I've only started cutting with my DIY machine and my shop vac filter is already clogged. Mostly MDF from surfacing the spoil board and some miscellaneous brackets.
So I'm looking to add a cyclone dust separator. HD has the "Duststopper" and Oneida has the "DustDeputy"
How do these compare? Aside from making my own would you have another recommendation?
This may not be relevant since it won't run from a shop vac but I love my Oneida Super Dust Deputy. It catches even the finest powder plus obviously chips and such so very little goes out the outlet. Well, well worth the investment.
I can say that the super dust deputy is great. I modified the harbor freight collector with it and added a hepa filter to the bag side of it.
If you have s filter instead of a bag filter, the super dust deputy is worth it.
The Chinese SN series is REALLY GOOD. There's a 25mm, 50mm, 75mm, and a new 110mm. Also one that was like 8mm, but I can't find that one.
I am certain these parabolic profiles are MUCH better than the Dust Deputy stuff- that was an old profile that they moved away from years ago. And they're CHEAP!
Two design questions- one, positive pressure or negative? Honestly, negative pressure is a MUCH better idea. It can't leak, and you keep debris out of your impeller that can sometimes do some real damage. It also opens up a whole new world of advanced impellers that work much better but cannot handle debris. But you need a can (not a bag) that can take negative pressure and may need a relief valve to avoid collapsing it if the inlet is blocked.
Second question is multiple small cyclones (like a Dyson Vac does!) or one large one. The two certain things is that a big diameter cyclone is less likely to get something stuck in it, but it's taller, and taller is sometimes inconvenient. Splitting up among smaller cyclones can be shorter.
I am unsure on this, but I think that you do get better separation with multiple small cyclones. I did see a study showing that you typically get better separation and lower pressure drop (higher flows) by running the air slower. You can scale that by clustering smaller cyclones like the 50 or 75 on a lid.
If the price differential is not too great I prefer to buy local/domestic especially if there is any warranty in play. The metric sizing I saw in some of the offshore varieties was a concern. I wanted to avoid needing adapters.
So far its worked as advertised for the wood chip/swarf I've generated. To say 99% collected is not an exaggeration, I should have done this years ago! I kick myself thinking about the filters I would have saved.
They're not actually "metric" sizing. sn50 is 2" hose, 75=3", 110=4". By design, they were sized for the corresponding hose ID. China won't list inch units though.
While it's really effective at chips, cyclones are not always completely effective at fine dust from milling MDF, or any sort of sanding. That stuff likes to stay suspended in the air, and can also get re-picked up as the level in the can rises and gets closer to the cyclone bottom.
Someone machined styrofoam on the CNC and a ton of it ended up bypassing the cyclone. It was just too light and didn't want to fall, or may have gotten blown around inside the collection can and slowly made its way back out to the outlet.