DIY cyclone on the cheap

[kityuser]

My father is a retired printer so we have loads of ink buckets kicking about, so I decided to give a DIY cyclone a go. Bigger plans in the pipeline, but I thought I'd give this a go after some comments I've read on web pages whilst doing some research.

The nut and bolt you can see on the side is to retain the inlet onto the side of the bucket.

the pink stuff you can see is pink grip-fill that I had kicking about. The idea is to mount this on top of a bin with a gasket and hook it up to my 1HP extractor.

The side (inlet) port on the bucket was a pipper to cut, but slowly does it and eventually it was a lovely tight fit. Not much grip-fill making it inside the bucket through the side port

Wasn't really sure how far to allow the vertical outlet to decend into the cyclone, Settled with a length about 80% of the height of the bucket.

More piccies to come. I'll let you know how it performs.

now..... need to find a bin........


Steve

 

[brianhabby]

Will watch this one with interest

regards

Brian

 

[Doug B]

Steve,

Going by the top bit of my Dust Deputy, your bucket is tapered the wrong way & your top pipe goes in too far.
Have you had chance to try it yet?
Since getting the Dust Deputy, (which is excellent, but too expensive IMHO) i`ve been thinking of ways of making one of my own as a second one would be very useful.
Good luck with your endeavors.

 

[kityuser]

apologies for my lack of explanation.

This is really just a prototype for my bigger "plans". The bucket taper is infact the wrong way, but only just off of vertical. I intend on making the "conical bit" to go under neath the bucket, before the waste enters the bin.

I was wondering about the exhaust pipe length as well, as it stands its going to decend to the point about 2 inches above the start of the conical lower section. I suppose I can experiment when I get it going. The idea is to hook it up to my 1hp extractor then build my custom blower (hopefully based on a 2 or 3hp motor).

I do intend on inserting an air ramp as well inside to promote the air flow downwards. Still thinking about the best and most elegant way of doing this.

Thanks for the comments

Steve

 

[kityuser]

Steve,

Going by the top bit of my Dust Deputy, your bucket is tapered the wrong way & your top pipe goes in too far.
Have you had chance to try it yet?
Since getting the Dust Deputy, (which is excellent, but too expensive IMHO) i`ve been thinking of ways of making one of my own as a second one would be very useful.
Good luck with your endeavors.

Doug, thanks for the heads up about the dust deputy. Whilst thinking in the workshop i have sketched out some ideas for almost exactly the same idea scaled down. just like the dust deputy. I was thinking about butchering another bucket and making a mini cyclone for the shop vac. When I get a chance I'll post up what I'm going to do, got all the bits so apart from time I've got nothing to loose.
Interestingly the deputy design is a complete conical shape (no flat sides where the inlet port enters), and the exhaust port only looks to decend to a short distance below the bottom on the inlet port.

Steve

 

[Dave S]

Reports I have read in the past suggest that even a very basic cyclone type system can be a considerable improvement, although the optimum system needs more fine tuning!

If they are any help, I have these sites bookmarked:

http://codesmiths.com/shed/workshop/cyclones.htm

http://www.internode.co.uk/cyclone/

http://www.woodcentral.com/articles/mag_cyclone/index.shtml

cheers
Dave

 

[kityuser]

Reports I have read in the past suggest that even a very basic cyclone type system can be a considerable improvement, although the optimum system needs more fine tuning!

If they are any help, I have these sites bookmarked:

http://codesmiths.com/shed/workshop/cyclones.htm

http://www.internode.co.uk/cyclone/

http://www.woodcentral.com/articles/mag_cyclone/index.shtml

cheers
Dave

dave , thanks for the links, some I've seen already, some new.
I'm looking forward to experimenting before I spend any cash on metal and rivets.

I'll keep everyone informed.

Steve

 

[xy mosian]

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a cyclone but I did something similar recently.
I was tiling the bathroom and needed a method of easily cleaning up, bits of tile and adhesive etc. Now I don't have a workshop vac as I clean that with a brush. The only vac available was the domestic upright with paper bag and I did not relish the wife's anger if I duffed it. Thinking of heavy duty workshop kit I took an empty 15 litre emulsion paint bucket and modified it as follows. Vacuum intake, from the hose on the upright, in the snap on top to one side (not really sure why) and working/pick up hose about half-way up and set as near to a tangent as possible towards the other side. The inner end of the vacuum input ( should that be output? ) tube had a fabric bag over it to prevent and large nasties getting into the precious vac. All joints were sealed with gaffer tape. It worked suprisingly well, the vacuum was not strong enough to lift bits of tile etc. from the end of the input hose and they dropped to the bottom of the bin. The fabric bag caught a little real fluffy dust but that was easily brushed off. i realise you guys like pictures, but sorry when the bin had done its job I dumped it rubbish and all. The whole lot was occasionally in the way but nothing serious.

 

[CraftNav]

Hi Steve

In the words of Blue Peter 'heres one I made earlier'

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... de+cyclone

Its still going strong after a couple of years

Keep at it - I think cyclones are well worth the effort, I am toying with the idea of making another larger one for my lathe.

regards John

 

[plug]

I have been looking for a cheap blower for a while with no luck yet, but did find this yesterday.

It stands 1.5 m high not much info on it but label says its 3 phase and 15hp.
So i think it is a little large for my workshop.
:wink:

 

[CNC Paul]

This looks interesting at $59, not sure if the price will be that good in the UK.

http://www.dustdeputy.com/

 

[kityuser]

This looks interesting at $59, not sure if the price will be that good in the UK.

http://www.dustdeputy.com/

Paul, yup thats what me and doug were talking about, after my main cyclone experiments I'll move onto a diy shop vac version like the deputy.

Steve

 

[CNC Paul]

The Original version was $129, I am not sure if this (plastic) version is available in the UK yet.

 

[John McM]

I wonder if this is any good, damn sight cheaper than a dust deputy

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... ccessories

 

[OPJ]

This looks interesting.

Keith Smith (he used to be a member here...) has been building one in The Woodworker magazine for the past few months. Did you see it?

 

[archersam]

The Original version was $129, I am not sure if this (plastic) version is available in the UK yet.

http://www.oneida-air.co.uk/

I have emailed an enquiry as to cost to them and will post when I get a response otherwise I might get one from US shipped via a mate.
Sam

 

[CNC Paul]

I emailed them 8am yesterday...No reply yet.

 

[archersam]

I emailed them 8am yesterday...No reply yet.

Daft, as if he was smart surely he would be trawling through websites like this offering his products? ;-) Or maybe he just wants shops and dealers. I will give until the end of the day and then order it from the US and take lots of detailed pictures for you to see as I know the rule about pictures..

 

[CNC Paul]

I emailed them 8am yesterday...No reply yet.

and take lots of detailed pictures for you to see as I know the rule about pictures..

Sam,

what rule is that ?

 

[Dave S]

Sam,

what rule is that ?

He's probably referring to this ridiculous "No pictures - it didn't happen" thing that seems to be going on at the moment :roll:

Dave