Barrel Size Question

[jswingchun]

I have a question regarding the size of the catch barrel. I have a 15 gallon plastic drum that held car wax from one of those big car wash spray booth things. It's pretty sturdy. It is 14" wide x 28" tall. I was thinking of building a system similar to the one built by Robert W and posted on the forum. It's the one with the portable DC mounted on the top. I was thinking of using the cheap portable DC from Harbor Freight. With only a 14" diameter to work with, am I going to be okay connecting the two 4" connections I am going to need in the top? Do you think there will be enough space between the in and out connections?

[phil (admin)]

If you left some distance between the DC and the top of the unit, and connected the two by a host or pipe, then it could probably work.  I built something similar and just mounted the DC to the wall and connected to the top via about 2-feet of hose.

[jswingchun]

Thanks for the reply. I was mostly worried that the two inlet and outlet will be too close together on the baffle and the connection leading to the DC would suck up debris before it separated. There would only be about an inch between the inlet to the baffle and the outlet to the DC. I guess if I keep the outlet to the DC short so it doesn't come too close to the baffle I should be okay.

[bennybmn]

Or you could build a whole top unit cylinder kinda thing, like the metal one someone else built, so you have a side inlet.

[jswingchun]

Or you could build a whole top unit cylinder kinda thing, like the metal one someone else built, so you have a side inlet.

That's a good idea too. I used to have two of those barrels, wish I still did. I will look around and see if I can get another one.

[bennybmn]

Side entry also means less corners and hoses that can cut down on efficiency.

[jswingchun]

After all that I think I am just going to get the 2 HP HF collector and do the internal baffle. There is a coupon in this magazine I got to get it for $139. That's pretty cheap. It's a bit big, but for that price I will make room.

[bennybmn]

That's a great deal. I know of guys who've gotten it at that price simply for the parts to make a cyclone!

[jswingchun]

I bought my DC and built and installed my baffle yesterday. Haven't really had a chance to test it yet other than on the tiny amount of sawdust I made when I built the baffle. Might get to put it through it's paces this weekend, I hope. It was really easy to build and do the internal install. I didn't really take any pictures because mine is pretty much the same as others already posted. I will post results when I make enough sawdust to know how it ran.