hi there.
i started a new thread so that all the build would be seperate from my usuall ramblings and odd ball ideas.
my plan is to build 2 seperaters that are the same in every way exept one is clockwise and the other is anti clock wise. this is to solve a layout issue in the work shop so there will be a seperate motor and seperater for the two lines
i started this week and have most of the basic part done,
(//)
these are the barrels that i plan to use for the seperater . they are all the same diameter and have good smooth rims . i can choose which ever one i want at this stage. i will have the others for back ups and storing the dust untill i can get rid of it. nothing worse than having to emty the drum half way through a job. planing boards can generate a lot of shavings so you wouldnt feel filling the barrel
the design i desided to go for was made up from layers of mdf. i chose this for a number of reasons
1 . i have plenty of offcuts so that would keep the cost down
2. easily worked
3. no fidly angles or groves to work with,
4 i coan make changes to the shape easily after wards unlike a bend piece of ply design.
i plan to put a layer of plex on the top so that i can see what is going on. it isnt as nice a s a clear side wall but you co get a view in. i did this on my other seperater (4" version) and it worked good enough. there is a static issue where the dust sticks to the plastic but i think that would happen anyway.
i made a template up to the shape of the layer and sanded it to the line . each layer was then marked of this template
(//)
marking out the slot
i glued up each laer on top of the last with wood glue and scres to hold it in place.
i ran a bearing guided cutter around each layer as i built it up so that they would all be the same.
it worked a treat.
(//)
so far i have only started on seperater, i want to finsh this one first and make sure it works properly before i start the second. also i want to do the dc system for the first seperater so that i can be testing it while building the second.
i then sanded the inside on my drill press to smooth out any rough areas.
no pic as they are too blurry but the set up is like this but thicker
(//)
this is a picture of the rectangular inlet i got made. it has the same area ar a 6" circle plus 10 %. it is not that well made but i will sealit up as best i can. if i was back again i would have made it up myself. there a few good tutorials out there (one on here aswell ) on making round to rectangular transitions.
(//)
a mock up picture of it in place
i cut the slot in the baffel with a router and tramel .. i made the slot on the bottom for the top of the barrel a bit wider so that it has a bit of room to find its best postion and allow the barrel to be out of round a bit. i will put some draught strip in th egroove or else a bit of silicon.
i chamfered the inside of the slot
(//)
i sanded the slot to remove more of that area so that there was only a very thin edge around the slot. i used my festool ro90 to sand it with 40 grit. worked a treat
(//)
i chamfered the end of the slot with my dremel to reduce the chances of a build up of dust
(//)
(//)
thickness left
this is the top . i plan on using a sheet of plastic inside this so that i can see what is going on inside. this top mdf will hopefully help support the plastic and take the weight of the outlet port. it will also thicken up the area where the outlet will come throught the plexi making it easier to seal and secure.
(//)
i jigsawed out the cutouts and sanded on the drill press .
i will round over the etop edge
today i varnished the inside of the seperater. i had a half tin of eggshell translac that i accidentally bought and used on a job (later sanded off ) instead of gloss. i diluted it roughly 50% and gave it 4-5 coats. tomorrow i will sand it and recoat.
hopefully this will seal the porus mdf and make the inside smooth which should reduce (albe it by a small amount) the losses of the system.
i havent sanded the outside yet as i will do that when the top is on and flush they whole lot up in one go.
then seal that as well. im not sure what colour to paint it yet . any ideas.
what do you think of the progress made so far
does it look alright or are there any obvious issues. now is the time to fix it,
i am planing to do a bit more to it in the next few days
bit of an update
i have this set up and runnings great.
il post some pics tommorow.
i didnt build a bell fitting but wish i had gotten around to it
going to upgrade to an 8" version next
a few finished (at least how far im going to take it) pics
(//)
(//)
How many router bits did you go through?
With the recent discussions about possible benefits from a "two story" top hat, why didn't you give that a try?
I hope you've thought through the lifting of that heavy top hat, and also the emptying of those drums. I just overfilled my Brute plastic drum and had to empty it. That was a chore for an old guy, and unfortunately I have to transfer it to a 33 gal. garbage bag.
i used one cheap (out of a set) flush trim bit its still going strong
i had it built before the discusions on two story seperaters started. everything is glued together so it would be a pain to add more in the middle
its not that heavy.
the grean thing in the pic is a filing cabinet, that is normally not there.
i wheel up a second drum . lift the seperater up and pull out the full can half way. all the weight is still on the full can. then i slide in hte empty one and out the full one.
on the 200mm one im going to build im going to make the outside a circle too so that the weight will be kept to a minimum. i made the transition and its 10"x 6"
the two story seperater will be 20 " high. it could get heavy.