Dust Collector Dust Capacity

[greg wood]

I am looking into replacing my dust collector and naturally cyclone's come up in my research. However from what I can see short of the very expensive 8' plus industrial type systems, the dust collection bag (barrel) seems to be 1/2 the size of my typical one stage collector now. I basing this strictly on pictures of the units.

My question is; if I buy one of these cyclones, am I going to be emptying it twice as much?

[Brian Lamb]

It is a ceiling height issue. The cyclone and motor on top don't usually leave a lot of height for a drum under the unit. Most have a 35 gallon drum or so if they'll fit under an 8 foot ceiling. I can tell you that 35 gallons fills up really fast if you are jointing and planing a lot of lumber... and the chip bags are not that heavy. But, if you are sawing and sanding and the dust is finer and packs tighter.... picking up 35 gallons is about all you would want to handle.

If you have taller than 8 foot ceilings, you can slap 55 gallon drums under and see what happens.

[John Aperahama]

Greg it very much depends on what you put into it.
A 15 in planer will fill most bins very quickly dust from edge sander drum sander table saw much slower.
I have a portable Grizzly on wheels has maybe 40 gallon bin and a 13 year old PSI Tempest on the wall with a 80 gallon fiber bin Tempest collects the bulky shavings from planer make trip to trash once a week Grizzly maybe once a month.

[lee cox]

Does using a larger 55 gal drum have any effect on performance over a 30 gal trash can?

I bought a Super Dust Deputy and I am putting together a system. I would like to use a 55 gal drum.

[Brian Lamb]

No difference in performance, it's just the collection bin.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Greg, mine has a 35 gallon drum.

When full of planer shavings it's no problem to lift.

When full of sawdust it's darn heavy, I wouldn't be able to handle a 55 gallon drum full of sawdust..........Regards, Rod.

[James Gunning]

Lee, the size of the collection bin has no real effect on the performance of the cyclone. At least in my experience. The important point to keep in mind is to make sure the bin and the connection to the cyclone is airtight. If you have air leaks there it will reduce the cyclone efficiency. Another important point is not let the bin get too full and start drawing chips up into the blower and filter. If you have the room, you can make the collection bin pretty much whatever size you want. Just make it easy to handle. I used a 35 gallon trash can thinking that was about the largest I wanted to manhandle if it was full of chips and sawdust. In my case since I built my own mobile DC using a SDD, the overall height was a consideration as well.

SDD-PS blower-Wynn filter.jpgSDD-PS blower-Wynn Filter-4.jpgSDD-PS blower-Wynn Filter-3.jpgSDD-PS blower-Wynn Filter-5.jpg

[Jim Becker]

Yup...ceiling hight comes into play. I solved that by sticking the motor of my Oneida cyclone up between two joists to provide the additional clearance required for comfortable use of a 55 gallon bin. And that bin can still fill up fast while processing lumber from rough to dimensioned on my J/P!!

[Bob Falk]

Lee, the size of the collection bin has no real effect on the performance of the cyclone. At least in my experience. The important point to keep in mind is to make sure the bin and the connection to the cyclone is airtight. If you have air leaks there it will reduce the cyclone efficiency. Another important point is not let the bin get too full and start drawing chips up into the blower and filter. If you have the room, you can make the collection bin pretty much whatever size you want. Just make it easy to handle. I used a 35 gallon trash can thinking that was about the largest I wanted to manhandle if it was full of chips and sawdust. In my case since I built my own mobile DC using a SDD, the overall height was a consideration as well.

SDD-PS blower-Wynn filter.jpgSDD-PS blower-Wynn Filter-4.jpgSDD-PS blower-Wynn Filter-3.jpgSDD-PS blower-Wynn Filter-5.jpg

James,
How did you seal the can to the bottom of the cyclone? I like your trash can idea. tx, bob

[James Gunning]

Bob, To keep the overall height down there is a very short 6" hose between the bottom of the SDD and the MDF lid of the trash can. Here is a crude drawing of that joint from the side.

Drawing-of-DC-bin-connection-copy.jpgClose-up-of-Dust-bin.jpg

The SDD has a rubber gasket between it and the MDF shelf it's bolted to. The HVAC starter collars are epoxied in place and sealed with liberal amounts of flexible silicone. The 6" dia. hose has band clamps intended for wire reinforced hose sealing it to the starter collars at each end. The MDF lid on the trash can has a groove cut into the bottom and has weather-stripping in it to seal that joint. I also sealed the inner seams in the trash can just in case. If there are any leaks, I haven't found them yet. The hose is a piece from my pickup hose and was sourced from Wynn Environmental. To dump, I just lift the lid an inch or so to clear the can and roll the can out on its casters. Then I put a lawn bag over the trash can and invert it to dump into the lawn bag.(always outside and with a dust mask on)

[John K Jordan]

James,
How did you seal the can to the bottom of the cyclone? I like your trash can idea. tx, bob

I use a 30 gal trash can for my dust collector, a 5-hp ClearVue cyclone. The first one I tried was not strong enough and the can immediately collapsed from the vacuum. An older can from and same manufacturer worked fine - it was slightly thicker gauge galvanized steel.

Instead of an MDF lid I used the lid that came with the can, sealed with a strip of the tough weatherstripping ClearVue recommends. To connect to the trashcan lid, I cut a hole and built a flange from 6" PVC S&D pipe, connected to the bottom of the cyclone cone with a short piece of 6" flex hose. All this just barely fits with my 9' ceilings.

I have see where people constructed a low but wider box for a bin where ceiling clearance is an issue. I have also read about installations where people cut a hole in the ceiling and let the DC motor extend up into the joists/rafters.

JKJ

[Bill Adamsen]

I think it's one of those situations where - regardless of the size of the container - it fills up too fast and at exactly the wrong time.

[Andy Giddings]

Greg, my experience with a single stage was the same as yours - the bags are a good size. However, if you let the bag fill up beyond about 2/3 full, the chances are your filter media (fabric or OEM cartridge) is going to be choked with dust - which in turn seriously impacts the performance. The two stage isn't going to give you a bigger dust collection bag/barrel but its going to cut down the number of times you need to clean the filter media and ensure consistently good performance. I would rather empty the collection bag more often than have to clean the filter

[Martin Wasner]

I think it's one of those situations where - regardless of the size of the container - it fills up too fast and at exactly the wrong time.

Nailed it. Right up to a thirty yard dumpster or a 53' trailer. They all fill up too quickly.

[Robert Engel]

I use a 55 gal Brute can with a SDD.

To seal the lid I used a bicycle tire tube split in 1/2 and stapled on.

Works great for me