PDQ wrote:
"Robatoy" wrote in message
...
On Dec 22, 11:10 pm, "PDQ" wrote:
"J. Clarke" wrote in
...
PDQ wrote:
"Robatoy" wrote in message
...
The pleated-paper canister filter on my 2HP DC is just
overwhelmed. Better than the old bag. A bag is good for 1
hour.... I really need to do something.
I figure that if I were to upgrade to a double canister 3-4 HP
set-up, all it would do would buy a little time between dumping.

So, I'm told that a cyclone is the way to go. What do we know
about those things?

r

1. Does not matter what version of dust collection you implement.
The only way to lengthen the time between dumpings is to either
stop collecting or get a bigger container.

The difference is that with a cyclone you just empty a container,
you don't have to beat dust off of the clogged filters, which if I
understand correctly was the issue.

With a properly designed cyclone very, very little gets to the
filters.

Yep. Still say time between dumps is a function of collector size.
I
have a friend who has a 40 foot tall collector painted to look like
a beer can. He does not empty it very often but, when he does, we
have a really big bonfire.

As to fines, the cyclone culls out almost all the big lumps (think
jointer or planer) but does not do as good a job with the fine
stuff
as a lot of that still gets to the filters.

My understanding, is that the whole point of a cyclone is to
virtually
eliminate ANYthing getting to the filters.
My router doesn't produce a lot of pounds of crap, but so much of it
is fluffy filter-clogging crap. I didn't mean to emphasize the total
quantity of the crap, just that a lot of it is MDF and acrylic
fluffiness. Even the flappers on my canister is rendered useless
after
a 1 hour cutting routine.

The theory of the cyclone is like a cream separator, the heavy stuff
falls to the bottom and the light stuff keeps on going (like that
rabbit). All you get is a little more fun before the dump.

It's a centrifugal separator. In this case "the light stuff" is air
molecules and "the heavy stuff" is everything else.

Probably will not make much of an impact on the MDF and acrylic. I
would suggest a hepa filter for that stuff. Not good to suck it
down
the wind pipe.

A good properly desigend cyclone has a HEPA filter with a tenth the
pore size of the ones that you use on ordinary dust collectors.

The reason I put one in in the first place was MDF. End up with a
main collector full of MDF dust, the little one under the filters
hardly sees anything.


--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)