advice needed for n00b!

[socrates]

Hey guys, I'm the new kid around here so first off a big hello to you all and cheers for sharing all your designs!


I'm chasing some information that may help me design my intended seperator a bit better. At present I have a 1HP DC (pssibly looking to upgrage to a 2.5HP unit with a bigger impeller in the future). I know that this isn't the most powerful of units on the market, but it is what my current budget and space constraints allow for. Having a bit of a play around in the shed last night, I made a rough attempt at a cyclone by cutting some holes in a 20L fetta cheese bucket and duct taping some 100mm piping in place. Although it leaked like a sieve, it still pulled a huge ammount into the bucket as opposed to the DC itself.

What I need to know is if there is a magic number so to speak in terms of the diameter of the seperator vs inlet/outlet piping size? ie will it be any more or less effiecnt pending its size? I have a lot of offcuts in my shop at present that are 450mm (or 15") square, so a seperator of that diameter is looking mighty tempting!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, cheers.

[phil (admin)]

The tighter the radius, the better the separation.  But, the higher the resistance, as well (so a great decrease in CFM for a smaller DC).

[socrates]

Cheers Phil.

I put a baffle inside the DC this morning, so I will see how that works to start with.