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I have received several questions about the effectiveness of my 55 gallon drum build Thien Cyclone. And honestly I wanted to address the questions en masse. Hopefully I won't irk anyone with my copy / past of the most recent question from a member here...
I started with the default, which I think is 1-1/4" drop slot (memory fuzzy right now) which is what I built last fall. I am finding that planer shavings and that depth drop slot are not the best of friends in my 55 gallon drum (but my 20 gallon trash can build is fine).
I am planning on pulling the baffle, and opening up the drop slot to 1-1/2" (per Phil's suggestion). I have been planing cedar in 8" and 10" widths, and those shavings tend to clump together, REALLY badly. I am not sure which post, but someone else had the same problem, and Phil suggested bumping UP the slot size to 1.5".
If you are using an open head plastic drum, you will notice that the mouth of the drum is smaller than the sides of the drum. My baffle is TIGHT to the sides, and I have to work it to get it in and out of the drum. A worthwhile pain, but a pain no less...
Aside from the issues with planing cedar, the configuration with the 1.25" drop slot has been working flawlessly. I have only managed to choke the baffle once causing it to bypass and dump into the DC. And that was planing LOTS of cedar (been doing outdoor / garden projects for LOML, and cedar resists the rot and bugs around here!). All other machining operations, including planing of NON cedar, it works flawlessly. Until I started doing the cedar stuff, I was able to go 5 or 6 empties of the drum with less than a cup of fines that ended up in the lower bag, and the wynn still looked brand new.
I did have an issue of pulling stringy stuff bypassing the baffle and ending up in the cross piece at the inlet. I am not sure if that is caused by the drop slot size or what, but it was in that one incident where the whole thing got jammed up.
I'm scheduled for lots of outdoor work for a couple of weeks, after that I am going to get after enlarging the drop slot (If I mess it up, hardboard is in plentiful supply in my shop!)
Some things I might do differently if I had to do it over again....
Mods I am planning on doing...
#1. Use 5" HVAC pipe nipples for the in and outlets.
#2. Make the inlet a side loading inlet to eliminate the bend.
#3. THEN mount the 5x4x4 Y to run to my machines.
#4. Start with a 1.5" drop slot.
Mods I MIGHT do, but not on the agenda right now.
#1. Custom cart / frame for the DC to move the impeller housing up over the drum / baffle similar to the Delta 50-760 configuration. Would need some sort of riser to get the inlet ring a straight shot while making room under the impeller for the drum...
#2. I am watching a thread on Phil's forum to see how feasable it is to swap in a Grizzly 12.75" impeller. If it works well I may just do it...
For the most part, I know where I goofed. The major one was the size of the drop slot, the rest is fine tuning....
I scored a drum today and plan on making a separator. I was reading Phil's forum and see where last fall you were going to do one with a 1.25" drop slot. Did you do this? How well did it work?
I am planning on pulling the baffle, and opening up the drop slot to 1-1/2" (per Phil's suggestion). I have been planing cedar in 8" and 10" widths, and those shavings tend to clump together, REALLY badly. I am not sure which post, but someone else had the same problem, and Phil suggested bumping UP the slot size to 1.5".
If you are using an open head plastic drum, you will notice that the mouth of the drum is smaller than the sides of the drum. My baffle is TIGHT to the sides, and I have to work it to get it in and out of the drum. A worthwhile pain, but a pain no less...
Aside from the issues with planing cedar, the configuration with the 1.25" drop slot has been working flawlessly. I have only managed to choke the baffle once causing it to bypass and dump into the DC. And that was planing LOTS of cedar (been doing outdoor / garden projects for LOML, and cedar resists the rot and bugs around here!). All other machining operations, including planing of NON cedar, it works flawlessly. Until I started doing the cedar stuff, I was able to go 5 or 6 empties of the drum with less than a cup of fines that ended up in the lower bag, and the wynn still looked brand new.
I did have an issue of pulling stringy stuff bypassing the baffle and ending up in the cross piece at the inlet. I am not sure if that is caused by the drop slot size or what, but it was in that one incident where the whole thing got jammed up.
I'm scheduled for lots of outdoor work for a couple of weeks, after that I am going to get after enlarging the drop slot (If I mess it up, hardboard is in plentiful supply in my shop!)
Some things I might do differently if I had to do it over again....
Mods I am planning on doing...
#1. Use 5" HVAC pipe nipples for the in and outlets.
#2. Make the inlet a side loading inlet to eliminate the bend.
#3. THEN mount the 5x4x4 Y to run to my machines.
#4. Start with a 1.5" drop slot.
Mods I MIGHT do, but not on the agenda right now.
#1. Custom cart / frame for the DC to move the impeller housing up over the drum / baffle similar to the Delta 50-760 configuration. Would need some sort of riser to get the inlet ring a straight shot while making room under the impeller for the drum...
#2. I am watching a thread on Phil's forum to see how feasable it is to swap in a Grizzly 12.75" impeller. If it works well I may just do it...
For the most part, I know where I goofed. The major one was the size of the drop slot, the rest is fine tuning....
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