Talk:Pneumatic Cyclone

From Cornburning

Trash Can Cyclone Lid by Drew McManus

Woodworker's Central http://www.woodworking.org/WC/GArchive04/2_7drewdust.html
Woodworker's Gazette
Gazette Archive 2/7/04 

(Retailer's Product Description) Improve your single stage dust collector's efficiency by converting it into a 2-stage unit with this lid and a common trash can! The Cyclone Lid lets you collect the larger and heavier shavings and dust before they reach your impeller and dust collection bags. This lid features a foam gasket for a superior seal and an elbow fitting under the inlet side to induce a cyclonic air flow inside the can for increased efficiency. Accepts 4" hose. Fits standard 30 gallon metal trash cans.

Available from Woodcraft - $29.99 Item #143290

Details/Review

Packaging & Instructions Rating: 5/5 The separator comes in a large box in two pieces, the circular top lid and the elbow that mounts into the intake port. The cardboard is thick and seemed to keep everything well protected. There are no instruction besides the diagrams on the outside of the box, but it is very straightforward.

Assembly Rating: 4.5/5 You'll need to purchase a metal 30 gallon trash can at your local home store in order to use this product. Don't use a plastic can, they tend to buckle under the suction of the dust collector. Once you have the can, you need to insert the plastic 90º elbow into the intake port. The only problem is mine didn't stay put, it kept falling out when I put the lid onto the trash can. I solved this problem by simply using some super glue to affix the elbow permanently into the intake port. A small nuisance, but a nuisance nevertheless.

Once that was done I then placed the lid on top of the metal trash can and pushed down tight so it snapped into place. Then I connected the dust collector to the lid with a 4" hose and there were no problems with any of the fittings. The 4" hose slipped over the intake port easily and the hose clamp created a nice tight seal. The last step was to run a grounding wire around everything and it was all ready to go.

Using the Lid with my dust collector Rating 5/5 I used as little hose as possible from my dust collector to the separator lid so as to reduce the reduction in the collector's performance. Although the collector's performance was diminished a little, it still worked great and the separator functioned perfectly. It wasn't nearly as noisy as I thought it would be and the trash can didn't budge an inch when I turned the dust collector on.

An especially nice feature of this separator lid is the inclusion of a foam ring on the bottom lip of the lid, much like a weather strip. This creates a nice air tight seal that keeps all of the dust and chips in the trash can while also helping to create a nice tight fit. To my knowledge, other separator lids offered on the market do not offer this great feature. If you can not purchase this model from Woodcraft then I strongly suggest you create your own foam seal on whatever unit you decide to purchase.

Conclusion Rating: 4.85/5 This was great, simple, product that has improved my dust collection system tremendously. I no longer have to worry about accidentally sweeping a screw or nut into the floor sweep that may damage the impeller and I haven't had to empty my dust collector bag (a serious hassle) nearly so often.

The trash can does fill up quickly, especially if you are planing, but it is simple to empty into a 30 gallon trash bag. My advice is go out and buy this right now. It is one of those simple, cheap solutions in your shop that you will be happy you made! It's a great value at the price.

Drew McManus Copyright©1997-2004WWA

Adding A Pre-Separator To Your Dust Collection System

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

Adding a pre-separator to your single-stage dust collector will save you time and money. It’ll save you time because it’s a lot easier to empty one of these than the lower, or “chip,” bag of a bag-over- bag collector. It’ll save you money in the long run: Your dust collector will last longer since the impeller won’t be under a constant barrage of heavy chips, or damaging bits of metal such as the occasional screw or nail that finds its way to the floor. And it will allow your filter bags to do their real job—filter out dust, not collect chips.

As I discussed in Chapter 1, a filter bag loses its ability to filter efficiently as the lower bag fills up, because as it fills, the filter surface area shrinks. Less filter, same pressure—more blow-through. This occurs at a much slower rate when you’ve got a pre-separator attached between the ductwork and the collector. Note: Here again, this pre-separator will add resistance to your system. Typically, it’ll add anywhere from 2” to 3” of static pressure loss.

A mini-cyclone Yet another “trash can” pre-separator, this pre-separator is quite different from the drop box shown on page 91. Instead of using an internal baffle to “knock down” heavy chips, this pre-separator uses a combination of PVC pipe and fittings and a round trash can to create sort of a mini-cyclone.

Here again, I used a Rubberrnaid heavy-duty trash can since it will hold up under the suction of a 1 ‘li-hp or smaller collector. Don’t be tempted to use a thinner-gauge can: It will surely collapse as soon as you turn on your collector.

How It works Dust and chips flow into the inlet pipe and travel down into the container, where they exit into the container through a 90-degree elbow angled toward the container wall.

Just as in a cyclone, the heavy chips spin around the walls of the container, losing their momentum until they fall to the bottom. Lighter chips and dust are pulled up through the outlet port into the dust collector, where they are captured by the filters. Just as with the drop box, pre-separator efficiency drops as the container fills. Check it often, and always before a big job.

Assemble the unit The pre-separator is quite easy to build. The only challenge is cutting the large-diameter holes in the lid. The best way I’ve found to do 45-degree angle—the idea here is to swirl the chips around the inside of the can. Seal around both inside and outside edges of the pipe with silicone caulk.

Safety Note: Since dust and chips are moving rapidly through a large plastic container, take the time to ground the container, to reduce the risk of sparks caused by static electricity. Running bare copper wire through the interior of the container and connecting this to your metal ductwork will do the job.

GROUNDING CONCERNS

Plastic blast gates Anytime you insert a plastic part in your ductwork, you break the ground path. This can lead to static problems, including the possibility of a dust explosion.

When installing plastic blast gates, like the one shown in the photo, it’s important to reconnect the ground path. A simple way to do this is to run a ground strap or wire from pipe to pipe, attaching the wire with sheet-metal screws. (Position the wire so that it doesn’t interfere with opening or closing the gate.)

PVC fittings If you must use PVC pipe or fittings, you’ll need to run a ground wire both inside the pipe and around the exterior to prevent static electricity from building up. Most dust collection companies that sell plastic parts also sell a grounding kit.

Make sure to follow their installation directions to the letter, and use a continuity tester or a multimeter to verify that the ground circuit is in fact continuous. To prevent leaks, use silicone to seal any holes you drilled into the pipe for the ground wire.

Flexible hose To prevent static problems with flexible hose, make sure to use wirewrapped helix hose and prepare the ends to guarantee that your ground path is complete. To do this, use a utility knife to remove a 1” to 2” section of the plastic covering the wire inside the hose, as shown.

Then as you install the hose and tighten down the hose clamp, the wire inside the hose will make solid contact with the metal C flange of the blast gate or pipe you’re hooking it up to. It’s best to bare the wire in a couple of places around the inside perimeter to ensure that it makes contact with the pipe or blast gate.

This article is excerpted from Controlling Dust In The Workshop© 2002 by Sterling Publishing Co.