After doing alot of research and using Bill Pentz web site:

http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm

I rescaled kinda designed my Own Cyclone dust collector. Mine is scaled down to 75% of original so i will see how efficent it is, I am also designing an impeller and blower for it, I have cut a mockup of the impeller and it works really well alot of air even without the shroud. But If you have not done extensive research on impellers then i would STRONGLY advise you do not do this at home....

here are pictures of my build.

parts, and then build stages And finally the complete Unit. I still need the threaded rod to keep the unit tight and standing upright, this is just it standing by itself with no supports.

more of the build

still more

OK now for the preliminary test, I hooked the shopvac up with just a rag in the top hole, Removed the filer and filer bag in the shopvac, ran it for a minute to get clean air blowing out of it. The used the 2 1/2" hose connected to the Cyclone and sucked up HDPE and MDF particals on the floor as well as in a disposal trashcan i had, I ran it for about 5 mins sucking up whatever i could find (even metal shavings) while i was doing it I could not see any dust or anything comming out of the shopvac, so i know at that point this thing works great. However as soon as i cloged up the whole my cone colapsed so i had to straighten it out, I will be getting much thicker Metal tyo use for the main structure, But i know i have the basic distances and unit down and Works well..

1st picture is shopvac hooked up. (yes the shopvac is that dirty to start with) now you know why i'm tiered of the MDF dust all over.

2nd picture shows the mdf residue on the sides of the Cyclone as it spirals down.

3rd is what was inside the bucket 2" deep with no dust in the air

The next step (well after rebuilding the unit with stronger gage steel) is to build the blower unit.

Here is my mockup of the impeller, I bolted it to a grinder and spun it and it produced alot of air without a blower housing so i'm sure it will work good, I am thinking of using a grinder for the a/c motor any thoughts on that? (39.00)

the bottom portion i recut because i realized it has to be a mirror image of the top for blade groves.

Joe

Looks Great! I spent alot of time pouring over bill's site last year when I was building my cyclone he's very informative. I used 18 GA steel in my cone, had a local local sheet metal shop make it for me (curving 18 GA without benefit of a sheet metal roller is very difficult) I had them weld it tight. If you are talking about a benchtop grinder for the motor it'll work great cause they are designed for stress considering they are swinging a 3lb wheel and having side stress applied when you grind but I don't think they are rated for continuous duty. Your impeller looks great but you might consider replacing the vanes with metal, even though your shavings are wood when they impact a normal steel wheel it's like sand blasting and they get worn away and i'm thinking masonite will wear away quicker and once you have uneven wear you'll have a balance issue.

Could you add some sort of ball value that opens when the sucsion gets too great?

do you have pictures of yours?

with the proper thickness i do not think it is necessary.

Looks great Joe.

I can take some, it's not a full custom job like yours I modified an existing unit to be a cyclone that empties into a 55 gal drum.

After More Testing and More research, I Drewup and reconstructed The Cyclone, I am almost possitive this will work Very well Here is the First Prototype of a Hobby Style Cyclone Dust Extraction Unit. This one as it stands is 4'2" tall with the 5 Gal. Bucket. I will be making a complete system and The final Unit will empty into a 30 gal. Galv. Trash can to match the Cyclone unit. This will add about another foot to the height and also the blower Unit ontop will add about 1 foot so the total height i am antisipating is 6 to 6 1/2' which will be a good height for someones smaller work areas.

Let me know what you think?

Thanks, Joe

Air ramp installed and sealed up to alow smooth air flow.

How loud is it?

Looking good. I built my own dust collector several years ago based off of the Wood Plans. It has served me well ever since.

Here is a shot of it in my old shop in the basement.
Click to view attachment

That looks good, Do you still have it up? you said in your old basement?

Joe

Yes, It is still in service. I now have a nice cozy 24x24 workshop with full attic and 8x32 storage on the back.
I ran the pipe under the floor so now my tablesaw dust collection has no overhead pipes or wires across the floor.

Steve

Well the cyclone works pretty good, after 6 days here is a picture of what was collected in the bucket, and what the inside of the shopvac looks like, there is barely anything in the filter bag inside the shopvac.

this may sound like a stupid question but what is the advantages of this over just using a shopvac?

The cost of shopbac bags are about 10.00 for three, in the bucket i have enough in there to fill atleast 2 bags. So 10/3x2 = $6.67 for 2 bags a week x 52 weeks a yr. = $346.84 a year you could spend just in shop vacbags, plus i'm already on my 2nd shopvac at 49.00 each, this would increase the life of the shopvac also because not pulling a larger load from it with dust resistance in the bag.

Joe

I see. Good investment then. I will half to build one !

The other advantage of a DC is the volume of air that is moved and the duct\piping sizes. When you start running a planer or jointer a Shop Vac will not pull the chips away and will fill a bag in minutes.
A larger DC also allow ducts to be ran through out the shop with drops where needed.

Ya at work we have 10-20 grinders we have all hooked to a large dust collection. If not then you get grinding grit all over your face...aint very pleasent.

Joe, do you have any more pictures of the setup? I'm mainly looking for a picture or diagram of the air path. I saw the animated pic on bills site, but i'm more interested in where exactly the air ramp is mounted, the angles and positioning of the inlet, and the path to the impeller and outlet. I'd also love to see how you have the collector hooked up to your CNC.

HI, long time no hear, hope things are going well for you, like to see your progress on your cnc someyime..
No have not taken and more pictures of the collector, I will be building a larger one also to see how it compairs..., I sent you a pm also.

Joe

Yeah, I got CNCed out and took some time off over the holiday break. Had the lathe project to work on as well. It's a big 14"x60" AV-Caroll made in 1910. Took lots of TLC to get it rebuilt. The lathe is mostly finished. I used it over the weekend to sand and polish my pipes. I then roughed up the spots where they joined the table and epoxied them in place. The epoxy seems sufficient to hold them in place, so I won't bother with any sort of hardware solution. I've got the gantry installed now and it's just a matter of tinkering and adjusting. I'll post pics soon.

Here is a temp. cyclone you can build to hold you over.

http://www.woodcraft.com/articles.aspx?articleid=408

Joe

Joe,
How do you have this collector grounded?
It does need to be gounded, doesn't it?

Yes is should be grounded because of static elec., but i just have not gotten around to it, I have shocked myself a couple of times, its about 10 times the shock from something like walking across carpet and touching something, So i highly recomend to ground it.

Thanks for your reply Joe. 10 times the normal shock, huh.
I can't even stand those, don't even want think about getting shocked by collector...

Another question.
I have searched for dust collector grounding, most say ground to body of collecotr.
Since your design uses shop vac instead of blower (the same thing I am thinking about)
where do I connect to?
Sorry for some basic questions, but it seems important issue.

I have seen others just ground it to a water pipe, which travels into the ground, or just place a ground rod yourself.

that and I have seen most designs show to pass your ground wire (bare stranded) inside your ducting rather than on the outside.

Joe,

Long time since your last update.

Any progress on the cyclone? As i seem to be copying all your mill designs i figured i should copy copy your cyclone too.

i MAY just break down and buy a ClearVue shopvac sized cyclone:

http://www.clearvuecyclones.com/

$165 delivered, but not very DIY.

it IS kinda cool to see the dust and chips throuh the clear sides.

let me know if you have abandoned your cyclone or if you are willing to share our your current design.

Thanks.

No i did not abandone it, I use it everytime with the CNC machine works really well, i use it with a delta 1.5 hp dust collector i got from lowes fro 150.00, the two bag system, and it plugs into my syclone and then to the cnc machine, elimnates all dust when cutting the MDF.

for me i would not use a mini collector it is not large enought to use with cnc IMO, if you use a shop vac it will burn out on you faster than you would like.

I do have a templete i used for the cutting of the metal.

Joe

[for me i would not use a mini collector it is not large enought to use with cnc IMO, if you use a shop vac it will burn out on you faster than you would like.

I do have a templete i used for the cutting of the matel.

Joe
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Hi:

I'm new on the list--from just outside Toronto.

I have been reading the threads on this and your Router with great interest. I have a "First CNC Router" I built several years ago--it works but leaves much to be desired. I will build a "Joe's 2006" model this winter. I have a 2 bag Dust collectorand would like to build a Cyclone to use with it. If you ahve drawings or dimensions for yours I would appreciate a copy--also, would you mind if I contacted you "off line" with several questions about your Router?

Thanks very much,

John Bell--tango4@sympatico.ca

Dave Gingery's book on centrifugal fans has an entire section devoted to building a cyclone. The book also has excellent information on designing and building centrifugal fans and how to calculate their performance. Definately a good read.

Chris

So Joe, do you plan on releasing building specs for this?

This is the website with the best information, and also you can size the cyclone you want to build with his spredsheet and it will auto update diminsions in drawing for you.

http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/CyclonePlan.cfm

joe

Well I saw this and had to make it, and i was really surprises on how well it works. Took all of 15 mins.

http://www.woodcraft.com/articles.aspx?articleid=408

cost about 40.00 total, just have to make sure to get the Brute trashcan, In the picture the Delta hooked up to it is running and the lid on the trashcan holds up really well under the suction of the machine.

They sell a retail version for 30.00, but then you need the 30.00 trashcan, so the cost would be over 60.00 if you get theirs.

The other thing i like is the exhaust port is centered unlick the retail version, which alows for the cyclone action to work better.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=4310

Ok, after using it last night, the side of the trashcan started to cave slightly, so i made a 19" dia. ring 1.5" wide. and this worked like a charm. here is a picture of it, and you can see the MDF inside, and note how clean the outlet pipe is on the inside of it, you can see the cyclone action of the mdf dust on the side of the trash can.

What kind of shopvac do you suggest for this?

nothin less than a 4.0 hp in a shop vac, i burned up three in 4 months until i got the delta 1.0hp cust collector, been running it for 6 months with no problems.