Mini Cyclone

You can use a cyclone dust extractor to prevent sawdust from clogging the vacuum cleaner's filter while woodworking.

I have created a mini cyclone that is perfect for small shops and is also portable. The test results have been very promising as 99% of the sawdust remains in the bucket, with only a small amount of fine powder getting stuck in the vacuum cleaner's filter.

The feature is that it is easy to make. There is no need to connect a circular pipe to a curved surface or bake and bend acrylic. In short, it is super lazy and very easy to use.

Nothing like leather, haha :)

Material

1. Birch plywood thick 12mm (½")
2. Poplar plywood thick 4mm
3. Transparent acrylic sheet thick 3mm
4. 1 pipe 1-¼"
5. 2 chest trunk latches
6. 2 hinges
7. 1 handle
8. EVA or rubber gasket

Tools

1. table saw
2. band saw
3. jig saw
4. power drill
5. hole saw
6. rotary tools
7. hot glue
8. e-proxy
9. double-sided tape

You may have seen commercially available or DIY cyclone buckets, which are shaped like an inverted triangular pyramid.

What I designed is a flat shape, which is called Thien Baffle.

The top view looks like a drop-shape.

For ease of production, I used a 15-degree bevel to cut the boards.

When polygons are combined they resemble a circle.

To assemble this shape, you can first arrange it neatly and then use paper tape to stick it on.

Use 4mm poplar plywood at the bottom.

I use a jigsaw to cut a disk with a diameter of 220mm, and then use a band saw to cut a disk with a diameter of 200mm.

I wish I could see the sawdust spinning inside the barrel,

So the top is made of 3mm transparent acrylic.

support with a 12mm thick wooden block to help fix the pipe.

In addition, I made a triangle-shaped block and stuck it inside the barrel to guide the airflow.

The disk is used to block airflow and prevent sawdust below from flying up.

Drill a hole in the center of the disk that is the same size as the pipe, and glue a small piece of wood with a thickness of 4mm to increase the strength when connecting the pipe.

Cut the tube to the appropriate length.

E-proxy is for acrylic

The pipe is not glued, just to align the holes.

After the glue dries, drill holes around the acrylic for screws.

The box I designed is only 300x300x300mm.

All are made of 12mm thick birch plywood.

The door

There are 2 hinges.

I used a router table to cut out the grooves where the hinges would go and trim it with a chisel.

I use a jigsaw to cut out rectangular holes. Glue a piece of transparent acrylic with E-proxy. This way I can easily see the height of the sawdust in the bucket and determine whether it should be cleaned.

After the box is assembled, three wooden strips are glued to the front to use as frames.

Because I need to seal the end of the pipe later.

To seal the end of the pipe later, you need to cut a square hole on the side of the pipe using a rotary tool.

Pass the pipe through the acrylic and glue it with hot glue. After that, glue the wooden disc and seal the end of the pipe.

Finally, glue the upper and lower parts.

To make it easy to clean sawdust, I designed a door, but I'm worried about air leakage. To address this, I attached cushions all around using double-sided tape. Then, I used two box buckles to tighten it when the door was closed to achieve airtightness. Finally, install the handle, and it's complete.

1. Excellent separation efficiency, almost no wood chips enter the vacuum cleaner.
2. There will be sawdust stuck under the air inlet, you can ignore it.
3. A gasket can be added to the upper part where the acrylic contacts the wood to increase the air tightness. Visual inspection shows that there is no gap.
4. Open the door and the sawdust collapsed like a landslide. Use it with caution. It should be feasible to put a transparent garbage can inside.

If you like my DIY, welcome to visit my YouTube channel to watch more.

Thanks for watching.