[Mr.Chips]

CNC machines generate lots of fine dust that is very messy and VERY UNHEALTHY. Take a look at the links below for education and building your own.

Most shop bag dust collectors are "dust pumps" they catch the big stuff but still pump out the fine particles which are the ones that are extremely bad for your health.

For a long time I have been concerned about the dust from woodworking not just health but blown through the house. And I think I have found the answer, I have spent I'm guessing 12 + hours on the internet studying this and the real answer to shop dust collection is a "Cyclone shop system" The BEST I have found is by Bill P. he doesn’t sell any only presents the free design on the internet.

Bills design: Lots of stuff to read and understand.
http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm

Here's a builder of one of his in Japan, lots of good pictures and construction details: There are 4 sections to his cyclone on his web site.
http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/

This is a pretty good ready made one:
http://www.woodsucker.com/

It can be built for less than this especially with the skills I see here on the CNCZONE.

Hager

[ger21]

I was at the Bill Pentz site a few weeks ago, but haven't had time to sift through it all. I'll be building a Cyclone at some point, and there's a lot of good info there. That Japanese site is quite interesting, thanks for the links.

[tsalaf]

I purchased this cyclone http://www.oneida-air.com/products/s...rilla/main.htm

and am very happy with it. When I calculated the cost of materials and time to built a cyclone, the commericial unit turned out to be a much better deal. Oneida also have very good customer support, even after purchase.

Steve

[cbass]

For thoses out there who can't afford one of these units, there may be a cheap alternative. I recently purchased a shop vac from Sears. No big deal, except they now offer HEPA filters! This is a big deal, as typically, HEPA vacuums cost several hundreds of dollars, on top of the bags and/or filters. The unit I bought cost just over $120 and I think filters can be had for less than $30. HEPA filters retain particles as small as 0.3 µm in size. Particles of this size are invisible to the naked eye and are lethal to the lungs (silicosis is a potential hazard where I work and is caused by silica particles of this size that float in the air).

That being said, a shop vac won't compete with a cyclone for throughput, and I'm only bringing this up as an alternative for those on a budget.

Carlo


BTW, you can buy HEPA filters as standalone filters which can then be incorporated into pre-existing vacuum systems. MSC carries them.

[Tompie]

Hi guys,

Interesting, can you use this cyclone as a pump for vacuumtable or is it better to use a blower?

Cheers,
Tom

[milford]

In the current issue of American Woodworker there is an evaluation of cyclone dust collectors with good info on construction and types of motors. They only evaluated commercial cyclones, not home built units.

[Tompie]

Hi Milford,

Thanks for the info, the only problem is that I'm based in Belgium and we don't have that magazine here....

Cheers
Tom

[joecnc2006]

I am very suprised as not to see more on this subject Since this site has a large amount of wood CNC routers, The Cyclone dust collertor aprears to be the best type to construct for your cnc router.

So I will be sitting down and designing, Well revamping the Cyclone on a limited budget with all parts can be obtained easily. I am getting tiered of the shop vac's i have used at 10.00 a week for filter bags and not to mention i already burned one out, It is starting to get a little expensive.

Here is a basic concept of the cyclone type collectors. as mentioned in the sites above.

[joecnc2006]

Heres a quick video so you can see the air flow.

http://btdtconsult.home.att.net/videos/Mov00121.mpg

[tsalaf]

This site is provides excellent information on dust collection in general, and cyclones in paticular. http://billpentz.com//woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm

[joecnc2006]

This site is provides excellent information on dust collection in general, and cyclones in paticular. http://billpentz.com//woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm

Yes I know anyone who has done any research on DIY or build your own Dust Collection, That is the 1st site they mostlikely went to, and also it is the 1st link in post #1 here above.

My question or puzzlement is we do not have more post on this as well as people posting theirs, and idea's of what they have made.

[Rance]

This interests me very much.

Would galvanized steel work for building the cyclone or is it too lightweight?

Also, can this be scaled down or does that mess up the efficiency?

Rance

[joecnc2006]

This interests me very much.

Would galvanized steel work for building the cyclone or is it too lightweight?

Also, can this be scaled down or does that mess up the efficiency?

Rance

I am almost finished building mine, Got everything today and built it in about 6 hours, I will post pictures tonight.

And mine is scaled down to 75% of original so i will see how efficent it is, I am also designing an impeller and blower for it, I have cut a mockup of the impeller and it works really well alot of air even without the shroud. But If you have not done extensive research on impellers then i would STRONGLY advise you do not do this at home.... lol

[joecnc2006]

OK all that is left is to test it.

here are pictures of my build.

parts, and then build stages And finally the complete Unit. I still need the threaded rod to keep the unit tight and standing upright, this is just it standing by itself with no supports.

[joecnc2006]

OK now for the preliminary test, I hooked the shopvac up with just a rag in the top hole, Removed the filer and filer bag in the shopvac, ran it for a minute to get clean air blowing out of it. The used the 2 1/2" hose connected to the Cyclone and sucked up HDPE and MDF particals on the floor as well as in a disposal trashcan i had, I ran it for about 5 mins sucking up whatever i could find (even metal shavings) while i was doing it I could not see any dust or anything comming out of the shopvac, so i know at that point this thing works great. However as soon as i cloged up the whole my cone colapsed so i had to straighten it out, I will be getting much thicker Metal tyo use for the main structure, But i know i have the basic distances and unit down and Works well..

1st picture is shopvac hooked up. (yes the shopvac is that dirty to start with) now you know why i'm tiered of the MDF dust all over.

2nd picture shows the mdf residue on the sides of the Cyclone as it spirals down.

3rd is what was inside the bucket 2" deep with no dust in the air.

Joe

[joecnc2006]

The next step (well after rebuilding the unit with stronger gage steel) is to build the blower unit.

Here is my mockup of the impeller, I bolted it to a grinder and spun it and it produced alot of air without a blower housing so i'm sure it will work good, I am thinking of using a grinder for the a/c motor any thoughts on that? (39.00)

the bottom portion i recut because i realized it has to be a mirror image of the top for blade groves.

Joe

[truman]

these plans were printed in one of the shopnotes issues I have I just can't find it right now if I do I will post the issue# so you may be able to back order it if you want to they were very detailed plans and looked very good I was planning on building them when I get my router up and running.


Rob

[joecnc2006]

I did not use plans I used the websites, not very hard to figure out the correct measurements to make it.

[jphagen]

You might want to consider the centrifical forces on the fan.
If you spin it at 1750 or 3500 rpm, there will be significant forces
on the blades, radial and torsional.
Best to weld it together, then stress relief it.

[ger21]

Yeah, I think that Bill Pentz site stesses the dangers of homemade impellors