Results 1 to 12 of 12

Thread: Dust Collector Cyclone With Left Side Inlet

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Southeast MI.
    Posts
    374

    Dust Collector Cyclone With Left Side Inlet

    I know there's a guy on e-bay that sells cyclone separators with either left or right side inlets, But I haven't seen any of the name brand cyclone separators with the left-side inlet!

    Does anyone know of a name brand cyclone with a left-hand inlet?

    Doug

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    San Francisco Bay Area
    Posts
    271
    Doug, clearvue offers a left hand intake with their cyclones. I have a CVMax and it works great. Good luck

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    NE OH
    Posts
    2,615
    The Oneida cyclones can be assembled with the intake facing left (or any direction on, IIRC, 25 or 30 degree multiples). It won't be next to the back wall, but it will be pointing left.
    --I had my patience tested. I'm negative--

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    SoCal
    Posts
    22,492
    Blog Entries
    1
    My grizzly also allows the inlet and exhaust to be installed in several orientations around the compass. If you truly want a left-handed psych loan then Clearview as the one I know of. I’m sure there’s more…?
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298
    I installed the RH 5hp ClearVue with a 15" impeller. When I designed my layout choosing the RH option over the LH made it a LOT easier to fit the ducting into my shop plan. My plan put the duct work in the trusses above the ceiling. I have the cyclone in a tight space in a closet, not against the shop wall, and one direction allowed a more direct input duct while the other would have needed a much tighter turn or a total redesign of the shop. It's not a simple matter of rotating the inlet port to move the inlet on the other side which is trivial. When moving the inlet to the other side and have the inlet pointed in the desired direction the design of the upper cylinder and the internal spiral (what Bill Pentz calls the "air ramp") is reversed so the dust will spiral in the correct direction, clockwise (left hand) or counterclockwise (right hand) when viewed from the top.

    Easy to see in the the Pentz plan diagram is at the bottom of this page: https://billpentz.com/woodworking/cy...clone_plan.php
    He includes a paragraph on Cyclone Orientation and mentions the value of reversing the impeller direction as well, especially for a large HP cyclone with a large impeller.

    BTW, it is a bit confusing which is left and right.

    From a ClearVue forum post:
    The left hand model uses a little less power than the right hand model so it is more efficient [for the stock impeller/motor]. If you were to look at the cyclone from the inlet side the left hand model has the inlet on the left side whereas the right hand model has the inlet on the right side. If you were to look from the top the air would spin clockwise in the left hand model and counterclockwise in the right hand model. If you mount the cyclone against a wall you would want the left hand model if the input is on the left side; that places the pipe close to the wall. And the opposite if the inlet is on the right. When you install the cyclone, you can orient the filters/ outlet independent of the inlet. I think there may well be interference if you try to align the inlet with the outlet but otherwise they are independent. bababrown, 2008

    and from Pentz,
    "You need to specify if you have a left or right-handed cyclone to make sure you get optimum performance. A left-handed cyclone is one where when facing the cyclone as it hangs we see the inlet on the back side pointing left. A right-handed cyclone has the inlet entering the back right portion of the cyclone. "

    BTW2: It's not clear from their website if ClearVue even offers the RH model any more - I see only the LH models listed but you could call to check. Perhaps when ClearVue sold the business the new owners simplified things to reduce costs.

    JKJ

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Southeast MI.
    Posts
    374
    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Fairbanks View Post
    clearvue offers a left hand intake with their cyclones.
    Quote Originally Posted by Paul F Franklin View Post
    The Oneida cyclones can be assembled with the intake facing left (or any direction on, IIRC, 25 or 30 degree multiples). It won't be next to the back wall, but it will be pointing left.
    Quote Originally Posted by glenn bradley View Post
    If you truly want a left-handed psych loan then Clearview as the one I know of.
    Quote Originally Posted by John K Jordan View Post
    BTW, it is a bit confusing which is left and right.
    Yeah I agree! And I probably should have also better explained that I'm looking for just the cyclone separator & not a complete system!

    from Pentz,
    "You need to specify if you have a left or right-handed cyclone to make sure you get optimum performance. A left-handed cyclone is one where when facing the cyclone as it hangs we see the inlet on the back side pointing left. A right-handed cyclone has the inlet entering the back right portion of the cyclone. "
    This also from the Bill Pentz website
    "Quote From Bill Pentz" If made incorrectly your cyclone turns that air in the opposite direction as your blower. A blower wastes about 1/2 hp to reverse the spinning air direction.
    The blower & motor I'm using is from a 2HP 3-phase Cincinnati Model #200S 2 stage dust collector. https://www.cincinnatifan.com/catalo...ors108-sls.pdf
    The rotation of this unit is clockwise (looking down at the motor)
    IMG_2460.JPGIMG_2972.JPG

    A while back I tried to make a DIY cyclone for my homemade dust collector!
    https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....lone-Separator
    However I ended up making the cone section too big for my smaller 2HP 1100CFM blower unit. I also had problems getting it 100% sealed, It seemed like I was always finding tiny air leaks in the unit.

    I could upgrade the blower & motor to handle the larger DIY cyclone I made, And try again to get it sealed!
    However at this point I'm thinking it may just be best to find a cyclone separator already designed for the small sized blower I have.

    Doug

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Location
    Arlington, TX
    Posts
    452
    I wonder what they do in the southern hemisphere; you know, since the toilets swirl backwards there. Probably the same with cyclonic separators and centrifugal blowers...



    -- Andy - Arlington TX

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298
    Quote Originally Posted by Andy D Jones View Post
    I wonder what they do in the southern hemisphere; you know, since the toilets swirl backwards there. Probably the same with cyclonic separators and centrifugal blowers...



    -- Andy - Arlington TX
    Ha! I think that's only an issue with cyclones that have the input dead center instead of to the left or right and rely on the earth's spin to determine the swirl direction. Not known for their efficiency...

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Southeast MI.
    Posts
    374
    Quote Originally Posted by Andy D Jones View Post
    I wonder what they do in the southern hemisphere; you know, since the toilets swirl backwards there. Probably the same with cyclonic separators and centrifugal blowers...
    I doubt that the air flow direction in a dust collector would make any difference in either hemisphere since it's being forced by a blower!
    But air currents in general are also reversed in the southern hemisphere due to what's known as the Coriolis Effect

    Doug

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298

    Watching the air flow

    Quote Originally Posted by Doug Walls View Post
    I doubt that the air flow direction in a dust collector would make any difference in either hemisphere since it's being forced by a blower!
    ...
    For anyone wondering: The ClearVue clear plastic cyclone makes it easy to see why the dust spirals in a specific direction. My observations:

    The air pulled into the inlet from the ductwork goes into a cylindrical chamber containing a spiraled ramp which forces the stream around and down at an angle towards the wall of the separator cone. Mine is a RH cyclone so it's built to cause the dust to spiral in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the top. As the stream spirals against the cone wall gravity causes the dust particles to gradually spiral lower and lower until they drop into the bin. The chips and dust sliding against the inside of the polycarbonate cone create a significant static charge you can feel when you put your hand against the outside of the cone.

    I use a section of 6" flex hose to connect the bottom of the separator cone through a hole in the lid of the bin made from a 30 gal galvanized steel trash can. A look into the bin (after the cyclone is turned off!) indicates the small amount of air that makes it into the bin continues to spin inside: the dust is sloped high against the bin wall and lower in the center. The impeller (blower) is above the cone and pulls air up through a fairly large diameter cylindrical tube that extends a short way down into the cone. As the air slows, it moves away from the spiral at the wall and is pulled up through the tube, through the impeller, and is forced out the exhaust port to the filter stack or dumped outside. The long cone of the ClearVue is so efficient even powder-fine dust goes into the bin and almost nothing makes it to the filter stack. In six years of use I see only a few tablespoons of fine dust in the small cleanout chamber below the filters.

    I understand the stream of air is still spinning in the same direction as it is pulled up through the central cylinder. Since mine is spinning CCW and the impeller is spinning CW there is some small loss of efficiency as the air changes direction. However, the 5hp motor and 15" steel impeller still moves an incredible amount of air.

    The process is fascinating to watch. I'll sometimes throw a handful of sawdust and shavings into a pickup nozzle then run back to the cyclone closet to watch the action!

    JKJ

  11. #11
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Wenatchee. Wa
    Posts
    769
    “The process is fascinating to watch. I'll sometimes throw a handful of sawdust and shavings into a pickup nozzle then run back to the cyclone closet to watch the action! “

    Amazing what woodworkers will do for entertainment! You should video this action and save it for your grandchildren. And that was a nice description of how a cyclone separator works. Thank you.
    I’m grateful that we have efficient systems that allow us to safely work in enclosed spaces, no matter which direction the chips spiral.
    Last edited by Bernie Kopfer; 09-24-2021 at 12:54 PM.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Location
    Arlington, TX
    Posts
    452
    I'm just wondering if there is additional efficiency to be obtained if the intake and motor/impeller direction match that naturally occurring in storms/toilets in the hemisphere employed...

    Of if it might back up into the Warp Drive...

    -- Andy - Arlington TX

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •