In this project we turn a bunch of old free stuff, including two old household vacuums into what is arguably the most useful and necessary of workshop tools: the dust extractor. But why stop there? Lets make a really fantastically effective dust extractor, one that is whisper quiet, never stops sucking or plagues you with blocked filters, one that is versatile enough to take dust from a variety of power tools, one that turns on and off on its own so you never forget, and most important of all, one that does a good job of extracting the small - most deadly - particulates from the air you breath... Step forth, 'The Dust Sniper'.
This project was borne out of my dissatisfaction with commercially available dust extractors. After a fair bit of research I purchased one of the more expensive 'quiet' workshop vacuums, and was not happy with its performance (I sent it back unused after taking a dB reading of it). In exasperation at the dusty noisiness of it all, and wanting to re-use materials and spend as little as possible, I began the Dust Sniper (DS) project.
This DS ended up costing about £20 total. So it is possible to reused a bunch of stuff destined for landfill and end up with an aesthetically pleasing and useful tool-workbench. And of course we can learn loads about sound, cyclones and dust related jazz along the way. Because the DS's parts are mostly recycled, there is no comprehensive list of materials up front, instead I will give tips as we go along suggesting possible reclaimed bits that will do the job and where you might find them (if you don't care why we chose certain materials and just want a 'scavenging list', check out the last step).
My kingdom for some silent clean air
I'll throw it out there to begin with, most dust extractors are bad. Even the expensive ones, like the Festool, extract a continuing fee, needing regular bag and filter changes to keep working properly. The less expensive, well... lets just say they can be seriously bad for your mental and physical health, as you will find out if you follow along with this Instructable.
The Dust Sniper (DS) is effective and very quiet - the two main goals I had when starting this project. It does, however, fulfil these requirements at a cost. Namely, it is very heavy and big (compared to your average canister style vac), so it won't be perfect for everyone. This isn't necessarily the disaster you might think though. In fact it can be darn right useful if we use the DS as a mobile work surface. That way we will end up with nice clean air, a quiet place to create our mad jazz, and a super sturdy, rollable worktop thrown in! Ideal if you are still setting up a workshop, as I am.
This project was borne out of my dissatisfaction with commercially available dust extractors. After a fair bit of research I purchased one of the more expensive 'quiet' workshop vacuums, and was not happy with its performance (I sent it back unused after taking a dB reading of it). In exasperation at the dusty noisiness of it all, and wanting to re-use materials and spend as little as possible, I began the Dust Sniper (DS) project.
This DS ended up costing about £20 total. So it is possible to reused a bunch of stuff destined for landfill and end up with an aesthetically pleasing and useful tool-workbench. And of course we can learn loads about sound, cyclones and dust related jazz along the way. Because the DS's parts are mostly recycled, there is no comprehensive list of materials up front, instead I will give tips as we go along suggesting possible reclaimed bits that will do the job and where you might find them (if you don't care why we chose certain materials and just want a 'scavenging list', check out the last step).
My kingdom for some silent clean air
I'll throw it out there to begin with, most dust extractors are bad. Even the expensive ones, like the Festool, extract a continuing fee, needing regular bag and filter changes to keep working properly. The less expensive, well... lets just say they can be seriously bad for your mental and physical health, as you will find out if you follow along with this Instructable.
The Dust Sniper (DS) is effective and very quiet - the two main goals I had when starting this project. It does, however, fulfil these requirements at a cost. Namely, it is very heavy and big (compared to your average canister style vac), so it won't be perfect for everyone. This isn't necessarily the disaster you might think though. In fact it can be darn right useful if we use the DS as a mobile work surface. That way we will end up with nice clean air, a quiet place to create our mad jazz, and a super sturdy, rollable worktop thrown in! Ideal if you are still setting up a workshop, as I am.
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Signing UpStep 1: Noise Loves Dust
We might not often think of noise and dust being co-conspirators, but they do help each other to cause workshop misery. Dust, particularly for those that do much woodwork with power tools, gets everywhere: in the air, in your lungs, and in the belts and bearings of our tools. Power tools, like an orbital sander, a jigsaw, a planer, or a router create a lot of dust, and without good extraction (sometimes even with it) the quantity of dust that gets into our tool's workings is enough to cause big increases in noise levels.
Lots of noise is bad. As anyone who reads the FE blog will know, I am particularly fastidious about cutting down on noise (see for example, my quest for the quietest bandsaw). I can think of a load of good reasons for my desire for quiet tools, but probably the most important, and one that anyone using power tools should take seriously, may be gleaned from the following:
Dust is a serious problem.
Actually aside from helping along hearing loss, dust can cause bigger problems. At this point I am going to go ahead and assume that everyone is comfortable with the idea that dusty lungs are bad and to be avoided. The problem is most people don't realise just how dangerous dust is, especially to us lone inventors, DIYers, and makers, who do not have the protection of government legislation, which enforces air quality standards* in factory and workplace environments.
At home, people tend to use cheap and ineffective extraction systems and/or pathetically inadequate masks (or no protection at all). I must admit from time to time I have been guilty of this, not wanting the noise of the vac or being in a rush - very bad! The precautionary principal should definately apply here. Particularly until you have finished your DS, a good dust mask, goggles and ear defenders are your friends! For more info on dust and health check out this post on The Dangers of Wood Dust and this table of wood dust toxicity levels.
Lots of noise is bad. As anyone who reads the FE blog will know, I am particularly fastidious about cutting down on noise (see for example, my quest for the quietest bandsaw). I can think of a load of good reasons for my desire for quiet tools, but probably the most important, and one that anyone using power tools should take seriously, may be gleaned from the following:
"The first handicap due to noise-induced hearing loss to be noticed by the subject is usually some loss of hearing for high-pitched sounds such as squeaks in machinery, bells, musical notes, etc. This is followed by a diminution in the ability to understand speech; voices sound muffled, and this is worse in difficult listening conditions. The person with noise-induced hearing loss complains that everyone mumbles. High frequency consonant sounds of low intensity are missed, whereas vowels of low frequency and higher intensity are still heard. As consonants carry much of the information in speech, there is little reduction in volume but the context is lost. However, by the time the loss is noticed subjectively as a difficulty in understanding speech, the condition is far advanced." (p146 Engineering Noise Control)
Ok, so dust often equals more noise. How ironic that adding a dust extractor can be so noisy then. Lets leave 'noise' at that for now - for more noise related background and nerdy theory, checkout step 3.Dust is a serious problem.
Actually aside from helping along hearing loss, dust can cause bigger problems. At this point I am going to go ahead and assume that everyone is comfortable with the idea that dusty lungs are bad and to be avoided. The problem is most people don't realise just how dangerous dust is, especially to us lone inventors, DIYers, and makers, who do not have the protection of government legislation, which enforces air quality standards* in factory and workplace environments.
At home, people tend to use cheap and ineffective extraction systems and/or pathetically inadequate masks (or no protection at all). I must admit from time to time I have been guilty of this, not wanting the noise of the vac or being in a rush - very bad! The precautionary principal should definately apply here. Particularly until you have finished your DS, a good dust mask, goggles and ear defenders are your friends! For more info on dust and health check out this post on The Dangers of Wood Dust and this table of wood dust toxicity levels.
*It is interesting to note how these standards are constantly being raised, as more research is done on the effects of wood dust. See, for example, Jette B. Lange, 2008 "Effects of wood dust: Inflammation, genotoxicity and cancer"
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Firstly, congratulation on a great project.
I have some questions if you dont mind. I am about to build something similar, but simpler. I have an Axminster vacuum (basically a hoover attached to a metal can!) and it is so loud... I want to build a basic box for it, sound proof it as best as I can and put on wheels so that it is mobile. So:
1) Heat should be okay as the filtered air comes out from under the lid (motor). Right?
2) The machine has a single hose for sucking in air (dust). In your machine, you have two separate baffle paths. Is this because you had two separate vacuum machines?
3) I plan to make a hole on the side for allowing me to connect a hose between the box and my tool. So that is how the sucked air comes in. I dont understand how your baffle gets the air out :-( Is it just the whole on the baffle's inside which allows the air to eventually make its way out? I dont see how you can connect a hose to the exit as there is no hose :-)
4) Also, why did you make the sand partition between the MDF and the metal sheet? Is this just for addtional sound proofing? If so, why not "wrap" the entire inner box with sand?
5) Finally, if I add a cyclone to the setup, where do you place the cork forest? Do you need one? If I dont end up using a cyclone, do I still need a cork forest? If so, where does it go?
Thanks so much in advance,
D
1. I'm not sure on your particular vac but heat shouldn't be a problem provided you have a sufficient path for the vac to suck incoming, and blow outgoing air - that's what cools the motor.
2. Yes.
3. Because the box is made to be air tight, the air only has one place to go once it has been ejected from the vacuum motor - ie. through the set of baffles and out the exit hole(s).
4. It was additional sound proofing I was experimenting with. I had run out of mdf by that point so it is made with the scraps I had - a thin piece of ply and a bit of sheet metal from an old microwave case. The sand sandwich works very well and It is worth having extra vibration damping in areas like this which the air is rushing through. As opposed to the enclosure box which is just designed to attenuate sound from the vac itself, the exit path is a bit more tricky: it cant simply 'enclose' the sound (because it need to let air through) so we want to absorb as much sound as possible with extra mass - sand is good.
5. If you use a cyclone I would be tempted to leave out the cork forest: the cyclone is already introducing resistance to the flow of air (effectively reducing your airflow), and it will also act to dampen sound (if made from polycarb). As to where to place it - that will depend on you enclosure arrangements - the 'cork forest' (hehe made me chuckle to hear other people using that name) is just another way to help attenuate sound in places that we need to leave unsealed for airflow. So in either case, cyclone or no, it could go right before the vac - but to be any use you want to build it into the structure of you enclosure. If you wanted you could make 2 cork forests to treat both the incoming air and outgoing air... Many options...
Hope some of that helps.
Bongo.
We don't have £ here. Can we still do this?
Seriously, it beats wearing a dust mask all the time.
Yeah, dust masks suck bad.
I can trade pop bottles for those.
I have a Whitworth hammer. Will that work for £ stuff?
Actually, It would probably be easier if we worked in cups of tea if that's any good for you?
Cultural differences are so hard to overcome.
I guess those of us in the colonies are doomed to a life of dust.
Also, if you are really hung up on having some sort of indicator on when your cans are full, you have all the materials right in front of you. Just cut your barrels down the middle about 15mm wide and on the inside glue a strip of clear plastic all the way tru and you will have an indicator window right in them!
Keep up the great work!
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00924031000P
Or, alternately: isn't the interior of the bucket at below-atmospheric pressure? The tube could be connected to 'outside' air though a small hole. When the bucket is not yet full, airflow into the bucket keeps the tube below atmospheric. When the bucket fills past the tube, airflow stops. Let's see if I can attach a sketch of this idea... I can't decide if it'd be horribly finicky and impossible to implement, or if it would be perfect and elegant. :)
Electronic pressure sensors are around $15 new but maybe there's a good junk source for them...
Interesting ideas, thanks! Things are complicated a bit because the storage barrels themselves are in a partial vacuum (which fluctuates depending on whether the end of the vacuum hose is blocked or partly blocked). It is necessary to maintain the seal on the barrel so that the cyclones work right. My feeling is that adding another 'not-very-strong source of vacuum' would open a whole can of worms (big malicious ones at that).
An interesting idea though, thanks for sharing.
Any kind of optical sensor inside the barrel would be obscured just like the window, and other sensors are out because of the static. But yeah - weight would probably work.
I am not sure I am understanding you with this. The barrels 'float' off the floor, so that the DS can be wheeled around. They are screwed onto the base of the cyclones - their lids are firmly attached so the cyclones and everything remain stable.
Or did you mean putting the scales inside the barrels? That might work, if they were inside some kind of plastic bag - but then again the partial vacuum created would probably disrupt readings...
But also consider: my Handbook of Hardwoods claims the weight of European Oak usually falls in the range from 640kg/m3 to 820kg/m3, having an 'extreme but possible' range of 600 to 900kg/m3. And that is within one species. Pine is often round 500kg/m3. That in mind, I think density issues would be worth considering with the weighing approach. If you calculated in a good safety margin though, I expect it would work fine as an indicator - barrels don't have to be full before we empty them after all.
Thanks, again for the great write-up. I've just bought some Lexan and am trying to build my own cyclone dust extractor using the information in you;r write up.
You wrote that you are using a hot melt glue gun to glue together the lexan when it is rolled up. I have been trying this but I an finding it very difficult to squeeze the glue out, and roll the plastic up into the right shape before the glue sets up hard again. Do you have any glue-related hints?
I have been debating using some epoxy resin (Araldite). I've have great results with this before, and it allows more working time, but I haven't tried it on lexan. Do you know if Araldite would work?
Thanks,
Adam
Good stuff.
In regards to the gluing, it is best to roll up the shape you want first. Once it is in the correct position, hold it there with a little masking tape. Now for the inside of the cone (I presume it is the cone you are struggling with?), you can peel back a little flap, and run the glue gun's nozzle inside the seam, making a nice long bead. Let the flap close and press the parts together. Should work well like that. For the outside seam, I did it in stages - undo a bit of masking tape near the top, pull back making a flap and inject some glue under it, hold together till set, then move on to another bit, etc. When you are done and the cone shape is secure, you can run one continuous bead along the outside seam, to ensure air tightness.
Of course all this would be easier if you can borrow an extra pair of hands for a few seconds to hold the cone for you while you glue it.
As you mentioned you will have bad luck applying the glue then trying to wrap up the shape, because the glue will have set before you have it aligned correctly.
I am not sure about araldite, I have a feeling that it might eat away at the Lexan, and/or make it brittle and discoloured - if you want to try it, best bet is to use some offcuts you don't need first and see what it does.
Hope that helps, any more questions, just ask. Take your time with it and let us know how it goes.
" Quick and concise description of different types of silencers can be found here."
The HERE seems to be intended to be a link.
But, it does not work
DIY-ers face an unrecognized risk; because no one oversees their safety, they may be exposed to chemicals without adequate ventilation, which can also increase hearing loss, both on their own, and in combination with noise. Carbon monoxide and other asphyxiants, solvents (such as you might find in carpentry stains and varnishes, cleaners, degreasers, etc), and pesticides can all increase your risk.
If you have a hobby that's noisy or fumy, keep things ventilated, get regular breaks, invest early in hearing protection (much, much cheaper than hearing aids!), and start getting your hearing tested on a regular basis. Even a fairly basic screening (by an audiologist) can indicate the early signs of hearing loss. Find an audiologist who knows something about hearing conservation for best results, and explain to them your concerns. And recreational noise affects hearing too; if you can turn it down, turn it down!
Maybe I should do a hearing loss prevention instructable...
Try ultrasonic for measuring the level in your bucket.
The transducer can be mounted at the top (to provide "analog" measurement), or on the side (use as ON/OFF or "dump alert").
Sounds like it could be worth pursuing though. Any ideas for cheap/salvageable sources? My first thought was the car alarm doodars that clip on inside at the edge of the windscreen - probably plenty of them floating around at scrap yards or still in cars with alarms that have been permanently disabled or taken out. Would that be any good? Other ideas?
I still want to try the simple idea of using grounded antistatic bags over the viewing window (as MadScott and wingman358 suggested).
Bearing in mind that the big filter comes after the vacuum's filters, and has an absolutely enormous surface area, it should be in there a good long time (at least a number of year). I can see the vacuums wearing out before the filter needs changing. When the time comes, it will be a case of unscrewing the lead sheeting that holds it in, pulling it out and putting a new one in.
Once the ping pong ball hits a certain height, then you hit a limit switch and turn on a light, or a buzzer, or just check the handle position occasionally.
You would only need the float to check the last 20-30% of the collection bin height.
Nice instructable.
While true the filter will last for some time, no reason to make it difficult to remove. My personal opinion and experience is to make it as simple as possible for maintenance. KISS, is always a good principle.
A bit of a laugh. Last time I told someone I'd do something when I got around to it, he promptly handed me a rountuit. A wooden circle with rountuit written on it. I've since passed it on.
That...is brilliant. I must make a rountuit. And carry it with me always.
As far as a 'fill sensor', you have a couple of options:
1) a float like you have in your toilet - maybe using a ping-pong ball or something like that. I'm not sure how well this would work, but if your bins are in a fixed position, this may be a more ideal solution.
2) a scale - just grab a few springs and a maybe lever and a bin full of sawdust. Mark points for empty, full and maybe a few intermediate marks. If you use the lever style you could have a dial, or you could just hook a marker to the spring and have a linear gauge.
Those are the two things that popped into my mind first. HTH!
Thanks for your kind words, and suggestions.
I think 1) would be tricky, because there is still the problem of actually seeing the ping-pong ball or whatever you put inside the collection barrel. I am afraid I don't really understand idea 2). A scale would be nice - but how to prevent the lever from just being berried by the sawdust? I'm sorry, I probably completely misunderstood this one?