Shop vac Cyclone project

[Russell S.]

So i got started on the Cyclone.  decided to go with a 6" barrel 3" suction and a 3:1 cone.  materials will be vent ducting, soldered joints and steel weld epoxy for fairings and joint seals.  first things first make a posterboard pattern and make sure every thing fits together.  total coast 7.39$   7$ for the vent pipe,  .39 cents for the poster board. i used a piece of metal i had left from the last funnel, plus i had solder and epoxy.  i used the spread sheet from here for the layout.
  http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/CyclonePlan.cfm  

here is the layout on paper.  
 
here is the finished product made of paper...  now off to the store to get some shears, mine seem to have found a new home.  
 

first the patterns are layed out on the sheet metal.  some of them i re drew some i traced from the poster board pattern.  all of them i checked with the poster board.  
 

the seems are folded out 90 degrees 3/8"  i bought these vice grips at the flee market many years ago knowing one day they would come in handy,  here is the seems getting folded up.  
 

now i use the vice grips and some clamps to hold the joint while i solder them
 

here is the inlet duct and the top barrel.  
 

 

here is the solder and the torch i am using to make up the joints, the full size torch gets it too hot.  so just the little butane one for this project.
 

[Russell S.]

Now for the air ramp..  This one has got to be pretty good so i autocaded the layout and glued it to the metal  probability would have got a better fit if i did that for everything...  
 

air ramp is layed in the barrel, its going to need some fairing!!
 

here is the top soldered to the air inlet.  and the fairing job started.  notice i am fairing where it will not effect air flow...  i think it is going to take all night to finish that part because i have to do a little at a time then let the epoxy cure.  

 
 

now for a top and a drop pipe for the suction and we will be in business,  also i am going to need to make a square to round fitting so i can hook up the vacuum,  not looking forward to that one.

[Russell S.]

next challenge,  make the square inlet duct round...  the idea is to fold an inlet duct just like your heat registers at home.  so i found this web site which has a layout for folding them.  
  http://joe.emenaker.com/DuctEvolution/index.html  

here is the paper template.
 

my son watched me do this an assured me it was going to be a paper airplane...  turned out pretty good, now can i bend metal like that....
 

Yup!! i used my bending vice grips to clamp a piece of aluminum to the piece of metal then bent along the aluminum bar.  here is the finished product, again soldered it on to the inlet and wrapped in aluminum tape.  i had a few fitting for my vacuum hose laying around so i wrapped the fitting in rubber and hose clamped it on.
 

i added the drop pipe and gorilla glued the funnel in to a plywood ring that will secure it to the top of the bucket.   here is the final bottom.  dont think the drop pipe is necessary but it adds a finished touch.
 

here she is standing up.  i need to go pick up a angle finder to make brackets.  seems my angle finder is with my fist pair of tin snips.
 

I am considering putting a big shop vac filter in a 5 gallon bucket as a secondary filter,  the rigid uses a small filter.  also going to build a frame with wheels for it so it is easier to move around the shop

[Russell S.]

In final review,  less head loss then the first one and very good separation but still too much head loss,  guess my Ridig vac sucks better then the other vacuums these have been tested with!!  doesn't g surprise me i bought my first one after reading a comparison in Popular mechanics the ridig's have near twice the air flow and almost 1.5 the dead head suction as the name sake brand....
I guess the next project will be a 10" barrel cyclone!!