Cyclone in loft above shop

[Jason Thaxton]

I am just finishing a new shop it is 24x30 with loft above half the space. The area below the loft has 9' ceilings. I want to put my cyclone up in the loft and I'm wondering if this would cause any performance issues. All ducting will be 6".

[Jamie Buxton]

Geez, lugging bags full of sawdust down a ladder would get to be a pain. Can you run a pipe downstairs, and put your dust barrel at ground level?

[nic obie]

Geez, lugging bags full of sawdust down a ladder would get to be a pain. Can you run a pipe downstairs, and put your dust barrel at ground level?


That's a good idea.

[Matt Meiser]

At our old house I installed my cyclone so that the intake pipe was right against the ceiling with the blower installed upstairs in the attic. This worked nicely as there were no elevation changes required until i got to the drops. It also kept the sound down quite a bit.

I'd agree about carrying down the saw dust. I use a 31 gal trash can on mine and its pretty heavy when full. Its also awkward because you don't want to shake it up. You could rig up an elevator of some sort though.

[Jason Thaxton]

Thats a great idea would that work having the barrel 9 feet lower than normal or would that effect the cfm and pressure. I want to put it up there to make more room and also build a insulated closet for it next to my compresser closet. But I really dont want to go to all the work and then have it not suck. that would really suck

[Jack Diemer]

Thats a great idea would that work having the barrel 9 feet lower than normal or would that effect the cfm and pressure. I want to put it up there to make more room and also build a insulated closet for it next to my compresser closet. But I really dont want to go to all the work and then have it not suck. that would really suck


I am pretty sure it would make no difference in the suction, because once it gets down to the bottom of the cyclone, it is a gravity feed into the barrell. However, that nine feet of pipe MUST be airtight. One leak, and you lose all CFM.

[Mac McAtee]

Thats a great idea would that work having the barrel 9 feet lower than normal or would that effect the cfm and pressure. I want to put it up there to make more room and also build a insulated closet for it next to my compresser closet. But I really dont want to go to all the work and then have it not suck. that would really suck

That is exactly the arrangement I have in my shop. It is a two story building. I put the cyclone upstairs a 6" down pipe to a 30 gal. plastic barrel with a locking lid at the bottom end of the pipe. I put a short piece, about 12" of 6" clear flex hose between the pipe and the barrel lid. When the barrel gets full I can see the chips and dust building up in the clear hose. I shake the barrel to get it settle down, un-latch the lid slide the barrel out from under the pipe, the lid stays attached. Dump the barrel and put it back and latch the lid down.

The barrel stands about 30" high. The down pipe starts at the bottom of the cyclone which is 9 ft up from the shop floor. The cyclone is in the upstairs area.

Works for me. I could send or post a picture if anyone wants to see it, shop is a mess right now but no problem.

[Tom Sontag]

I have my Woodsucker II up the wall in the peaked portion of my garage loft space. There is no question you want the barrel on the floor though. (Actually mine rests on top of a cabinet at chest height).

I use clear flex hose for the straight drop so I can see when the barrel is full. In hindsight, I would install some kind of gate for when I notice a tad late and disconnecting the barrel becomes a mess. This is a problem for all cyclone installations and has nothing to do with the raised cyclone. If you have a decent motor, you should have no suction issues.

Since my rafters are only 8' up, I wanted as many DC pipes above the rafters as possible and this solution puts stationary parts out of prime wall and ceiling territory. It is a good idea and works fine.

[Chris Padilla]

I have a half-vaulted ceiling in my garage and the cyclone will be mounted right up at the peak of 12' so I'll have 4 or 5 feet of flex from the bottom to the shavings bin. I plan to put a window of some kind in the shavings bin so I can see when it is full. :)

[Jason Thaxton]

Thanks guys I really apretiate the help.