Another Approach to the Dust Collection Barrel
Another Approach to the Dust Collection Barrel
craigclick,
bababrown’s mechanical approach is a solid and straight forward solution. A mechanical hold down alternative to building one yourself is to purchase one. Since you are generating so much dust in a day, I am guessing you would prefer to buy a solution than build one. If so Oneida sells a 55 Gallon Drum Liner Bag Holder Kit and smaller ones:
http://www.oneida-air.com/inventory.asp?CatId={E73B4361-F6D4-44D5-A815-E35ECB580382}
JDS sells two versions of the “Bag Gripper” which is a metal frame bag holder.
http://jdstools.com/product-category/dust-collection-accessories/
For what it is worth there is a non-mechanical alternative. Some manufacturers anticipate the use of plastic bags for chip collection (Grizzly comes to mind) and have developed a system that holds the bag in place in a Dust Collection Drum. It requires a length of hose running from the cyclone inlet to the Dust Collection Drum. When a plastic bag is installed in the Dust Collection Drum, a vacuum is pulled on the outside of the bag, holding it in place. However, there may be some design nuisances of which I am not aware, including the diameter of the connecting hose and whether a channel of some sort around the base of the Dust Collection Drum is included.
Assuming this vacuum hold down design actually works, its advantage includes simply installing the bag and removing like you are now trying to do. However, all of these approaches anticipate a collection bag lining a drum. The Dust Collection Drum has to be sealed airtight and emptying and replacing involves too many steps for me. I went a different way.
My approach was to build a sealed Dust Collection Chamber in which a 40 gallon fiber Dust Collection Drum sets. The Dust Collection Chamber is permanently attached to the cyclone. I used a 40 gallon Dust Collection Drum because that is all the height I had, but the Dust Collection Chamber could be built as large as you need. The interior height of the Dust Collection Chamber is about 1” taller than the height of the Dust Collection Drum. When it is time to empty the Dust Collection Drum, the door to the Dust Collection Chamber is opened, the drum is pulled out and emptied – no bags. Then I slide empty drum back into place, close and lock the door.
The Dust Collection Chamber is a ½” plywood box sealed at the joints with silicone caulk. It has a hinged door. Felt weather stripping around the door establishes an air tight seal when the door is locked with 3 window sash locks. The window sash locks were installed so that as the locks engage, they pull the door tight against the seal. The top of the Dust Collection Chamber has a window of Polycarboante that offers a view inside the Dust Collection Drum setting inside the Dust Collection Chamber. A pair of LED under cabinet lights setting outside the Dust Collection Chamber and protected by Polycarbonate sheets illuminate the interior space. This arrangement makes determining when to empty an easy job. I outfitted the top rim of the Dust Collection Drum with a bicycle inner tube as a gasket and I installed a handle. The gasket forms a seal with the top of the Dust Collection Chamber and keeps the Dust Collection Chamber remarkably free of dust. The handle makes pulling the drum out an easier job. If the gasket is omitted, some dust escapes the Dust Collection Drum, but remains in the Dust Collection Chamber. Most of the chips end up in the drum without the gasket.
If this design interests you, some pics are upload in the thread concerning my CV1800 install:
http://www.clearvuecyclones.com/Bullentin/showthread.php?t=1758
