Re-Purposed Dyson Cyclone Dust Separator

[Tarhead]

I hate to cross post but this just too cool to ignore.
All of you guys with plans to make a Thein separator may want to keep an eye out for the yellow Dyson vacs on the curb.
http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-jigs-tool-enhancements/cyclone/?topicseen

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[farmerbw]

That was pretty cool. :thumbs_up

Brian.

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

That setup, like shopvacs with mini cyclones should work well to extend the time between filter cleaning, etc.. Like all shopvacs it operates at high static pressure suction so should be good with with ROS, routers, and other small power tools with small ports. Unfortunately it won't work well collecting dust from large tools that require a lot of CFM and demonstrated when he must hold the nozzle really close to the pile of dust to pick it up.

 

[DIYGUY]

I don't know - it sure seems like a lot of work for not a whole lot of reward when compared to my present shop vacuum setup. I simply followed the lead from someone here that suggested putting old panty hose over the pleated filter in my shop vac. It works so well I regret not having done it years ago. And the neat thing about it (for my purposes anyway) is that it is a heck of a lot easier to roll out and later on empty the shop vac than to set up a combo vac and cyclone unit.

Alan's observation about not having the CFM for bigger tools is spot on. I think it could work well with hand-held power tools provided there is a pickup at the sawdust creation point. That said, I bought a small cyclone over a year ago to put ahead of my vac inlet in a moment of madness and have never used it as I thought I would because of its limitations.

All in all, still a bit of ingenuity to be admired ...

 

[Tarhead]

Mark,
The problem this separator fixes with that particular shop vac is that it uses disposable bags which are pricey. It also captures a fair amount of the fine dust which will escape most non-HEPA filtered shop vacs.

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

I think the biggest takeaways from this are (1) while it may be a bit of a Rube Goldberg and inconvenient to use, it will help extend the life of your filter by removing the majority of chips and most dust, but more importantly, (2) if you dumpster dive or scan the curb on trash day and are lucky enough to find a Dyson, it can be cannibalized to provide you with a free cyclone for your shopvac.

 

[Gotcha6]

Good video,:thumbs_up:thumbs_up but I couldn't read the scales before & after, or didn't realize what they were at the first. The fact that it didn't appear he got all the dust off the floor may skew the results somewhat. Also, it doesn't account for any residual dust that may have stuck to the inside of the box. IF I ever get a Festool vac, I'd probably hafta do something like that to protect the pricey thing. That vac looks very similar to the PC Sander Vac we use @ work. It may be worth making one for that unit as well.
I agree that is is somewhat bulky, but it does appear to capture a lot of dust before it gets to a pricey filter bag, and would probably pay for itself quickly.

Improvements:
1. Make the top come off & on with wing nuts or latches.
2. Gasket the top.
3. Make the box circular too (Sonotube, drywall mud/paint bucket(s)?).
4. Many other manufacturers use that same setup for so-called bagless vacs. Look for them too. They may also include a HEPA filter assembly on the unit to further clean the air before it is discharged.

Wish I'd seen it a few months ago. I threw one away similar to that because the motor bearings were worn out & the impellers clogged. :BangHead::BangHead:

 

[Tarhead]

If you haven't clicked on this link to the discussion by the originator of this adaptation you really should:
http://festoolownersgroup.com/festoo...one/?topicseen
He describes the amount of dust lost, adding knobs, etc.

A few design criteria for this version were foremost for him:
1. Needed to fit on top of his Festool Vac and use that vac as the power. Some have used a Systainer box to make a Thein seperator successfully. Remember...these are used for commercial mobile, applications.
2. Needed to reduce his consumption of expensive vac bags and reduce the time required to stop and change the bags.
3. Needed to fit the salvaged Dyson cyclone.

If you don't have these design criteria you would probably need to design a different version.