Cyclone on the cheap!

[Saddlestrum]

Hello all;

Thought I'd pass along my experience with making a cyclone DC for my small shop.

As our warehouse accumulates 5 gallon ("20 liter" for my fellow Canadians) empty pails with lids, I thought I'd try my hand at making my own cyclone. I had looked at the Dust Deputy but rather than part with some of my hard-earned money which could go instead towards coveted hand tools, etc., I thought, "why not try to make one myself?" The principle is pretty simple; dirty air laden with solids enters an enclosure that encourages a cyclonic vortex. The heavier solids drop down as clean air exits the top and returns to the vacuum.

Note: my shop vac is a Ridgid with 1-7/8" hose. Adjust to suit your equipment.

I've attached some photos to illustrate. I'll go through the steps . . .

1. get 2 buckets with lids

2. cut out the bottom of both buckets with a reciprocating saw, jig saw, etc.

3. using red "tuck tape" fasten them together as shown with their bottoms butted together (no jokes here please)

4. I used pvc central vacuum tubing and elbows which is pretty close to 2"

5. As my lids already had a perfectly sized hole near the rim, I only needed to cut a center hole to accomodate an elbow in the top lid.

6. The "dirty" port (closest to the lid rim) has a 90 degree street elbow glued into the top of lid. My 1-7/8 hose is attached to the elbow and sucks sawdust from the power tool, table saw, or whatever is making the chips. Note: I had to sand the outside rim of the elbow and warm the 1-7/8 vacuum hose to fit over the elbow.

7. On the same "dirty" port but below the lid, I attached a 14" length of pipe with a 90 degree long sweep elbow on the end. This drops the chips about 1/2 way down the bucket and shoots them out the elbow which sets up the cyclone action. (See photo titled "dust7" showing the interior of the buckets.)

The clean air is pulled from the center of the buckets, away from the swirling solids.

1. on the "clean" port, keep any pipe below the lid as short as possible to avoid sucking up solids that are mingling down lower in the buckets.

2. The "clean" elbow (center of lid) has a short piece of pvc attached so I can attach the vacuum hose that goes back to my shop vac. I just used "tuck" tape to attach the vacuum hose running to the shop vac so I can remove it if needed.

Observations:

- I was delighted to find it removed about 95% of sawdust. Where previously I was having to empty the shop vac AND clean the filter frequently, there is now very little material getting into the shop vac.

- the buckets are semi-transparent so I can see the cyclonic action taking place and I don't have to keep checking on the sawdust level as I can see it through the bucket wall.

- emptying the buckets into a garbage bag is a breeze and much faster compared to cleaning the shop vac and filter.

- having 2 lengths of vacuum hose instead of one means the shop vac can stay mostly in one location.

- when empty the buckets are light and could use some support to stay vertical if you're pulling on the hoses.

- for a total cost of about $10, this has worked out great.

Admittedly this was only my first attempt so I'll leave it to you to refine the design as you see fit. If you're anywhere near Victoria, BC and need buckets and lids, drop me a line and I'll be happy to supply them freely as they accumulate in our warehouse. For those interested these buckets are used to supply laundry soaps, etc., to hotels etc. so I'm sure you can find something similar where you live.

Let me know your thoughts and suggestions,

Regards, Saddlestrum, Victoria, BC

[PaulLapczynski]

Very nice. I will have try that. How hard is it to empty?

[Saddlestrum]

This is dead simple to empty. Pop off either the top or bottom lid and dump into a garbage bag or garbage can. Let me know any questions and I'll try to help you out.

[iSawitFirst]

You could even put a bag in it so there's no dumping unless the joint between the two buckets constricts it. Still, you could probably get it out.

[Dyami Plotke]

Saddlestrum,

Nice cyclone, man. Looks like it works even better than it was easy to build.

Do you think it would work with a larger bucket (or drum)?

[Vic]

Great design!!!

[Saddlestrum]

Saddlestrum,

Nice cyclone, man. Looks like it works even better than it was easy to build.

Do you think it would work with a larger bucket (or drum)?

No reason it shouldn't. I was using my Rigid shop vac which I'm sure would have enough "poop" to initiate a cyclone in a larger drum

[Dyami Plotke]

Thanks, Sabblestrum. I'll have to give it a try.

[Saddlestrum]

Let me know any questions and I`ll try to answer them....even supplying photos as one picture is worth a thousand words they say.

[Dyami Plotke]

Let me know any questions and I`ll try to answer them....even supplying photos as one picture is worth a thousand words they say.

It may be a while before I do, but I'll share it when I make one.

[utbigrod]

Cool design. I would think that if you were able to actually introduce some type of funnel design into the top bucket it would make it even better. It would do 2 things. 1. Encourage the debris to fall downward and 2. more importantly it would keep the cyclone from agitating the debris at the bottom and basically suspending the dust in the air.

To make that work you'd have to change your method of emptying since you would want to break the unit where the top and the bottom meet. But I'm imagining some thin gauge sheet metal formed into a cone into a 4" hole at the bottom of the top unit and then pop riveted into the sides of the top unit about halfway up.

Might not help you all that much, but that's what hit me when I looked at it and you asked for suggestions.

Brad

[Saddlestrum]

Cool design. I would think that if you were able to actually introduce some type of funnel design into the top bucket it would make it even better. It would do 2 things. 1. Encourage the debris to fall downward and 2. more importantly it would keep the cyclone from agitating the debris at the bottom and basically suspending the dust in the air.

To make that work you'd have to change your method of emptying since you would want to break the unit where the top and the bottom meet. But I'm imagining some thin gauge sheet metal formed into a cone into a 4" hole at the bottom of the top unit and then pop riveted into the sides of the top unit about halfway up.

Might not help you all that much, but that's what hit me when I looked at it and you asked for suggestions.

Brad

Good suggestion Brad. Not sure how to do the funnel thing except out of light sheet metal and then rivet it together. Agreed, it would help to separate the sawdust from the clean air. Now that I'm typing....I'm wondering how a piece of "Sonatube" (concrete pier form) would work for a cyclone? Just a thot on the spur of the moment.

[Emmrys]

Any way to attach the funnel part to the lid? That would still keep it just as easy to empty. I really like this design. Looks like something I could manage to get built. Thanks for sharing.

[Beechwood Chip]

Cool design. I would think that if you were able to actually introduce some type of funnel design into the top bucket it would make it even better. It would do 2 things. 1. Encourage the debris to fall downward and 2. more importantly it would keep the cyclone from agitating the debris at the bottom and basically suspending the dust in the air.

That's exactly why Thien designed his separator. The lower baffle keeps the cyclone from disturbing the collected dust. A Thien Separator would be easy to add and take less vertical space.

[sdkidaho]

Very cool - thanks for sharing that. Would it be possible to get the pictures sent to me? I can see them attached here but I can't get them any larger than what they show as being in your post.