# Yet another DIY dust separator cyclone



## Z48LT1 (Mar 16, 2012)

*Overview*

Here's a picture of my cyclone dust separator shop vac:










I used three different sizes of chlorine buckets from the pool supply store (we bought them full…), an ancient Craftsman shopvac, some scrap pvc tubing, a couple bought pvc fittings, a couple types of epoxy glue, an HF furniture moving dolly for the casters, a section of a pool vac hose which we've never used, and some plywood scraps.

I studied all the cyclone designs I could find, many here on LJ, many on youtube, and of course the commercial choices on Amazon.com.

I was surprised at the variety of configurations. Many designs are narrow and tall, with sloping sides (Oneida Dust Deputy), while others are wide and relatively short, with parallel sides (Thien separator). I decided a common plastic bucket might work…


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## NormG (Mar 5, 2010)

Z48LT1 said:


> *Overview*
> 
> Here's a picture of my cyclone dust separator shop vac:
> 
> ...


Hey if it works, that is the real test. Really nifty idea of the use of the materials


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## Z48LT1 (Mar 16, 2012)

Z48LT1 said:


> *Overview*
> 
> Here's a picture of my cyclone dust separator shop vac:
> 
> ...


Thanks, Norman. I've added several more blog entries with details.


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## Z48LT1 (Mar 16, 2012)

*Connectivity*

I won't go into the construction details; this isn't rocket surgery. Also, my build quality leaves much to be desired. As my old friend Charlie Osborn once said when he was working on my car with me, "it's good enough for who it's for."

Heres a shot of the 'shop vac' connection to the cyclone itself.










The hose connecting the two components is one end of a pool vacuum hose that we have never used (we've got an automatic pool vac that keeps up nicely, thank you). It was a happy accident that the coupler end of the hose made a nice friction fit with a hunk of 2" PVC tubing (with swedged end to fit another section of 2" tubing without a coupler). The other happy accident in this picture is that the OD of the vac hose made a nice friction fit with the ID of a 1-1/2" PVC coupler.

The string is to constrain the hose to a tighter turn radius than it wants to assume.

One of the benefits of making one of these things yourself is that you can select components that fit whatever hoses you are going to be using; some of the youtube videos include complaints about readymade cyclones not fitting the hose fittings on hand.


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## Z48LT1 (Mar 16, 2012)

*Cyclone lid*

The three bucket lids I used were mismatched to the buckets I had, but this led me to slice off the threaded part of the lids and rely on friction, gravity, and suction to maintain the structural integrity. It turns out this is quite sufficient and makes emptying both dust bins easier. I'll probably add some bungee cords to hold things together when I get around to it.










The 1-1/2" PVC coupler is epoxied to the bucket lid. I haven't added any tubing below the lid although I notice that most dust extractors have some extension into the cyclone. Anyone know if there's a good reason for this?


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## Z48LT1 (Mar 16, 2012)

*The Cycone! (ta da!)*

Okay, this isn't all that beautiful but it seems to work. I roughly sliced off the end of a piece of 1-1/2" PVC I had lying around, and roughly cut a hole in the side of the bucket. After epoxying the two together, I faired the end of the tubing inside the bucket to match the bucket side.










Another happy accident was that the ID of the 1-1/2" PVC made a nice friction fit to the OD of the original shop vac hose.

The hole pattern at the bottom of the cyclone bucket is just a goof. I'm not even sure the bottom of the bucket needs to be there but I notice that Thien separators have more or less of a bottom so I figured, why not?


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## Z48LT1 (Mar 16, 2012)

*Cyclone-to-dust bin connection*

Cut out the inside of a bucket lid, slip the cyclone into it, glue the two together with some leftover caulk. Bob's my uncle.


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## 1KenKelly (Jun 6, 2014)

Z48LT1 said:


> *Cyclone-to-dust bin connection*
> 
> Cut out the inside of a bucket lid, slip the cyclone into it, glue the two together with some leftover caulk. Bob's my uncle.


Thanks Gary, I'm trying to decided which route to take. This seems to be the simplest. How is it working for you?


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## Z48LT1 (Mar 16, 2012)

*The sacrificial ancient shop vac*

I decided to liberate the guts of the original Craftsman shop vac and replace the body with another chlorine bucket to make the entire package more compact. After all, the whole point of this exercise is so the main shop vac body sees very little debris. Eh?










I cut out a bucket lid and sliced the top of the original shop vac to match and caulked them together. Easy peasy.

I guess a few words about the vac hose connection to the body of the shop vac might be good. Cut a hole in the bucket, epoxy a 2" PVC elbow, connect a scrap of 2" PVC (with swedged end) from the hoard. Done.


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## htl (Mar 24, 2015)

Z48LT1 said:


> *The sacrificial ancient shop vac*
> 
> I decided to liberate the guts of the original Craftsman shop vac and replace the body with another chlorine bucket to make the entire package more compact. After all, the whole point of this exercise is so the main shop vac body sees very little debris. Eh?
> 
> ...


I know this is an old post,
and a nice build but,
How well does it work???
Thanks Gary


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## Z48LT1 (Mar 16, 2012)

*And finally, the woodworking part of the project*

You'll forgive me for not making a Sketchup of this part. Scraps from the hoard plus casters from an HF furniture dolly. Gives the project a theoretical 1000# capacity - for when I start machining tungsten and depleted uranium, I guess. The HF dolly was only $8 with coupon and I have no clue where I might get a serviceable caster for $2/ea.

I would like to point out, in defense of my woodworking practices, that I did break most of the edges. It's the right thing to do.


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