[joecnc2006]

I have built a unit using the pentz spreadsheet. It's very easy to use and give good results. Mine uses a bucket with the bottom cut out, the cone is aluminum sheet used in house sidings. Some wood parts and 2" PVC inlet. I used pop rivets and a squierel cage blower but also did some tests with the shopvac. The inlet is too small but still, it works...

It is quite impressive to say the least but the blower lack power tremendously. It is true that these will require a GOOD motor and impeller. I'd be scared of a plastic impeller knowing the forces that goes into it...

IMHO, we should all have one if we cut the dirty stuff (foam, mdf, dusty plastics). Life is too great to mess it up!

Para

I totally agree we all should have one, I do not know why i waited so long to make one, It controls the dust like you would not believe.

[Rance]

This one as it stands is 4'2" tall with the 5 Gal. Bucket.

Joe, How much did you scale your hobby-sized unit down? I'm considering a 62% unit and wondering about efficiancy. Thanks, and hope you ALL have a great new year.

Rance

[joecnc2006]

Joe, How much did you scale your hobby-sized unit down? I'm considering a 62% unit and wondering about efficiancy. Thanks, and hope you ALL have a great new year.

Rance

75% is what it is roughtly scalled at.

[Parameter]

As seen on Bill pentz site, the more you scale down, the more you need a powerfull blower. I think at some point, it becomes MUCH LESS effective as you scale down. In fact, he had to work quite hard to make it fit under the roof AND keep effectiveness.

I would not recommend scaling down to less than 75% unless you use a shopvac all the time. With an impeller, too small a cyclone could mean one would need a 5hp motor and bigger impeller instead of a 3hp.

If you're not convinced already, building a test unit take less than a few hours when you're set and will give a good hindsight of why you need one. A bucket, some metal sheet and snips, Oh, and duct tape...

Bill's site is a goldmine for builders like us. My Lungs say thanks to Bill a zillion tiny time.

Para

[walter]

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

Could you tell us more about this unit? I`m especially interested in noise level and wheter this 2HP unit will be usable with multiple spindle machines... Any comments will be greatly apprecieted

[tsalaf]

The cyclone will operate well with 2 blast gates open (4” each). The noise level is lower than a Shopvac, but I imagine that prolonged exposure still requires hearing protection.

The Oneida web site provides accurate information about their products and the sales staff are helpful in providing design assistance for a complete system. They will, however, try to upsell you on everything. Be sure to request that all electrical components are UL or CSA approved, as this may affect your insurance settlement in case of fire.

[Mr.Chips]

With all the fine dust that CNC's generate, I'm really glad to see Bill's design being put to good use. His spread sheet makes it scaleable with little effort but you have to be mindful of other variables, to keep it working efficently, and doing the job of removing the fine particles that are so potentially dangerous.

Keep up the good work.

Hager

[joecnc2006]

Well the cyclone works pretty good, after 6 days here is a picture of what was collected in the bucket, and what the inside of the shopvac looks like, there is barely anything in the filter bag inside the shopvac.

[Parameter]

Impressive isn't it. Now you can invest in tooling instead of shop-vac bags... nice...

Para

[Mr.Chips]

Good looking results.

What size motor are you using?

Are you using the blower made out of MDF in the earlier photos? If so are the blades curved or straight?

What is the length of the "Cone"?

How about a finished photo.

Thanks
Hager

[joecnc2006]

Good looking results.

What size motor are you using?

Are you using the blower made out of MDF in the earlier photos? If so are the blades curved or straight?

What is the length of the "Cone"?

How about a finished photo.

Thanks
Hager

I'm still in the test phase right now i only used the shopvac, but lowes has a delta dust collector for 149.00 so it would be a good investment. to add a cyclone to it.

[sploo]

Hi all,

Not totally on topic, but I've been looking at cyclones for a while now (whilst I don't yet have a CNC machine, I do a lot of other MDF work with power tools).

Currently lacking the time to build one to Bill's design, I have been considering purchasing, but as Bill points out - many commercial systems are severely lacking.

Also, ordering something from Oneida (or any other US company) would be expensive as I'm in the UK (shipping, tax etc.)

My workshop setup means that I could vent air outside, so filter quality wouldn't matter, as the 'bad' air wouldn't be put back inside.

I suppose I could completely remove the filter then, as without it I assume I'd also get less power loss, so could get away without buying a hugely powerful unit.

Are my assumptions reasonable here, or am I deluding myself?

If anyone knows of any reasonable UK suppliers/outlets for cyclone extractors I'd be most grateful.

Right.. Friday night, off home. Have a good weekend all. :tired:

[Rance]

Don't forget that if your shop is airconditioned, then you'll be pumping that nice cool air outside, raising your electric bill.

[Mr.Chips]

QUOTE:
"My workshop setup means that I could vent air outside, so filter quality wouldn't matter, as the 'bad' air wouldn't be put back inside.

I suppose I could completely remove the filter then, as without it I assume I'd also get less power loss, so could get away without buying a hugely powerful unit."

Be aware that if there is a gas water heater or gas furnace in the shop you can pull tht burned gases into the shop and not up the chimely and that would be dangerous.

Also in some areas it would not be legal to blow the dirty air outside.

FYI

Hager

[sploo]

Don't forget that if your shop is airconditioned, then you'll be pumping that nice cool air outside, raising your electric bill.

Be aware that if there is a gas water heater or gas furnace in the shop you can pull tht burned gases into the shop and not up the chimely and that would be dangerous.

Also in some areas it would not be legal to blow the dirty air outside.

Gents, thanks for the heads up.

However, my workshop is a little garage, located out the back of my house in the UK.

Here, it sometimes gets cold enough for you to put a coat on. Sometimes it gets warm enough to think about taking it off .

In other words, burners or aircon units aren't really required in our climate. Some form of rain protection is useful though .

[Rance]

So why would someone build rather than buy one of the ready-made units and then add their blower etc? If the answer is cost, then I can't see much of an advantage to building with galvanized steel or plexiglass. It seems that the cost savings would not be that great.

Joe, Para, how much did you spend on just the cyclone part itself? (not including the blower, etc.)

If we are looking at cost, then we need a cheap material source. Buckets seem to be one answer (they are FREE), but they are too small. They would yield a 62% scaled down unit. However, by going with two cyclones, that could be remedied. (See attached) The inlet would simply need to be split to the two units. Same thing for the output from the blowers, just join them back together.

A possible source for blowers could be the blower/motor unit on a clothes dryer. I doubt that one by itself would be sufficient, but putting one of these on each bucket unit would effectively double the cfm, right?

Lastly, I havn't come up with a cheap material for making the cone at the bottom. One possible solution might be to heat & bend a fluorescent light difuser. One might not do it though. Any other thoughts on what cheap, readily-available material to make the cone out of?

Bottom line, I can buy the cyclone itself for $200. Just search for "cyclone dust" on ebay and you'll find eastcaroga's units ($169 + S/H). I'm sloooooowly coming around but It only makes sense for me to build it from scratch if I can beat the cost or make vast improvements. Galvanized steel & plexiglass seem very expensive so what are your alternatives?

Rance

[sdantonio]

I priced out the 24 gauge steel at about $50 per sheet, the blower I got free at work, but I have seen them on ebay at about $25. So you are dealing with something about half the price of the ebay kits (complete with blower and trash bucket).

And, you can customize the unit to fit your space.

I'm very hesitant to go with the plexi ones. I am told they tend to build us a static charge, the steel can easily be grounded to a nearby pipe.

Some folks also get off on the thrill of building it yourself.

Steven

[Parameter]

Well, in my case, I got the aluminium sheet for a beggin, had the wood and bucket and some pipes. Had to buy the rivets and the sheet metal conduit and elbow. All in all, it may have cost me bellow 10$ for a test unit that show me I need a good one badly. If I add a blower, I'll be well bellow 50$, but of course, I have a very small shop...

An oil burner fan from an old oil water heater should do fine for small units I guess...

Para

[Mr.Chips]

My thought was to put two in series rather than in Parallel as shown by Rance.

The first would remove the bulk and the second even more finer dust, Hey there could even be a third and possibly thoes expensive efficient filters would last even longer.

Many times the challange and pride of building it your self outweighs the cost. Dont forget bragging rights, were guys remember.

Bills design is reall top notch and well thought and documented. I see many units for sale in magazines that don't adhere to Bills principals, and because he has such a good job of documentating and informing us, we can see flaws in the "ready made" units. He has a good reason and describes it for every aspect of the machine, and it's free to anyone. However if you build, a donation really would be in order. Help support thoes free thinkers out there.

$50 a sheet, I found 20 Ga for $25. Shop around the price varries like crazy.

Hager

[joecnc2006]

So why would someone build rather than buy one of the ready-made units and then add their blower etc? If the answer is cost, then I can't see much of an advantage to building with galvanized steel or plexiglass. It seems that the cost savings would not be that great.

Joe, Para, how much did you spend on just the cyclone part itself? (not including the blower, etc.)

If we are looking at cost, then we need a cheap material source. Buckets seem to be one answer (they are FREE), but they are too small. They would yield a 62% scaled down unit. However, by going with two cyclones, that could be remedied. (See attached) The inlet would simply need to be split to the two units. Same thing for the output from the blowers, just join them back together.

A possible source for blowers could be the blower/motor unit on a clothes dryer. I doubt that one by itself would be sufficient, but putting one of these on each bucket unit would effectively double the cfm, right?

Lastly, I havn't come up with a cheap material for making the cone at the bottom. One possible solution might be to heat & bend a fluorescent light difuser. One might not do it though. Any other thoughts on what cheap, readily-available material to make the cone out of?

Bottom line, I can buy the cyclone itself for $200. Just search for "cyclone dust" on ebay and you'll find eastcaroga's units ($169 + S/H). I'm sloooooowly coming around but It only makes sense for me to build it from scratch if I can beat the cost or make vast improvements. Galvanized steel & plexiglass seem very expensive so what are your alternatives?

Rance

My galv. steel cost me 23.00 for a 4'x8' piece of 24g which is pleanty strong enought for this, and i have about 60% of it left in one solid piece so that unit was 9.20 for the gal. steel, i had the rivets and a cutter, and the metal tape was 6.99.. so it if a far cry from the 200.00.

I also have i think would be a slight improvement to make to the original (bills design) to help with airflow, but just a thought right now.

Joe