The pleated-paper canister filter on my 2HP DC is just overwhelmed. Better than the old bag. A bag is good for 1 hour.... I really need to do something. I figure that if I were to upgrade to a double canister 3-4 HP set-up, all it would do would buy a little time between dumping.
So, I'm told that a cyclone is the way to go. What do we know about those things?
r
I still haven't found out how to send a live link, but-
P D Q
Three months ago, I put in a JDS 3100ck.
I wish I went to a cyclone years ago. Easy to empty, fantastic performance, and a canister filter from the get go. I've emptied ~ 200 gallons of material from the drum and I'm still on the original bag under the filter. This unit has a filter beater that runs on a timer each time the DC is shut down. It seems to work very well.
Without my ceiling height limitation, you can probably get a similar performing unit for a few hundred bucks less than my unit, as there is lots of competition.
The difference is that with a cyclone you just empty a container, you don't have to beat dust off of the clogged filters, which if I understand correctly was the issue.
With a properly designed cyclone very, very little gets to the filters.
I see very little in the way of fines settling out regardless of whether the machine I'm using is connected to the cyclone.
One way is to use a 55 gallon drum. The lid has two portals. Inlet and outlet. The outlet goes to the bag system. Between the two you bolt on or weld - a fence that extends 4-5 times the diameter of the hose. So the inlet is pulled in and dumps into the can. Lighter stuff continues on the way to the filter.
Have two barrels and one lid - never run out of room.
Naturally a nice one outside on the edge of the building that can dump into a truck or large bag in the truck would be nice and best.
Mart> The pleated-paper canister filter on my 2HP DC is just overwhelmed.
Yep. Still say time between dumps is a function of collector size. I = have a friend who has a 40 foot tall collector painted to look like a = beer can. He does not empty it very often but, when he does, we have a = really big bonfire.
As to fines, the cyclone culls out almost all the big lumps (think = jointer or planer) but does not do as good a job with the fine stuff as = a lot of that still gets to the filters.
P D Q
I have a friend who has a 40 foot tall collector painted to look like a bee= r can. =A0He does not empty it very often but, when he does, we have a real= ly big bonfire.
r or planer) but does not do as good a job with the fine stuff as a lot of = that still gets to the filters.
My understanding, is that the whole point of a cyclone is to virtually eliminate ANYthing getting to the filters. My router doesn't produce a lot of pounds of crap, but so much of it is fluffy filter-clogging crap. I didn't mean to emphasize the total quantity of the crap, just that a lot of it is MDF and acrylic fluffiness. Even the flappers on my canister is rendered useless after a 1 hour cutting routine.
What you have described is a poorly designed inefficient cyclone.
If you're DIYing and all ready have a good sized dust colletor, it doesn't cost all that much to beat together a real cyclone.
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overwhelmed.
have a friend who has a 40 foot tall collector painted to look like a = beer can. He does not empty it very often but, when he does, we have a = really big bonfire.
jointer or planer) but does not do as good a job with the fine stuff as = a lot of that still gets to the filters.
My understanding, is that the whole point of a cyclone is to virtually eliminate ANYthing getting to the filters. My router doesn't produce a lot of pounds of crap, but so much of it is fluffy filter-clogging crap. I didn't mean to emphasize the total quantity of the crap, just that a lot of it is MDF and acrylic fluffiness. Even the flappers on my canister is rendered useless after a 1 hour cutting routine.
The theory of the cyclone is like a cream separator, the heavy stuff = falls to the bottom and the light stuff keeps on going (like that = rabbit). All you get is a little more fun before the dump.
Probably will not make much of an impact on the MDF and acrylic. I = would suggest a hepa filter for that stuff. Not good to suck it down = the wind pipe.
P D Q
You don't understand. The drum is a pre-dump of big stuff so the smaller stuff continues and doesn't get swamped with everything the shop can give it.
Mart> Mart>> One way is to use a 55 gallon drum. The lid has two portals. >> Inlet
For a quick and dirty cyclone substitute for the lowest-dollar, take a look at a reasonable substitute.
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friend who has a 40 foot tall collector painted to look like a beer can. He does not empty it very often but, when he does, we have a really big bonfire.
or planer) but does not do as good a job with the fine stuff as a lot of that still gets to the filters.
Don't confuse the "cyclone lids" with a real cyclone separator. I have only a vacuum setup, with the mini cyclone from clearvuecyclones. Before I was using a lid from Lee Valley. There's at least an order of magnitude difference between the two as far as getting the fines. Hooked up to my drum sander the lid may as well have not been there. Maybe a couple hours and the filter would be fully caked. With the cyclone I can go a month or more without even thinking about the filter, and even then I'm cleaning it long before it even gets to that fully caked point. I probably won't clean it all winter, cuz it's freaking cold outside and I don't have to. And there is NOTHING in the bottom of the vacuum, unless I let the cyclone overflow. And you can literally let it fill up completely to the top before anything comes out.
If you haven't used one you really don't understand just how effective they are. I think if Rob Lee tested that thing he'd stop selling the lids and start selling the real thing.
-Kevin
If a DIY interests you
A practical plan for same is at =
Enjoy
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What you say about the "garbage can" variety is right. Only a serious = collector is in the 98 % territory. A back yard guy can get by quite = nicely with or without one of the can lids.
P D Q
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container, you
I have a friend who has a 40 foot tall collector painted to look like a = beer can. He does not empty it very often but, when he does, we have a = really big bonfire.
jointer or planer) but does not do as good a job with the fine stuff as = a lot of that still gets to the filters.
You can have the pacific ocean for a collector but if the filters clog in an hour that doesn't do you any good.
If "a lot of that" is getting to the filters it's a crappy cyclone.
It's a centrifugal separator. In this case "the light stuff" is air molecules and "the heavy stuff" is everything else.
A good properly desigend cyclone has a HEPA filter with a tenth the pore size of the ones that you use on ordinary dust collectors.
The reason I put one in in the first place was MDF. End up with a main collector full of MDF dust, the little one under the filters hardly sees anything.
About six years ago I daisy-chained two 55 gallon barrels with Lee Valley clear separator tops to a HF dust collector. This setup is dedicated to my ShopBot. I normally empty a barrel when it's somewhere between 1/2 to 2/3 full.
The first barrel traps nearly all of the course/medium stuff and some of the fine dust. The second has trapped everything not trapped by the first barrel.
The bag on the dust collector has never needed emptying.
This guy has been selling a version for a few years now. The pictures show a typical setup similar to your needs:
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