Dust collection has always been a shortcoming of my CNC router set-up and I recently undertook to make some drastic improvements. I have an older DELTA 50-181 dust collector that sat on a 55 gallon drum. It could move lots of air and had a premium BALDOR 2HP motor but separation of fine dust from MDF or the plastics that I work with was very poor and much ended up in the filter bag, quickly plugging it up . Also as anyone who has one of these is aware, lifting off the blower and lid assembly to empty the drum is a serious chore as it must weigh at least 75lbs if not more. Anyway after a few years of this I finally decided to separate the blower from the drum lid and build a adapter plate that would allow it to attach to the 6" inlet of a Super Dust deputy cyclone. The cyclone alone was a massive improvement but I figured why stop there so I ordered up a HEPA cartridge filter from my local woodworking toy store and set about making the vireos brackets and duct work to tie it all together. With all this done I now have a very effective collector and I just have to run some duct work to the SHOPBOT and then improve my collector foot on the table itself. Gonna be great, I just know it! Initial tests show the separation of even the finest of dust is nearly 100% with virtually nothing ending up in the filter bag. This is such an improvement that it just amazes me. It did cost me $650 Canadian dollars to do this upgrade but since I already had the DELTA it was worth the investment as a readymade 2HP cyclone at the local store was about $1600.
Gerald
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