5 gallon can seperator issues

[Phil B]

I am trying to adapt this separator design to a 5 gallon can and I am wondering if it can be optimized a little for better performance.

First, I want to qualify that by saying that even in it?s un-optimized state it works over 100% better than a similar dust deputy setup and catches well over 90% of the stuff coming in and has no discernable scrubbing action.

The problem that I am having is that I am getting a little blow by into the shop vac.  I highly suspect that there isn?t much further that can be done and that the small size of the can itself is the primary bad actor here.





http://benchmark.20m.com/images/PTv1.skp

I messed around with a few other little tweaks like adding a pipe sutb inside, adjusting the baffle plate a little, moving the inlet ramp a little, it didn't seem to make any noticable difference.

PMB
http://benchmark.20m.com

[phil (admin)]

Are you absolutely certain there are no leaks between the top and the can?  Leaks at that point will be devastating to separation rates.

And you have to make sure you have some room between the inlet and the side of the can.

Also, the smaller the hose diameter, the less air, the less separation.

With all that said, you can take a small, thin piece of flexible plastic and attach it to the side of the inlet that faces the center of the can.  Make it extend approx. 2-3" beyond the current end of the inlet.  The idea is to give the incoming debris more of a chance to enter the cyclonic motion.

Finally, use a bag in the vac.

When I started using a shop vac I decided the filters plugged too quickly.  Then I got bags, which kept the filter clean but were expensive and filled too quickly.  Then I purchased a cyclone top that didn't do an adequate job separating and always allowing scrubbing.  Then I built my own design with the baffle which worked much better.  BUT, I still normally keep bags in the vac.

Even though it (baffle) works great, there are times when I use a 1" tool port (sander, biscuit jointer, etc.) and the cyclone unit can't get enough air and separation suffers.  I could screw with bypass systems to get more air, but it isn't worth it to me.

[Phil B]

Pretty sure there are no leaks.

The pictures above show the first pass, after this I modified it by moving the inlet ramp so material could pass by as well as moving the baffle to what I think is the "original; design" position, you can see the outline of the baffle in pencil in the picture.



Based upon my not very scientific experiment the only difference I could see was that the lid assembly would retain some of the debris coming in (because it's a ramp, not a pipe).

I will try the inlet extension to see if it improves.  Again, even as is this design works exceptionally better than the dust deputy on a 5 gallon bucket

PMB http://benchmark.20m.com

[phil (admin)]

Hard to tell from the photo, but the outlet pipe does extend into the bucket by 1 to 1-1/2", right?  In the photo it looks like it might be close to flush to the bottom of the lid.

[Phil B]

In the photo it is flush.  I did another experiment with a stub that projected about 1.5" or so down, seemed to make no difference one way or another.