Can a Cyclone Dust Collector be Setup Sideways?
njwheele
| Posted in General Discussion on
Hi All!
We are trying to set up an old cyclone dust collector in the basement of our building, but the dust collector is 14′ tall when it is completely assembled. So rather than try to make the dust collector fit vertically, why can’t we set it up horizontally? We would add an elbow at the base so that gravity could assist in guiding the separated dust to the drum/collection bin. In theory a cyclone dust collector will work on its side, does anyone have any thoughts about how this might work in reality?
Replies
Where are the motor, blower, and exhaust? The flat horizontal one will fill and clog, or the chips will be sent through to your filters... The diagonal one might work if it does not fill to the point that the uptake pipe starts to suck from the pileup.
https://www.finewoodworking.com/app/uploads/uploadedimages/fine_woodworking_network/image_resources/web_only/cyclone-is-king_xl.jpg
MJ,
Check out this sketch with some new notes. Exhaust/filter fixture can rotate about the center of the machine, depending on how you set it up.
My gut tells me no, and that's a lot of trouble to go to for something that probably won't work.
Instead of this forum I would suggest you contact someone that manufactures or installs these systems.
I would bet the folks at Oneida would be willing to help you, give them a call. They are in Syracuse.
https://www.oneida-air.com/
Thanks! I will give them a call.
I don’t think funnels work well unless upright.
A FOURTEEN FOOT HIGH EXTRACTOR???? WTF - are we talking major 3 phase industrial gear here?? Who has a 14' extractor....
Horizontal mounting WILL NOT WORK.
Angled mounting MIGHT WORK - if you think about it, there is not much difference between 90 deg and 88 deg from the point of view of dust - but what you seem to have overlooked is that there is NO FORCE OTHER THAN GRAVITY making your dust enter the bucket - that is sealed so air flow plays no part in moving the dust into the tub.
Cyclones work by forcing moving air into a spiral. Dust is spun out by centrifugal action and slowed by friction with the wall of the cyclone. It then falls down due to gravity. No air movement acts to make it fall into the bucket.
I suspect from intuition that the steepest angle at which you could tilt the cyclone would be such that the angled portion of the funnel would be at not less than 60 degrees to the floor. You might get away with less, but the flatter you go, the more likely you are to end up with a mound of chips in the funnel which will ultimately end up feeding dust into your filter, which is undesirable to say the least.
If we accept for the sake of argument that the funnel angle is 20 degrees then you can probably get away with tilting the machine as much as 10 degrees and not expect much fall-off in performance. 25 would be pushing it. 45 degrees of tilt, such as you picture, would result in your dust trying to flow down a 25 degree slope - that's not going to happen. A steeper funnel would allow you to tilt the cyclone more. If you want to test, try dropping dust onto a sheet of metal and see how steep the angle needs to be for the dust to fall off under it's own weight.
It is still possible that you might be able to use the old cyclone (old is free after all) at a 45 degree angle, but you may need to have it modified so that the pipe to the bucket is at the bottom again.
It may be better to sell the old machine which doubtless retains some value especially given it's size and buy one which will fit.
At $4225 from Rockler, this might be your puppy:
https://www.harveywoodworking.com/products/gyro-air-g700-dust-processor
You could also buy a smaller cyclone - Holytek sell one for about USD 3600 which is only 7' tall, rated for one 10 inch or 3 4 inch ports and continuous use with auto filter knock...
Out of the box ideas though include reducing the height of your collection bucket (does it need to be that big?) and digging a pit in the floor to accept the machine (though that is really not a good idea) You could also put the extractor in a lean-to outdoors but your neighbours will hate you and of course you'll be extracting a couple of thousand CFM of warm air from your house during use.
Finally, if you are wedded to this machine, you CAN take the motor off the top of the cyclone and duct the airflow differently. It will reduce the efficiency slightly but there is no reason why it cannot be done - it is mounted atop the machine for efficiency and to keep costs down, not because it has to be there.
Rather than digging a hole in the basement floor, they could cut a hole in the ceiling and put the top half in the first floor somewhere. I'd bet 14 feet is the distance from my 1st floor ceiling to my basement floor.
What Rob wrote was what I was thinking in, but I didn't have any facts to support it.
Manufacturers do all sorts of things to make cyclones more compact, because height is a major issue. But I have never seen one try to make the cyclonemore horizontal. Not even a little.
Have a look at that Harvey machine - looks sweet and truly compact/horizontal, but it's basically a riff on the thien baffle. Still - is from all accounts effective. I worry about longevity though.
Digging a hole would make emptying the chips barrel slightly inconvenient!
Save the working bits and part with the monster cyclone. The blower and baghouse can be adapted to a smaller one.
I got a "free" too tall collector years ago.In my case I had fabricated a 2 1/2 Ft high large diameter barrel to replace the 55 gal collector.There was a over 1 ft sleeve connecting the cyclone to the barrel that i got down to a few inches.The shed outside my shop was still too low so I built a cupola for the motor.You could in fact cut a hole in the floor for yours.
Set it up outside if you can!!!
The principle of a cyclone is as is circulates is slows down as the cone narrows eventually enough to drop into the collection bin. So it needs to vertical.
Who's "we"? Is this a business?
You're only options are to dig a hole or open up the floor, or put it outside.
Well, there's this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzDGk0rxagI
No idea if it works, but it looks pretty horizontal to me :)
That's unusual. But a regular cyclone is just a funnel, while that has unique egg and ring shaped baffles inside to keep the chips from passing straight through.
According to the users reviews it does not work properly. So we got our answer, horizontal cyclones don’t work ! In dust collecting systems where dense or heavy particles are carried there are few horizontal runs, to go from A to B the pipes will raise at 65 degrees and lower at the same angle , this angle being just enough for the product to fall back if the air flow stops . This is to prevent clogging since when re starting the air flow is not sufficient to bring back the particles in suspension and they would accumulate.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled