Harbor Freight Dust Collector upgrades

[Ex-Tex]

I just now ordered my Rikon impeller for my HF collector. Today is Feb. 21 2018.
Everyone will be thrilled to know, this item is on back order and is not expected to arrive at Rikon until June of 2018 (this year)!!
At least the Wynn filter arrived today.
Am now in the Wait mode. lol

[RobHannon]

What happened to Retired3 and 4?

[Ex-Tex]

retired 3 & 4 ?
Still waiting in the wings, I guess !
PS
More info on the Harbor Freight upgrade to the Rikon impeller.
The 9.75 inch HF impeller weight 4.5 pounds, while the Rikon 12 inch impeller weighs 8 pounds. This according to the nice Tech people at Rikon. Quite a difference!

[RobHannon]

There is a regular poster and incredibly thorough resource on here named retired2.

[retired2]

I am very happy when people choose to copy my separator build, but infringing on my moniker - well, that's another story! 😃

[Ex-Tex]

Oops !
Sorry about any infringement.
I signed on without reading all of the posts.
Since I have retired twice, it seemed like a reasonable selection.
No infringement meant.
Will  look for a  better name soon.
Have a blessed day!!

[Ex-Tex]

Well, we can say goodbye to retired5 at this time, in favor of Ex-Tex.
Once more, my apologies for any perceived infringement of monikers.
Lord help me if there is another Ex-Tex on board !!

[retired2]

Oops !
Sorry about any infringement.
I signed on without reading all of the posts.
Since I have retired twice, it seemed like a reasonable selection.
No infringement meant.
Will  look for a  better name soon.
Have a blessed day!!

Retiring twice is how I got my name.  I flunked out the first time, but I'm passing with flying colors this time!

[Ex-Tex]

My shops equipped with the 5 Hp ClearVue cyclone and uses 6 inch main pipes which run to each  tool except my Jet mid lathe which is in a far corner of the shop where I failed to run the  pipes.
Being more experimental than intelligent, I elected to go with the HP unit which will only service the lathe.
The ClearVue uses a 55 gallon plastic barrel to catch the dust, etc.
This barrel has no bottom. To use it, just turn it upside down and slip a large plastic can liner down over the barrel and place a rubber band or a bungee cord around the liner/barrel to hold the liner up. The turn it barrel back up-right and put it in use. When ready to empty it, just disconnect the inlet hose and remove the outside retainer (rubber band) and lift the barrel up and out of the filled bag. Tie off the filled bag and put on a new liner. No dust handling all !
Now for the big question? The CV collection bag seems (?) to be somewhat pressured, while the collection of the HF would seem to operate under vacuum? Could the CV method of a bottom-less barrel with a liner work with the HF system? Sorry about being so verbose.

[RobHannon]

Got a picture? The Clearvue setups I have seen appear to have a solid drum that sits on the floor. It sounds convienent, but I don't understand what is preventing an empty bag from sucking into the chamber.

[retired2]

Without photos I can only assume your HF setup is fairly conventional, i.e. a top hat separator sitting on a collection barrel.  I know some folks have tried putting a plastic bag inside the barrel. The bag will get pulled up into the separator slot unless a cage or rigid inner liner is used to prevent it.

I believe what you are describing is a bag over the outside of the barrel which has no bottom.  That should work because the barrel becomes the liner or cage that prevents the bag from being sucked up into the separator.  You will probably need to put a band around the bag to keep it from getting pulled into the barrel.  A heavy duty bag should be strong enough that the bottom will not implode.  HOWEVER, and it is a big HOWEVER, if you get any kind of line plug, or you close all the blast gates while the system is still running, all bets are off.  I doubt the plastic bag that forms the bottom of your waste drum will hold up to that kind of vacuum.  If there is a lot of waste sitting on it, then maybe, but if it is an empty drum my guess is the bag will implode.