Cyclonic Dust Seperation

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6j-psU1aWs]

[Don] was having issues with dust when working with MDF. He had a shop vac overheat and die because of it. When looking for solutions, he saw several systems that used cyclonic dust seperation. Not wanting to buy something he could make for cheaper, he left the store and started scrounging parts. You can see his home made system in the video above. This seems like an absolute must have item for any workshop. Great job [Don].

23 thoughts on “Cyclonic Dust Seperation

  1. Interesting how he said he cut the 45 degree expecting the dust to go one way, only to find it go the other, i suspect this has something to do with the coriolos effect! Depending on whether he is based in the northern or southern hemisphere?

  2. @grovenstien, possibly, or maybe by cutting the pipe it just exposed that direction of airflow first. at 2:16 you can see the input is offset… if he wanted to direct the airflow counter-clockwise he could leave the pipe straight or even rotate that 45 cut 180 degrees to encourage the air to hug the wall of the cup. if it wasnt offset it would just be a matter of angling it to the right.

  3. The coriolis effect is significant whenever something is rotating and your frame of reference is rotating with it (be it your body, a video camera or just your “mind’s eye”), just like centripital force. Since a cyclone is rotating, the coriolis effect may play a part. But you are correct that it doesn’t have anything to do with whether you are in the northern or southern hemisphere. The earth rotates so slow that this only makes a difference for extremely large things like oceans. Likewise, the centripital force due to Earth’s rotation is not very significant (or is that centrifugal force? I can never remember).

    There is a nice video on youtube showing the coriolis effect when some kids are tossing a ball around on a merry-go-round. When you are standing on the ground, the ball goes in a straight line, but when you are spinning with the merry-go-round the ball’s path appears to be a circle.

  4. Your right the dust deputy is $60 for the funnel, $100 for the kit that contains the bucket, hose and all relevant parts to hook it up. I think it is a good deal, I just wanted to see what I could come up with since spare money is lacking at the moment. No disrepect to anyone intended, if I had the cash I would have just ordered it.

  5. Hmm interesting, i thought that the coriolos effect, effected even tiny bodies of water like that of the one in a sink goin down a plug hole.

    @mono i see what your saying.

  6. @barry99705

    just how powerful of a vacuum device were you using? either way, might have tried putting rolled up strips of sheet steel in there to keep it from collapsing.

    Excelent hach, ive thought about trying the same thing for a little while, just didnt have the immediate need to actually make it. keep it up.

  7. Here is the shop vac model I am using:

    http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=8477891

    Model Number 584-04-00
    Peak Horsepower 2.0 Peak HP
    Cubic Feet Per Minute
    (CFM) of Air Flow 135
    Sealed Pressure
    (in inches) 54
    Electrical Ratings 120V 60Hz 6Amps
    Peak Air Watts 215

    I have a new problem, every plastic tumbler I see looks like a cyclone… walmart had some really big ones a while back that would have made a perfect funnel…

  8. The Thein Cyclone lid for a dust drum or bucket works about as well and is just as simple to build. The forum and web site have the information on how to build your own.

    Nothing taking away from this build either, just a different option without going to the big Bill Pentz design like http://www.clearvuecyclones.com/ uses for their cyclone separators. … That is what I would get if I could afford it.

    http://www.billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm is Bill Pentz pages and it includes how to’s to design and build your own killer dust collector cyclone! (A design and cutting patterns are there if you are realy gung ho… )

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