dwacker Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 Im moving everything back into my shop and don't want to use my trailer for sawdust anymore. Does anyone have a reliable drum level sensor in their cyclone. How well do they work? Wife doesn't want dust all over her lawn furniture and Im to lazy to check it often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 I’ve used two: One is an IR sensor that attaches to the bin’s lid and fires a strobe when the dust level gets within about 3” of the top. The other is a more professional affair – it’s a mechanical paddle-wheel design with a relay. You mount the sensor high on the bin and when the paddle-wheel is interrupted by dust, the relay is thrown. The relay is wired-into the mag switch: bin almost full = cyclone shut-down. I then modified this design to allow an override so if I’m at the end of the day with just a stick or two remaining, I can override the interrupter… This is my preferred setup… The hobby-shop approach is the IR sensor. They’re about $150 for the kit and just about everyone sells them… They work (mostly)… I’ve always been suspicious of IR sensors, but I’ve been told they are very reliable. http://www.oneida-air.com/inventory.asp?CatId={4CA9A078-61CB-463F-B843-8C681E38534F}. I used one as a 'backup' when I left the override on for too long and overflowed the bin -- too smart for my own good... Note: There have been times when this sensor failed to detect a full bin... Not often, but it's happened... The paddle-wheels are around $250, require quite a bit more knowledge to install (given only a schematic diagram, you’ve got to wire them into the mag switch), but have the advantage of robust commercial-level construction… I got mine from Air Handling Systems (where I get my ductwork) or McMaster-Carr – someone like that… If you go that route, you need some 6 (or maybe 8) wire sensor cable (fairly cheap) to wire-in the relay… There are no instructions provided – the assumption is if you can’t read a wring diagram, you should hire a pro… http://www.apgsensors.com/level-switches/PWS, http://www.binmaster.com/products/info/54-rotary. The rotery sensors have never failed... The actual way I monitor bin level -- close all blast gates, if the bin fails to lift off the ground, then it's near full... <edit> One other note: If you use an internal collection bag in your dust bin (which I do), you've got to be more particular if you get a paddle-wheen design... The paddle wheels are offered in wheel, auger and/or tilt-rod. You need the auger design and mount from the lid down into the bin -- this won't interfear with the bag hold-down setup... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted December 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 Thanks looks like the motor one is a better option, my barrel gets some moisture being outside. Not very hard to connect a relay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 I cut a vertical window in mine (plastic drum) and epoxyed a piece of plexiglass in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Autorotate Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 I just installed one on my DC after having to clean out my filter several times from an overfilled bin. so far I love it. I purchased it from clearvue cyclones. http://www.clearvuecyclones.com/supporting-products/50-bin-sensor.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 I've just spent a few minutes looking at McRabbet’s sensor... I’d be interested in your experiences... I find it hard to believe that optical sensing through the flex-connect is a robust approach. On the up-side, it overcomes the issue with IR sensors becoming dirty and false-firing (or not firing at all)… But McRabbit’s optical approach suffers from a similar issue: over time, the bin’s flex connect evolves from transparent to translucent to nearly opaque… I suspect that at some point in the process, the sensor will begin to false-fire… I prefer McRabbit’s tendency to false-fire over the IR’s weakness of not sensing a full bin… I also noted several users on the CV forum reported false firings when planning long/wide boards… If you’ve got a big jointer, planer, etc the dust column can easily exceed the 10s-12s trigger-point. I was surfacing some 14” stock last night and the dust column would have exceeded 12s on every pass… McRabbit handles this with a bypass, which is good… But I built a bypass into my setup and one day I forgot that it was set – not so good… After spending several hours cleaning my filter, I added an IR setup as a backup… One further limitation to the optical-approach, if I've only got only one or two blast gates open (unless my bin is nearly full), the cyclone lifts the bin clear of the floor and compresses the flex connect so that it becomes completely opaque -- I strongly suspect that McRabbet's approach would fire every time I turn the system on until I got about 30+g of dust in the bin... I suppose I could overcome this limitation by placing something heavy on the bin, but I use the bin’s lifting as a surrogate for dust-level… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 ==>my barrel gets some moisture being outside Yea, I'd go with a paddle wheel design. If you google them, you'll find hundreds... For exterior use, maybe look at the versions used in the agro field... This is the one I use:http://www.apgsensors.com/level-switches/PWS, but have no idea if its weather proof... Been revisiting McRabbet's approach... I don't like the optical-based detector, but I do like the control box (depending on how he's done it)... It might be a bit much for folks to wire-in a control relay to the mag switch and provide an override... McRabbet seems to have done that for you... Someone may want to look at his control box with a paddle-wheel sensor... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 I wonder if you could cobble something together with weight sensors under the drum. Maybe just a platform on a yard-sale bathroom scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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