Cyclone dust collector - anyone made one

I have one but that makezine looks like far too much hassle :o

I just used one of the many cyclone separators on ebay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dust-Sepa...599514?hash=item1c94076f5a:g:WXYAAOSwk~NZ2I5V - like that but can't remember the exact one) and bought a big sealed food bucket (25L I think). Cut through the lid, added a bit of wood for support and sealed it all up.

Works well, keeps pretty much everything but the finest dust out of the hoover but it is quite noisy.

You can get smaller self contained ones if you want to give it a try:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/381438491108?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649
 
Marv

I have one similar to that - What I have found is when cutting wood and you vac it up it clogs up the filter quite quickly - with the cyclone attachment on all the dust drops in another bin and keeps the filter and vac bin clean.
 
Depends how much you use it really, I've also gone back to bags so if anything does get past the separator I can just change the bag rather than faff about cleaning the filter.

One thing to be aware of is that you will need a sturdy bucket / container as if the hose or nozzle gets blocked the suction will cause a bucket to fold in on itself and when it pops back out it can be a bit messy :o

I use a henry hoover on low power for this reason. Also a bigger container will let the dust settle so you it's less likely to come through after the separator.

Very simple idea but it is extremely effective.
 
For £15 I'd just buy the unit. Unless you have a love of building things. I've seen a few youtuber videos of the build process and it is interesting, but only if you've got a workshop and the relevant tools it's not worth the effort.
 
@DXP55

I recall you posting about building a dust collector but am struggling to find the post, only this thread. Have you got any details of what you made and any thoughts/improvements you'd have made having used it?

As per my previous post in this thread, i've been using the Aldi vac for the last few weeks and as you lot mentioned it gets clogged up pretty quick and loses a lot of suction, resulting in sawdust ended up all over the place.
 
Marv

I did make one and it does work - It surprised me how well it worked - Ideally you need to mount Vac and cyclone on a base with castors on as they are unstable - well the cyclone is.

In the end I did use the container for lawn feed - probably 5 ltr - I marked the size of the lid on ply then cut two circles -stuck one on top and one underneath the lid to give it strength and also circle for inside base of the tub- then it was case of drilling hole on top of lid for the cyclone (got it from ebay for £10 ) then just finding plastic pipes the right size for main vac and cyclone inlet and outlet - I did take pictures but can't find them at moment (Not that organised with folders) but if you want I can take one tomorrow - Cars in garage.

If doing it again I would get a bigger container in much thicker plastic - buy some hose of right size etc - reason it's like it is is cost and not being sure it would work but believe me it does work - I can suck up the dust from chop saw and there is none in the vac - Disadvantage is having to put it all together to use it - not as easy as just getting vac out and with mine I only have a small steel one (like Henry) from Screwfix years ago with limited power - The one you have is twice as big as mine which must make a difference.

Found the picture

413993599.jpg
 
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Brilliant, thanks for the feedback.

I found mine was mainly clogged up with fairly fine sawdust from about 4 hours using a belt sander. Not that i do that much sanding often but it has definately made the vac less useful and i'm lazy and don't want to constantly have to clean it all up!

I've got quite a few empty 10L paint tubs, i might use one of those to start with and then do as you have and upgrade it if it turns out to be useful.
 
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