DIY Cyclone of Plastic Barrels

[Lornie McCullough]

Very cheap, Very effective $20 DIY Cyclone


This project started with a single stage Grizzly 2hp 1029 dust collector. I had spent hours reading Bill Pentz' website, and downloaded his spreadsheet in order to see what I might build. (I want to give credit to Bill for all that is good about this project, and take responsibility for any short comings it may bear.) I have no sheet metal skills, but I spend a lot of time 'thinking outside the box'. When I saw blue barrels on Craigslist for ten dollars each, the light-bulb-of-inspiration lit. All the other materials were found around the shop.
TopBarrel2.jpg

The first barrel has the top cut off, removing the tapered part, and leaving about 28 inches. Cut a hole for the 4” ducting inlet, and another hole centered for the exhaust to the blower. I used a five gallon bucket for the center chamber, but it wasn't tall enough, so cut the bottom out of a second one, and riveted it to the first one to get the right height. (the dirty buckets are proof I used found materials) I used large washers each side of the bolts and rivets so as to not to pull through the plastic. If I were to do it again, I would cut off the ridges at top of five gallon buckets.
TopWRamp2.jpg

I tried sheet metal for the air ramp, and then tried quarter-inch plywood, but finally settled on quarter-inch hdpe. You might have to try something else.... you probably don't have hdpe laying around. But use what you have or can find. The funnel/cone was made of roof flashing riveted together, and seams taped with aluminum tape. The size and shape of the funnel/cone and air-ramp are taken from Bill Pentz wonderful spreadsheet.
FunnelCone2.jpg

The bottom barrel has the top cut off, leaving some part of the tapered top. The funnel/cone sits inside the bottom barrel, and reaches through the hole cut in the bottom of the barrel.
InTheShop2.jpg

Final assembly consists of caulking the joint between the barrels before assembly. The (air-tight) plywood box it sits on holds a plastic garbage can cut-to-fit the space. Caulk the seam between barrels and box, the seam where the inlet meets the barrel, and the seam that connects to the blower. The box supports the cyclone, and the blower is hung from the rafters (insulated so as to not resonate into the shop).


I chose to hang the filter bags as close to the blower outlet as I could, so they are suspended between rafters. An additional benefit of hanging the filter bags so high, is the smile I get when I feel the bottom bag for sawdust, and find almost none.


Finished2.jpg

[Kevin W Johnson]

If necessity is the mother of invention, a small budget the mother of ingenuity.

Small budget or not, it looks great. Everywhere I go, I look at things for what I can make from it whether it was intended for that purpose or not.

[Bill ThompsonNM]

Nice work! That's thinking out of the box!

[Andrew Joiner]

I like it. The funnel/cone doesn't have to be perfect. The ends don't need to fit flush to disks. Have you tried it with no cone? Would it be similar to the Thien separator in performance with no cone?

[Lornie McCullough]

I like it. The funnel/cone doesn't have to be perfect. The ends don't need to fit flush to disks. Have you tried it with no cone? Would it be similar to the Thien separator in performance with no cone?

Hi Andrew.

I have not tried it without a cone. I have read about Phil Thien's modification for the garbage can separator, but I have not used it.

If my bottom barrel were translucent, my cyclone would look like every other cyclone you've ever seen. The only purpose of the bottom barrel is to provide the air-tight enclosure that you would get if you soldered every seam in the cone and soldered the cone to the top cylinder. An added bonus of the bottom barrel is giving the cyclone a solid base to mount it.

Lornie

[Ryan Mooney]

Very cool thanks for sharing. That's a really simple way to stabilize and hold the cone in place and takes a lot of the fuss out of the details.

[Cyrus Brewster 7]

Hi Andrew.

I have not tried it without a cone. I have read about Phil Thien's modification for the garbage can separator, but I have not used it.

If my bottom barrel were translucent, my cyclone would look like every other cyclone you've ever seen. The only purpose of the bottom barrel is to provide the air-tight enclosure that you would get if you soldered every seam in the cone and soldered the cone to the top cylinder. An added bonus of the bottom barrel is giving the cyclone a solid base to mount it.

Lornie

Lornie,

Thanks for posting this. It has given me some food for thought.

[Alan Schaffter]

Nice job!

Frankly, I'm surprised no manufacturer is marketing a cyclone constructed from one of the softer plastics (PE, HDPE, UHMW-PE, etc.) heat welded. Much of it could be molded or blown and has to be cheaper to make, materials and labor, than a ClearVue PETG or other metal cyclone. I think it would work especially well with a push-through configuration where you wouldn't need any rings or other stiffeners to prevent it from collapsing.

FYI, I don't remember if it says on Bill's site, but the formula used for the spiral ramp is a just mathematical approximation of a helix. You can't make a true helix from a flat sheet of material- it must be warped.

[Lornie McCullough]

Hi Allan
I was thinking this morning about how to make my 4 inch ducting more efficient and concluded that changing out the store-bought blast gates (that choke down the opening too much) with shop-made blast gates as per your plans would be a priority. And now I find you in this thread. I am honored (and dream of automating the blast gates some time in the future).

I first found Sawmill Creek while searching for DIY information to make my own remote control for the dust collector. The collective experience found on this website is awesome!

Lornie

[Jerome Hanby]

You might want to give them a little xmas gift and become a contributor. It's pretty cheap and carries the added benefit of preventing your brain from being eaten by space aliens! They don't actually spell out that part, but Google it for yourself, you won't find one single instance...

Hi Allan
I was thinking this morning about how to make my 4 inch ducting more efficient and concluded that changing out the store-bought blast gates (that choke down the opening too much) with shop-made blast gates as per your plans would be a priority. And now I find you in this thread. I am honored (and dream of automating the blast gates some time in the future).

I first found Sawmill Creek while searching for DIY information to make my own remote control for the dust collector. The collective experience found on this website is awesome!

Lornie