Pentz Cyclone Air Ramp Question

[john clanton]

Hello All,

I've studied Bill Pentz web site for many years and I'm nearing completion of a DIY cyclone with a 5hp motor and 16 inch impeller. It's taken two years to get this thing built!

I am concerned about the air ramp I installed. It was a bear to get that thing to fit and it's not a smooth spiral. Is the warp in the ramp going to adversely effect the cyclones performance? I'll try and get a picture up in the next week or two.

Thanks,
John

[Alan Schaffter]

The best way to fit the spiral is just go for it. The problem is the spiral ramp is a helix which CANNOT be made from a flat piece of metal. Bill's spreadsheet gives just an approximation. Bend and warp it as needed.

As long as you don't have any irregularities that are too funky, it shouldn't affect air flow- not having an air ramp is a lot worse and will affect the air flow, however.

I don't remember if they were part of the plans, but I sized my spiral so it had a small segmented flange tabs on the inside and outside curved edges. I tack soldered them to the cylinder and outlet tube, then applied bondo in the cracks. I mounted the spiral to the outlet pipe before installing the assembly in the cylinder:

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/1329/medium/inlet_ramp.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/1329/medium/P1010107.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/1329/medium/P10101092.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/1329/medium/P1010112.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/1329/medium/P10101111.JPG

[Alan Bienlein]

When I built mine I drew a diagonal line before I rolled the top part with the inlet. This gave me a perfect spiral to install the air ramp to. This was taken as I was just starting ti install the air ramp and you can see the black line.
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A couple more shots with the air ramp installed. The first is after it was in use for a while and all caulked in. the second is right after I installed it.
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[Alan Bienlein]

When I built mine I drew a diagonal line before I rolled the top part with the inlet. This gave me a perfect spiral to install the air ramp to. This was taken as I was just starting ti install the air ramp and you can see the black line. I cut the spiral exactly as laid out in the plans and it worked perfectly.
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A couple more shots with the air ramp installed. The first is after it was in use for a while and all caulked in. the second is right after I installed it.
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[Brian Brightwell]

Good work guys. I am impressed.

[john clanton]

Thanks for the replies Alan and Alan. My ramp install looks similar to yours. I would call it a slight change in angle along the spiral. I also drew a line in sharpie on the inside of the upper cylinder prior to rolling it. It took me three attempts before I got the air ramp to fit closely enough to get a good solder joint. I first tried the tabs and that proved difficult to manipulate. I recall going with no tabs and adding right angle supports between the cylinder wall and air ramp in the dead space area. I think part of the issue was building the cone, upper cylinder, and ramp out of 22 gauge galvanized. The blower housing sides were formed from 18 gauge. I had a sheet metal shop roll the cone cylinder and blower sides. They had a tough time with the blower housing.

I'll try to get some pictures of the ramp when I'm not working next week.

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