Dust cyclones

[slemishwoodcrafts]

has anybody ever built a cyclone for dust extraction? I have been researching American websites and am trying to debate between using the Bill Pentz design and the wood magazine design.

Michael

SLemish Woodcrafts

 

[wizer]

Welcome Michael. Search this forum for 'cyclone' and you will have plenty of reading material

Good Luck

 

[DaveL]

Hi Michael,

Welcome to the forum.

If you take a look here you can see my cyclone going together. It took me 2 years to get to that stage, in the last year I have added a pair of large filters to stop the very fine dust that can get carried though the cyclone.

You will find posts by Barry Burgess on the cyclones he built, unfortunately Barry is no longer with us, but I am sure he is smiling at our efforts to perfect dust collection using these ingenious bits of kit.

 

[Gary M]

Hi Michael,
welcome to the forum !!!
Cheers, Gary.

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Michael

Welcome to the forum.

Cheers,
Neil

 

[9fingers]

Hi michael,

I am the proud owner of the Barry Burgess prototype cyclone based on the Ikea flower pot. I'm on holiday in France at the moment but when I am back !st October I would be more than happy to provide support if you wish to build the Burgess cyclone. PM me
A short movie is here if it helps http://s115.photobucket.com/albums/n313/9fingersphotos/?action=view&current=Mvi_0217.flv

Good Luck

Bob

 

[slemishwoodcrafts]

As i will be using a 3 horse motor I have to power the cyclone i was going to build my own blower. any ideas on where I can obtain a 15" backward inclined impeller fan? Any ideas on blower design also?

Michael

Slemish Woodcrafts

 

[engineer one]

why do you think you need a blower???

i know barry never used same.

the essence is that the main motor draws the air through the cyclone from the bottom, and it is the combined air flow which draws the material into the cyclone, and then the filters.

paul :wink:

 

[9fingers]

why do you think you need a blower???

i know barry never used same.

Paul/Michael,

I think it is simply a matter of terminology. Most builders call it a blower even though it is really sucking air out of the top of the cyclone. The debris comes out of the bottom of the cyclone.

Before purchasing Barry's cyclone. I was planning to buy an impeller and snail casing as spare parts for a commercial 3HP dust extractor. They are normally 14 inch on 3HP machines. I had one on order through Charnwood but it was on almost infinite delivery from Chaiwan and so I cancelled the order having waited 4 months at least. Charnwood were OK about it as they tend to keep a few spares on the shelf so if it had of arrived they would have put it into stock. Axminster would be another supplier to try. Possibly best to say you are repairing a model XYZ machine and the impeller & casing is damaged and you need a new one. Oh yes and the serial number fell off a long while ago!!

Good luck

Bob

 

[slemishwoodcrafts]

i contacted axminster and said I was trying to repair an extractor that looked like the ade2200. they are willing to sell me the spares, but i don't know the diameter of the impeller. does anyone have any ideas to that as i don't want to run too small an impeller with my 3 hp motor.

michael

 

[9fingers]

I think you will find it is 14" but hopefully someone who has one might open it up and measure it for you.
Axminster might be able to help as your cover story says 'repairing one that looks like their model'
Beware the lead time for the blower parts as when I talked to axminster 12 months ago, they did not stock such spares.

Good luck

Bob

 

[davy_owen_88]

i contacted axminster and said I was trying to repair an extractor that looked like the ade2200. they are willing to sell me the spares, but i don't know the diameter of the impeller. does anyone have any ideas to that as i don't want to run too small an impeller with my 3 hp motor.

The impellor on the ADE2200 is only 12" so I would go for the ADE4000 as that is likely to have a 13"/14" impellor.

You could also try charnwood for parts. Their W792 extractor has a 14" impellor - but it is more expensive to buy as a whole than the ADE4000.

 

[Noel]

Hi Michael,
pretty sure all Axmnsters' impellors are 12" max. BTW, just ask them for the impellor rather than the cover story story business. They don't generally keep them in stock so there's ususally a 6 week wait from Taiwan. Around £30 I think. Also check the bore so that it suits your intended motor.

 

[slemishwoodcrafts]

i was plannin on using a 3HP motor i have. but as it runs at 1425rpm i was going to use pulleys. would this work?

 

[engineer one]

you need to consider the speed of whatever you are driving and then see what is going to happen. such a system would allow you to ensure that the motor is definately out of the dustpath.

assuming of course you can get the right pulleys and a decent drive system.

paul :wink:

 

[9fingers]

A pulley/bearing system to transmit 3hp is going to have to be pretty rigid and possibly multiple pulley. ( my 3hp tablesaw has two belts) also the driven pulley should not be too small and the pulley spacing too short as the area of contact of the belt will be too little. - sorry if you know all this but power belt drives are not as simple as they might first seem when the power goes up.
If you have the engineerinjg facilities, then a poly vee belt might be worthy of consideration.
If cost is not a primary consideration (wild assumption!!) then a variable speed electronic drive would run a 1425 motor at up to 3000 rpm with ease and give you the option to tune the running speed to avoid any annoying resonances in your cyclone/piping.
I have a variable drive on mine as a resonance precaution but the anti vibration mounts do a good job but instead I change speed according to the machine I'm using and how much extraction it needs thus minimising the noise level.

Good Luck

Bob

 

[slemishwoodcrafts]

where can I buy one of these variable speed controllers and how much are they likely to cost?

michael

 

[9fingers]

Michael,

I forgot to mention that these only work with 3 phase motors - sorry if I got you all interested. I tend to only use 3 phase motors now even though I only have single phase mains. Inverters give such good control and smooth start/stop/braking etc

I normally buy the inverters on Ebay as and when they come up. Look out for ones specifically for single phase in, three phase out. these will work with dual voltage 240/440 volt motors - most modern ones are like this.

Here is a typical example of what you need although waiting and watching will get one at a better price usually

http://tinyurl.com/2mxbeg

Bob

 

[slemishwoodcrafts]

thanks for that link, but i think that they are too expensive for me. I checked the plate on my motor. It says it is single phase but dual voltage 230 - 250v / 460 - 500v. Anything suitbale for this?

Michael

 

[9fingers]

Single phase and dual voltage is quite unusual in my experience.

but as the voltage ranges are exactly double then I can only assume there are two windings which are either connected in parallel for the lower voltage and in series for the higher range. I would expect to see 4 terminal (plus earth) to connect power to and something for the starting/running capcitors

If it were a 3 phase unit , the ratio of the voltage ranges would be approx sq.root 3 :1

eg 230-250 and 400-440 and there would be 6 terminals for star or delta connector of the three windings

Quite what situation one would encounter 460-500 volts is a mystery to me.


I do not believe that the motor you have is suitable for variable speed operation. Sorry to have misled you in my earlier post.

Bob