extraction advice please

[sunnybob]

I am planning to improve the extraction system in my tiny workshop, Its actually half a garage, but its all mine! Unlike the sawdust, which seems to prefer the wifes part of the house to migrate to, and I need someone to point me in the direction of the best way forwards.

I have a SIP vacuum with a 4" inlet to start with, currently sucking through all manner of pipework and gaffer tape.

I want to add a cyclone, and plumb 5 pieces of kit into it. the equipment is in a line along one wall, with the extraction unit at the far end.
The cyclone could possibly be this one.....
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Omni-Dust-Cyc ... 27eec01dd7

Any thoughts on that?

I have found a perfect kit at Lee valley tools which could have been custom designed for me....
http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.a ... 2604,62594


But theres alway a but. Shipping costs to me in Cyprus, and then 20% import duty on cost AND shipping costs, makes it a very dear kit.
Is there anything of a similar nature in the UK?

i will be visiting soon and could take it back with me.

thanks

 

[marcros]

How powerful is the vacuum?

I think that you might be better to make a system that you hook up easily to each machine- I doubt you will have sufficient suck for the plumber in system. You could still use the cyclone.

If you were to continue with the plumber in system then soul pipe is worth looking at- I don't know what size you use in Cyprus but the UK is 110mm and France 100mm. Both pretty much 4".

 

[PAC1]

Axminster equivalent: http://www.axminster.co.uk/63mm-dust-extraction-kit

 

[sunnybob]

Axminster equivalent: http://www.axminster.co.uk/63mm-dust-extraction-kit

Thats the one thanks. \/
Only problem is its out of stock. :evil:

I see youre not far from axminster. I shall be visiting my family in Taunton for 3 weeks from weds. I shall have to call axminster while I'm there and see if they know when it will be back.

 

[sunnybob]

How powerful is the vacuum?

I think that you might be better to make a system that you hook up easily to each machine- I doubt you will have sufficient suck for the plumber in system. You could still use the cyclone.

If you were to continue with the plumber in system then soul pipe is worth looking at- I don't know what size you use in Cyprus but the UK is 110mm and France 100mm. Both pretty much 4".

If you look at the link that pac1 posted, thats the size extractor I have, and the machinery is pretty close to mine as well.
I have 4" steel tube at the moment, but its very unsightly and I am planning on using the smaller piping to improve my very limited space.
Dont want a portable vacuum, just dont have the floor space to push it around all the time.

 

[Alexam]

Out there, with all the swimming pool outlets, I would have thoiught that pond, water pipe would be a cheaper option. Then just add other connection bits that you could not get there?

 

[sunnybob]

Out there, with all the swimming pool outlets, I would have thoiught that pond, water pipe would be a cheaper option. Then just add other connection bits that you could not get there?

Alex, as an "ex-pat" you very quickly learn that the words "Cyprus" and "cheap" are mutually non-compatible. :shock:

Living is slightly cheaper, every thing else is an expensive luxury! Thats why I fly to the UK with one suitcase, and come back with three! :roll:

 

[Bodgers]

Being a cheap person, and after spending way too much money on a band saw, table saw and drill press (and now a planer/thicknesser), I was pretty much ready to do the minimum on dust collection.

But, after doing a bit of research, I have the following setup:

1. Cheap, but powerful, refurb Vax cyclone vacuum cleaner (£30)
2. Cyclone from a Chinese Alibaba Seller (About £18) (seems better than the one pictured one of the posts above).
3. Heavy duty black bucket with sealed lid (to which I have cut in the cyclone) £5.
4. A Few lengths of hosing of various widths to fit the tools, Charnwood sizing and Y adaptors - £40. Bought all this from Snainton Woodworking in the UK (very local to me, but check out their website).
5. Some aluminum tape to bind some of the adaptors together.

All seems to work ok, and I get virtually no sawdust in the main vax cleaner bin at all.

I need to add some blast gates and maybe some kind of "wand end" for random clear-ups now...

 

[sunnybob]

Being a cheap person, and after spending way too much money on a band saw, table saw and drill press (and now a planer/thicknesser), I was pretty much ready to do the minimum on dust collection.

But, after doing a bit of research, I have the following setup:

1. Cheap, but powerful, refurb Vax cyclone vacuum cleaner (£30)
2. Cyclone from a Chinese Alibaba Seller (About £18) (seems better than the one pictured one of the posts above).
3. Heavy duty black bucket with sealed lid (to which I have cut in the cyclone) £5.
4. A Few lengths of hosing of various widths to fit the tools, Charnwood sizing and Y adaptors - £40. Bought all this from Snainton Woodworking in the UK (very local to me, but check out their website).
5. Some aluminum tape to bind some of the adaptors together.

All seems to work ok, and I get virtually no sawdust in the main vax cleaner bin at all.

I need to add some blast gates and maybe some kind of "wand end" for random clear-ups now...

I too would rather make it than buy it, but my problem is location. Cyprus is small (less than a million total population). Cypriots dont have hobbies the way we do. Everything is industrial sized. Also, due to very low turnover, what is here is top dollar. Often I've decided to make something and then realised that getting the parts here works out twice the price of buying it in the uk and just flying it back.
I have searched this island and only found one decent sized bandsaw, and that has obviously been in a shop window for years, and he still wants 500 euros for it. Thats why I brought the Fox back with me, although that has turned out to be a BIG mistake!
So odds and sodds just dont exist. Theres nothing to scroungs. Swimming pool fittings are very dear, 20 euros for a valve, 10 for an elbow.

i have been running what I have since last october, and I definitely need blast gates to keep the current "in use" machine dust free, I need the cyclone to stop the vac clogging up. Strange here, at first I made a lot of mahogany and walnut sawdust (as well as a couple of trinket boxes 8) ) and that didnt cause too much problem. I half filled the vac canister. Then I switched to cheap white wood that was left over fence planks, and that filter bag clogged like it had been dipped in white tile grouting before there was 2" of dust in the bottom.

 

[Richard863]

Hi Sunnybob
I have a similar set up space wise, I upgraded my 63mm axi to their new smaller cyclone into their 100mm ducting. The transparent pipes were chosen over 100 building gear so you cant see where a blockage may occur. Another plus is if you put a folded up duster on a long length of string then feed it into a blast gate you can clean the inside of the pipes, but remember to have another blast gate open to bleed and balance any overload on the vacuum.
We lived for 6 years in Limassol and Nicosia in the 50s & 60s. Fab times were had. PS does Eddies scrapyard in Nicosia still exist, that was a fab glory hole?

Richard

 

[sunnybob]

Hi Sunnybob
I have a similar set up space wise, I upgraded my 63mm axi to their new smaller cyclone into their 100mm ducting. The transparent pipes were chosen over 100 building gear so you cant see where a blockage may occur. Another plus is if you put a folded up duster on a long length of string then feed it into a blast gate you can clean the inside of the pipes, but remember to have another blast gate open to bleed and balance any overload on the vacuum.
We lived for 6 years in Limassol and Nicosia in the 50s & 60s. Fab times were had. PS does Eddies scrapyard in Nicosia still exist, that was a fab glory hole?

Richard

Richard, I am using 100mm steel ducting now, with all sorts of bits and pieces to connect, a 2 foot piece of left over 2" swimming pool hose, even cut up a vacuum cleaner hose and siliconed that into the caps on the 100mm for two appliances. but its not only an eyesore, its inefficient, and I'm getting major earache from the domestic staff (hammer) every time I walk sawdust through the house. have to admit I am a tidy workshop kind of guy so I even want to upgrade.

although I only came here first in 2004, it has changed tremendously in that time. I can not imagine the changes you would find after 50 years away :lol: Europe has dragged the island into the modern world (not all of it for the good). Theyre even putting in sewers!
I live in the rural eastern end, surrounded by potato crops. Nicosia is an hour away on motorway. Dont know of any scrap yards there, sorry, but they do have an IKEA if thats any help #-o #-o .

 

[Bodgers]

Being a cheap person, and after spending way too much money on a band saw, table saw and drill press (and now a planer/thicknesser), I was pretty much ready to do the minimum on dust collection.

But, after doing a bit of research, I have the following setup:

1. Cheap, but powerful, refurb Vax cyclone vacuum cleaner (£30)
2. Cyclone from a Chinese Alibaba Seller (About £18) (seems better than the one pictured one of the posts above).
3. Heavy duty black bucket with sealed lid (to which I have cut in the cyclone) £5.
4. A Few lengths of hosing of various widths to fit the tools, Charnwood sizing and Y adaptors - £40. Bought all this from Snainton Woodworking in the UK (very local to me, but check out their website).
5. Some aluminum tape to bind some of the adaptors together.

All seems to work ok, and I get virtually no sawdust in the main vax cleaner bin at all.

I need to add some blast gates and maybe some kind of "wand end" for random clear-ups now...

I too would rather make it than buy it, but my problem is location. Cyprus is small (less than a million total population). Cypriots dont have hobbies the way we do. Everything is industrial sized. Also, due to very low turnover, what is here is top dollar. Often I've decided to make something and then realised that getting the parts here works out twice the price of buying it in the uk and just flying it back.
I have searched this island and only found one decent sized bandsaw, and that has obviously been in a shop window for years, and he still wants 500 euros for it. Thats why I brought the Fox back with me, although that has turned out to be a BIG mistake!
So odds and sodds just dont exist. Theres nothing to scroungs. Swimming pool fittings are very dear, 20 euros for a valve, 10 for an elbow.

i have been running what I have since last october, and I definitely need blast gates to keep the current "in use" machine dust free, I need the cyclone to stop the vac clogging up. Strange here, at first I made a lot of mahogany and walnut sawdust (as well as a couple of trinket boxes 8) ) and that didnt cause too much problem. I half filled the vac canister. Then I switched to cheap white wood that was left over fence planks, and that filter bag clogged like it had been dipped in white tile grouting before there was 2" of dust in the bottom.

I am not sure your problems apply here.

If you already have a vac, then everything I bought can be bought online.

The cyclone I bought was dirt cheap and came direct from China. Do a search on Alibaba.com - they send stuff everywhere. It was so cheap it came under the duty limit. The bucket is just a bucket with a lid on it. I cut a hole in it using the template supplied with the Chinese cyclone. Once that's done everything else can be clamped or taped together.


You could order all the tubes and adaptors from either Snainton or Charnwood. I see Rutlands also have a sale on dust collection bits at the most. One of them is bound to send to Cyprus.

 

[sunnybob]

I'm still finding UK sites. I've only taken up wood since becoming an ex-pat. i knew axminster as I lived in somerset, but all these others are new ground for me. I'll check them out.
Post and courier here is very third world, and the customs are very aggressive. i avoid that route whenever possible
Our postman makes his rounds on a 40 year old Yamaha chappy 50cc twist and go, and doesnt deliver unless theres enough things to make it worth while riding up our dirt track. its common to get a 2 month delay on letters, I dont want to contemplate what a large parcel would take.

 

[sunnybob]

Axminster equivalent: http://www.axminster.co.uk/63mm-dust-extraction-kit

Thanks for the link. The nice man at the basingstoke branch is making sure they have my order ready for when I go past on thursday