Bill Pentz cyclone design

Well, to be blunt, according to Pentz’ own web site data, 1HP and 4” duct is not gonna cut it.

(At a minimum he recommends 2HP, and 6” duct).

From real world experience, I think Bill’s data is typical of an engineer. Over engineered for the real world.

Take a look at Phil Thien’s separator design.

There is a particular project that you will want to look at, where a fellow made a Thien Cyclone Separator and placed a 1HP HF Red DC with 4” duct on top.

Those small DCs have always intrigued me, but the coarse filtration from them turns me off. I think a mounting donut for a Wynn 35A, and a short jumper of hose, and / or S&D pipe can connect the two…

-- Trying to follow the example of the master.

It is true that he advocates a 16inch impeller and 6inch ducts. But his spreadsheet is scalable and he describes the efficacy of fine dust removal by small units run by shop-vacs. Clea- Vue http://www.clearvuecyclones.com/ does a nice implementation of Pentz’s design and they sell a scaled down version for a shop vac and a very sweet cylcone that they have pulled for the time being because of a legal challenge around the design.

I want to build a scaled down Pentz cyclone, but for the life of me can’t figure out how to use the spread sheet to get the dimensions for a unit that would use a 1hp Harbor Freight blower and 4” pvc pipe.
Any help with this spread sheet would be much appreciated.

Bruce

I started building a cyclone based on his design and spread sheet. The problem you will face wanting to use a low HP motor is the size of the cyclone will actually increase to so as to lower the static pressure. IIRC a 5HP motor with a 16” impeller will call for a cyclone around 18 inches in diameter. I planned my for a 3HP motor with a 14” impeller and I had to build my cyclone with a 22” diameter. Of course as the diameter increases, so does the height. This is ok as long as you have the room. I think he was trying to keep the design viable for those who have low ceilings around 8 feet. The ceiling in my garage is 9.5 feet, so I was ok. I haven’t had a chance to get it hung and in operation, but I do have it built. I have to finish a project for the wife before I can finish the cyclone.

Jason

-- Jason - Palmetto, FL - Aim High!! -