to persuade the in-draft down and reduce turbulence rather than just spinning round and around in the top section?


Steve
 
Nope, no air ramp - yet.
Bit worried about installing one, finding out it makes matter worse, and then having to get it out again without wrecking the top cylinder.
It would also mean I'd have to do away with the detachable top part and seal the whole cyclone for good.
Did you notice any appreciable difference when you put an air ramp in yours ?
If we're talking about 1-2% less dust that gets to the extractor then I can live without.

Mark
 
Krysstel":2w23r2wj said:
Nope, no air ramp - yet.
Bit worried about installing one, finding out it makes matter worse, and then having to get it out again without wrecking the top cylinder.
It would also mean I'd have to do away with the detachable top part and seal the whole cyclone for good.
Did you notice any appreciable difference when you put an air ramp in yours ?
If we're talking about 1-2% less dust that gets to the extractor then I can live without.

Mark

to be completely honest, I never tried it without.....

Steve
 
I like that.
I also started on my own cyclone. still at the design phase, so your post is most welcome.
i was reading about all the complex stuff that makes a cyclone, and from what i was gathering, you need something like 22m/s air flow in the pipework, and a sucked volume of 0.375cubic meter a second... that meant an gigomaximentrous motor+prop...round 3-4kw...which too me, would almost require its own power generator to run without tripping the meter everytime someone switches on the toaster.
i got my hands on a 1kW motor+turbine. i am going to try that.
 
Suck it and see is the best option !

If anyones interested I have CAD drawings of the whole design which I could make pdf's of.

Mark
 
It really doesn't need to be this complicated!

I made mine about 15 years ago, I guess, and it is simply a ply box with a horizontal shelf, which has a hole in it. You attach the "suck" from the extractor to the area above the shelf, and the inlet pipe goes in a side-wall below it. I put a baffle in front of the inlet pipe. Job done!

It works a treat......simply open the side of the box to clean out the dust, shavings etc (retrieving the odd pencil, screw etc at the same time). Virtually nothing gets through to the extractor, which I empty probably once a year.

If I find some pictures........

Mike
 
Mike Garnham":38s3l2o4 said:
It really doesn't need to be this complicated!

I made mine about 15 years ago, I guess, and it is simply a ply box with a horizontal shelf, which has a hole in it. You attach the "suck" from the extractor to the area above the shelf, and the inlet pipe goes in a side-wall below it. I put a baffle in front of the inlet pipe. Job done!

It works a treat......simply open the side of the box to clean out the dust, shavings etc (retrieving the odd pencil, screw etc at the same time). Virtually nothing gets through to the extractor, which I empty probably once a year.

If I find some pictures........

Mike

And I thought you were going to make a comment about the first image. Something along the lines of "you don't need any more than 3 hammers" :)
 
Looks interesting! Its almost as if faith is drawing me towards making one of these!! :shock: A couple of weeks back by small shop vac broke, and lately I see a traffic cone threw into the laneway behind my house! I'm going out to get it now before it goes missing! :lol:
 
This is interesting 'cos I've got the C386 but a cyclone might take up more room in the 'shop, which I don't want - Rob
 
Steve Jones":16rgnqmo said:
Yes please Mark
Regards
Steve :D
I'll let you know when I've updated them.

woodbloke":16rgnqmo said:
This is interesting 'cos I've got the C386 but a cyclone might take up more room in the 'shop, which I don't want - Rob
That's why I've got my eye on the smaller 286 and instead have the collection capacity under the cyclone.

Mark
 
wobblycogs":2rygtqd5 said:
Purely out of idle curiosity, how much does a traffic cone cost and where do you buy them?

Waste of time me quoting how much I paid coz it was in Norwegian Kroner. As to where then google is your friend :wink:
 
I promised pictures........

4098159209_72ed13ed25_o.jpg



4098159509_8cc68e8616_o.jpg


Obviously top......closed, bottom........open for dust removal.

This is the small one for my bench, but I have another over the other side of the workshop for some of the other tools which is a different shape but exactly the same principle. There is absolutely no need whatsoever for a cone or cyclone-effect .......simply create a long path for the air to get through a box, and it will drop its dust load.

One day I will make a room-sized version hooked up to a network of rainwater downpipes to all the machines.

Mike
 
I take it some dust does get through tho Mike? I do like the design as it's would be easier to situate in a workshop.
 
Almost no dust gets through at all, Tom. I empty David no more than once or twice a year. Absolutely no dust whatsoever gets put into the air from the system. The beauty of it is, as you say, that you can make a box to fit any nook or cranny you have in the workshop.

Mike
 
A quick comment on the designs shown, if you are using these to just collect dust then they will work quite well, but if your planning on using them to separate shavings from a planer/thicknesser them you may well have a problem, take a look here where I had it, 5 years ago.
 
Mike Garnham":7boc7pw4 said:
There is absolutely no need whatsoever for a cone or cyclone-effect .......simply create a long path for the air to get through a box, and it will drop its dust load.
Mike
This set up obviously works since we can all see the evidence, but surely it must be a bit messy emptying the box ?
How does it handle chips from a PT ?

DaveL":7boc7pw4 said:
A quick comment on the designs shown, if you are using these to just collect dust then they will work quite well, but if your planning on using them to separate shavings from a planer/thicknesser them you may well have a problem, take a look here where I had it, 5 years ago.

Hmm, I see your point.
I havn't sealed the cone to the bottom outlet pipe, they're just pulled tightly together by the threaded rods, so if it proves to be a problem then it should be easy for me to shorten the cone a few centimeters and modify the bottom plate to accept a 6" pipe.
Thanks for the suggestion, I may well just do it anyway since I'll probably be dismantling the whole thing again to make an air ramp.

Mark
 
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