Short collection drums

[Mystikbrian]

Some of you may have read another post by me about using a wye and two collection drums. I have 9' 4" ceilings so height would not normally be an issue but with the added height of the wye I still need the short wide bins most of us like. I can't see spending the money that o****a wants for a bin plus the outrageous shipping estimate I got. Penn states bins would work but they are rather small and I don't like the plastic lid (I know I could make a new lid). I find it hard to believe that penn state is having them custom made but I can't find the short bins anywhere else, they are all the tall skinny. My neighbor picks up used 55 gallon steel drums used by printing places and will be bringing me two of them next week. They are the standard 55 we all know with the snap ring lid they will still have traces of ink in them (not looking forward to that) but free. My plan is cut those sucker in half and remove 10" or so and weld them back together. Might be a pain to try and line up the seam flush as I weld so I thought I might buy a bead/ seam roller to put a rabbit (woodworkers term) all the around one half so they line back up making welding easier. I will report back with progress. A lot of work for a drum but I am not going to succumb to their crazy prices.

 

[AlanBienlein]

Don't cut them in half. Use a cut off disc and cut score along the bottom edge so you can remove the bottom. Make sure you only cut thru the side of the drum and not thru the bottom. Then cut off how ever much you need to and reinsert the bottom with some caulking and use some self tappers to hold in place.

 

[McRabbet]

Brian,

I know you started this with a discussion of needing two bins (in another thread) because you generate lots of dust and wanted the extra capacity. There are some users that have a similar issue with high volume and have solved it with a fabricated bin. I have one bin sensor customer that built a very large metal bin (it is small dumpster sized!) that has an air-tight door and a single entry collar for his cyclone. His capacity is lots bigger than 110 gallons of container. If you embark on modifying metal barrels and sticking with two of them, the loss of height advantage (the "Y") is forcing you to modify the barrels.

One thing that many users don't consider: a dust bin does not need to be barrel shaped. Why not build a collection bin from plywood or MDF and seal it on the inside during construction. Include a well-gasketed door for your bin cleanout and rely on just a single bin input collar on the top. I just took a fast look and found that there is at least one example (Dave Drury) in the ClearVue Photo Gallery, accessible from the main website. He made a custom bin using a translucent glazing intended for hurricane-proof skylight applications and it clearly gained him some significant volume in his bin. Sadly, Dave is no longer active on the website (or at least I haven't seen him online in over a year).

Added Note: Dave has the pictures of his first attempt in the link I provided. If you look at his main Album, you'll find there are two "Albums" covering his custom Dust Bin within his main Album and you'll want to look at the second Album (Take 2) linked here.

Just some suggestions that I hope will help. And as a footnote, I have not tested the dual sensor idea yet as I need to look carefully at the electrical load implication for the bin sensor circuitry before I test it (I don't want to overload a power supply or zap a circuit board!).