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Dust Seperator

R

Richard Wilabee

Joined
Sep 16, 2014
Messages
97
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1
Location
Palm Springs Area
I'm making a dust separator and I have a cardboard drum with a very thin metal lid probably about 1/32" thick. I'm trying to figure out the best way to cut two 4" holes for the connections.

Rich
 
Richard Wilabee said:
I'm making a dust separator and I have a cardboard drum with a very thin metal lid probably about 1/32" thick. I'm trying to figure out the best way to cut two 4" holes for the connections.

Rich
Click to expand...

The best way depends on what you have in terms of tooling and machines. The best way is a 4" punch and die, next best plazma cutter with a circle burning attachment, next best is a 4" hole saw, next best is a nibbler machine or air powered nibbler, next best is a smaller hole saw (1.5" and up) to start the hole and a siral cut with aviation snips to a predrawn 4" dia line, next best is a series of smaller holes one next to the other in circular pattern and finish the opening with snips files etc. I have all of the above except a 4" punch and die and would use the plazma cutter. If you have none of the above, an air nibbler will probably be the best option. With aviation snips, it is best to cut a spiral from the center outward with the cut that is on the line cutting a narrow piece of about a 1/4" wide. By making the final cut with only a narrow piece of scrap, there will be less distortion of the lid and less burring of the edge of the opening.
 
I got the holes cut. I used on of those hole cutters that attaches to your drill and has an arm that comes out of the side and then a cutter coming down from the arm. The arm is adjustable for size. Clamped the lid to a piece of wood and it worked great.

Rich
 
Richard Wilabee said:
I got the holes cut. I used on of those hole cutters that attaches to your drill and has an arm that comes out of the side and then a cutter coming down from the arm. The arm is adjustable for size. Clamped the lid to a piece of wood and it worked great.

Rich
Click to expand...

It's called a "fly cutter" although it's really supposed to be using in a drill press. Not what I'd call a 'freehand' tool as they can catch and jam with very unpleasant results. Glad it worked out for you.
 
Richard Wilabee said:
I got the holes cut. I used on of those hole cutters that attaches to your drill and has an arm that comes out of the side and then a cutter coming down from the arm. The arm is adjustable for size. Clamped the lid to a piece of wood and it worked great.

Rich
Click to expand...

Glad you got the holes cut.

I'd forgotten about a fly cutter. Haven't seen one of those used for sheet metal in years. As Mark said, using them in a drill press is best. A 'catch' with a hand held drill can do serious injury.
 
The sheet metal sounds like it is a bit thin to me. The problem would be that the suction from your DC will collapse it.

robo hippy
 
Richard Wilabee said:
I got the holes cut. I used on of those hole cutters that attaches to your drill and has an arm that comes out of the side and then a cutter coming down from the arm. The arm is adjustable for size. Clamped the lid to a piece of wood and it worked great.

Rich
Click to expand...

Oh my goodness! I'm glad to see that you were able to cut the holes with the fly cutter, but it gives me chills to think that you did it with a hand drill. FWIW, I have seen heavy duty molded plastic lids for this purpose at both Rocklers abs Woodcraft. I don't recall the price. I'm sure that you already know this, but for the benefit of others, they go between the intake scoop and the turbine. Don't install them on the output side of the turbine.
 
John, that s how I cut mine. Drilled a hole near the perimeter and finished the cut with a metal blade in a jig saw... Very quick.
 
Richard , if you go to my PictureTrail linked below, you can see a fibreboard drum setup I did a dozen years ago and it is still going strong. I added a 1/2" plywood disk to the underside of the lid to strengthen it. Just fasten from the underside with sheet metal screws. I think seven years ago, I modified it to Phil Thein design and it has worked way beyond my expectations. Click on Dust collecting series of pictures. Google on his name and you can find more information about his separator design. We had a great discussion on it at Canadianwoodworking.com about that time. I get almost zero dust I'm my lower collection bag. At the time I increased the outlet size to a 6" duct using a HVAC reducer and with 4" intake, that also reduced anything getting pulled out of the collector drum. I have my bandsaw and table saw hooked to it as well as collecting sanding dust. I empty the drum about every two to three years. If I use my planer, which is not frequently, I bypass the drum.
 
Mike thank you for the link it looks like he has really got it sorted I may try one of those to stop the filter blocking in the vac
 
I can't remember if I posted this one before or not, but some comments on dust collection:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lvwCKfL7Uo

A thein baffle is different from a cyclone because with the baffle, everything goes through the impeller/fan blades first, then is separated by the baffle. With the cyclone, every thing goes through the cyclone first, then only the dust goes through the impeller blades.

robo hippy
 
Thein baffels are typically separate units placed before the intake of the dust collector, so the debris doesn't get to the impeller.
 
robo hippy said:
I can't remember if I posted this one before or not, but some comments on dust collection:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lvwCKfL7Uo

A thein baffle is different from a cyclone because with the baffle, everything goes through the impeller/fan blades first, then is separated by the baffle. With the cyclone, every thing goes through the cyclone first, then only the dust goes through the impeller blades.

robo hippy
Click to expand...

Just as with the the barrel without a baffle, its purpose is to catch the big stuff so that it doesn't need to go through the impeller -- as shown on the web site, the Thein baffle is much more efficient and also doesn't suffer from scavenging as the unbaffled barrels do.
 
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