Cyclone dust cart

Overview of dust extraction

At the moment my dust extraction consists of a fairly powerful "bucket" style collection bin and motor. However the bin only holds approximately 20 litres of dust/chippings and the 3 stage filtration system seems to need cleaning every few empties of the bin. This is now not practical and require a larger collection bin and a way of minimising the cleaning of the filtration system      ( it's not pleasant on a windy day?)

As in my last post... Space is at a premium ! however I have a plan ?

The Cyclone Dust Cart

A cyclone dust cart you say ? what is that ?

Basically it's a cyclone unit which spins the dust and chipping in a chamber, then under the effect of gravity they drop to the bottom of the cyclone and through a hole into a larger collection bin. But it also stops the majority of finer particles from reaching the filtration system thus making cleaning less often.
If I build this vertically it will save on space, and if on castor's will make it easier for projects throughout the workshop and outside. Also with the addition of a piped extraction system running down the workshop it does make for a more powerful collection unit.

As with the previous cart I shall make this out of OSB due to the fantastic price I'm getting at the moment, however my timber merchant has warned me it may rise in price as it's high in demand this time of the year and stocks are getting low... it's the "Supply and demand" scenario.

On with the build...

Going to make the motor and bin assembly sit in a recess for stability, so the following photos show the process, along with adding the castor's...

 You maybe thinking that this is not central ? which is correct, but I want storage for some accessories and will be build a "rack"  for these to sit in.

So using 2 sheets for the base; the bin can sit in a recess.

Fitting the castor's...

Now for the pocket holes...

So now made 4 "up stands" 2 are just 1 plank to allow access to the motor and filtration bin, and the 2 back ones are "L" shaped. Plus a couple of side braces for stability.

Added the shelf for the NEW collection bin, this has a 50 litre capacity, 2.5 times more that the old collection bin.

The new collection bin has to have a fairly air tight seal with the cyclone unit, I'm using foam pipe insulation as a seal, after a couple of tries found the 22mm pipe size was better than the 15mm, however it depends on the top of the bin ?

The cyclone chamber will sit on the top hinged part of the cart. I will be adding some "toggle clamps" to this to add compression to the foam top of the bin, so just sizing up the positions of the hinges.

 The cyclone chamber requires a bit more than the 18mm thickness to attach too, so using the leftover circle for extra thickness, however this is a little too large, so cutting it down a little.

  Finding the centre and cutting a smaller circle so the top part can fit inside the new collection bin.

Fitted the extra circle to the underside of the top, fitted the hinges, I did fit these to the back of the cart approx 4mm lower than needed. The reason is that with the toggle clamps at the front it will add sufficient compression force to the top of the bin for a good seal between the foam and the hinged top.
2 toggle clamps fitted and adjusted... feels like a good seal !

Had to add an extra brace to the front of the cart, just above the toggle clamps, found that the clamps were forcing the side upright apart. Used pocket hole screws for this.

Used a 64mm hole saw to cut the top for the cyclone chamber, then 6 screws around the base to secure it to the top... Nearly there ... time for a test !

 OK so the test was successful ? but we had a little and surprising issue ?

We emptied dust and shavings on the floor, added the hoses to the system, switched on, and started to suck up all the dust and shavings... Success !!  UNTIL we accidentally got the hose stuck on the floor; with the increased vacuum, the new plastic bin "IMPLODED" ! the plastic bin was not strong enough to withstand the force of the vacuum (if that's the correct description ?)

Both Alex and me scratched our heads for a couple of minutes thinking how we could re enforce the plastic bin, it was staring us in the face... the bit of OSB we had cut from the circle, (see earlier photo) the ring fitted perfectly! tested again and worked a treat. However I may have to secure it better than just "wedging" it in place, but it works for now.

We checked the old bin to see if any debris had made it through... well just a little ? hopefully now it will keep the filters cleaner for longer.

Added a little video of the cyclone working...

Summary of the Cyclone Dust Cart...

1 Sheet 1220mm x 2440mm x 18mm OSB £13.95 (yes gone up in price !)
Pocket hole screws £2.49
4 x 75mm rubber wheel  castor's £5.99
1 x cyclone chamber £10.50
2 x Toggle clamps (had to buy a 4 pack) £5.19
2 x hinges £1.00
2 x lm lengths pipe insulation £1.98
1 x 50 litre clear bin £9.99
1 x secondhand workshop dust extraction unit (ebay marketplace) £20

Total cost £71.09


Time taken 5 hours

Still not finished, will continue later this week, got to add on some type of accessory rack to the rear and tidy up the hoses, Sun just starting to set and the temperature is dropping fast. Time to get the tools away.

Workshop sort out to find more space !

Need more space...

After a move a few years ago my workshop has struggled for space, I have had to down size from 2 separate workshops, one clean room and one working room, both the size of a single garage to a single room, which is about 2/3 the size of a single garage ? Plus I have acquired even more tools and machinery since the move, and now it's impossible to work safely in fact it's a bit of a squeeze even to get past the door !

So time for a proper sort out and also rearrange the workshop so that it's safer to work in but also to accommodate all machinery and tools.

Every thing at the moment is static and in it's own space, which with 3 lathes, Workbench, drill press, band saw, compressor, dust extractor, power tools, and boxes on a racking system is not very practical, so the thinking is to put a few items on trolleys with castor's so they can be easily moved around the workshop, and if necessary wheeled outside for larger projects without too much effort. They can also be stored at the far end of the workshop grouped together thus saving space.

The Band saw and drill press live on the workbench at the moment, along with a sharpening station for my wood turning tools all of which renders the workbench useless as it is.

1st plans

The plan is to make a cart with castor's to hold the band saw and the drill press, then put castor's on the workbench so this then becomes mobile thus freeing up space on the workbench. Then I can build an assembly table, build a cyclone dust cart again on castor's, construct a folding work table against one of the walls with an option for fitting castor's, relocate lathes, and compressor. Fit a proper dust extraction system with blast gates at points around the workshop, add more power points around the workshop, install better lighting, and then finally find a place for all tools in an order and labelled. PHEW !

Assembly Table

I have struggled with clamping items in my workshop, not many places to position clamp heads to keep project secure while drilling/sanding etc so now that I have moved items out of the way of the workbench I shall begin with the build of an assembly table, this should be handy when building other projects, this will sit on the workbench and also act as a higher platform, saving my back from that "slightly bent" position.
Wanted a good quality but practical work surface, so opted for 18mm birch plywood, a bit on the expensive side but I think worth it. My local timber merchant was good enough to cut it to the sizes I required for free as I purchase a full 1220mm x 2440mm sheet.

First I did a test drill of holes, to see which would the the best size for bench dogs and clamps...

 

found that a 20mm hole suited the bench dogs the best, and with a little modification the "F" clamps would fit also.

Next I marked out a grid for the holes on a board of plywood at 100mm centres...

Then drilled all the holes at 20mm...

Onto the sides, these need to have access to the underside of the table, they will be connected to the top with pocket hole screws as to not have any screws showing. A template out of scrap MDF was made to help cutting access holes, and after a rough cutout a template cutter was used in the router to finish off the access holes...

 With all the cutting and pocket holes drilled, it's time to assemble... 1st the sides with pocket hole screws then the bottom with standard carcass screws.

Alex turns up just in time to help turn it over and it's complete.

Not photographed but just before we started this assembly table we added some locking castor's to the underside of the workbench, this means we can now move it to the centre of the workshop for full access to all sides, not just up against the wall.


Band saw/Drill press cart

Thinking which material to build the cart out of I headed down to my local timber merchant to see what was available for my budget, first thoughts was 2"x 4" timber and some plywood or even just plywood ? However when I talked to the merchant he gave me another idea ? why not use OSB instead ? A lot cheaper and he would cut it to size for free. Well after a few minutes of scribbling a design down on paper we managed to get all the timber for this project out of a single 18mm, 1220mm x 2440mm sheet of OSB for just £11.95.

The "rough" drawn plans show how I managed to get all the pieces from the single sheet, also some extras for further projects which just happened to be near the sizes I needed.


Back home with all the cut sections... just cutting a hole in one of the sides as I am now going to put my compressor in the bottom of the cart and will need easy access to the quick release air outputs.
Then drilling all the pocket holes... the assembly tables is coming in handy already !

As you can see from these photos the workshop is not very wide !

 We had to move outside to complete to cart and to put on the castor's...

Cart nearly finished for now, going to add a handle to aid manoeuvrability, it is about 100mm to high for my comfort, but if I was to lower the top part then the compressor would not fit under. Looks like a "trade off" between comfort and workshop space ? or a modification to the cart at a later date ? possibly splitting the top into 2 different heights as the compressor motor slopes away as you can see in the photo ? We'll see how it goes over the next few months, but at the moment the band saw and drill press will be bolted down for safety.

Summary of these builds...

Assembly table...

1 Sheet 1220mm x 2440mm 18mm thick birch plywood £ 51
Pocket hole screws £ 2.49
Time taken 5 hours

Band saw cart...

1 Sheet 1220mm x 2440mm 18mm thick OSB £11.95
Pocket hole screws £2.49
4 x 75mm rubber wheel castor's (2 x normal, 2 x locking) £5.99
8 x 70mm M8 bolts, washers and nuts £1.99 (pack of 10 in total)
Time taken 4 hours

Workbench castor's...

4 x 100mm castor's (2 x normal, 2 x locking) £7.99
Time taken 1 hour


More to follow in next post....