Hi guys and gals,
I've been checking out the Pentz site and was wondering if anyone is using his recommended sizes for cyclone dimensions and blower sizes. It seems like he recommends an 18" cylinder for the cyclone body size, using a 5 HP blower with a 14"-16" recommended impeller size.
Has anyone made one of these monsters? I'm really thinking about it after reading through some of his findings on very fine dust collection. I'm going to have a little money to play with in the next little while and I think it would be smart to do it right the first time. I've been doing alot of my woodworking in the driveway, but now that it's starting to get cold I'd like to take the party in to my garage. I've got a 15X25 space with a 10' ceiling to work with and I've already got a corner picked out for some sort of DC. Now I'm just trying to decide if I should make the Pentz design and duct whatever's left outside or just get a Grizzly 2-3 HP with a Wynn and be done with it.
I'm also wondering how much I could save by doing it myself versus just buying a unit from Clear Vue.
I know several people that have fabricated his design and love it. Using the spreadsheet calculator you can scale up the design as well.
His design was copied, excactly, by clearvue cyclones, so their DCs are to his specs. Not their small "dust deputy" clone, only the larger ones. The key to his design, according to him and some other people with more knowledge than I have on the subject, is the neutral vane part of the DC. That is one part that I don't believe any other cyclone has incorporated into their design. You used to be able to buy a kit, from Bill, and manufactured by his son for around $250.00 but that is no longer available. You can purchase just the cyclone part from Clearvue for around $450.00 and add your own components to it. How much you'd save over their complete system, I have no idea. I don't think you'd save much. Their systems are based on 5hp, which, by the way, is the minimum that Bill Pentz recommends for a standard shop to be able to get the flow sufficient for the invisible dust that is most harmful.
Now, stumpy Nubs built a Bill Pentz cyclone completely out of wood and goes through the build process on his web site. Right after he completed that build, Clearvue gave him one of theirs. Think they may have been worried that he'd start a revolution? You can watch all four episodes of that build here:
http://www.stumpynubs.com/season-2.html
Bill recommends that, no matter whose DC you use, put it outside and forgo the expensive filters. That way you are assured that any and all of the fine dust will not re-enter the workspace through the cyclone/filter portion of your DC. Ducts and ports, well, that is a function of everyone's own configuration. Of course, people that live in colder climates complain about robbing the warmed air in the shop by the suction on the DC and, in warmer climes, the AC. I have read pros and cons on that argument and still have no definitive insight on it. Now, I think I have the reclaiming the warm or cool air situation figured out as far as the Pentz/Clearvue Cyclones go. You have the cyclone vent to the outside in nice weather and vent to the dual stack Wynn Environmental filters (located inside the shop) in colder or hotter weather. The filters would reintroduce the warmed or cooled air back into the shop. Still, the Clearvue has MERV rating of 15 and an efficiency rating of 99.999% @ 0.5 micron. You would, if you built your own Pentz cyclone enjoy numbers very close to that in your own design. Given that you would adhere to the strictest tolerances of Bill's drawings.
And, as far as an overhead filtration system goes, I would recommend another Bill Pentz design. It's the one he actually uses and I'll bet it does a great job.
http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/air_cleaner.cfm
I have tracked down all the parts for this one and it's less money are more efficient than many of the major manufacturers' units. You can find my parts list here
http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f32/air-filtration-unit-would-you-recommend-56903/
Hope this helps,
Paul
And You're right deftworks, if you have this one in place, you will never need to replace it to get better air quality. Unless you want better than 0.5 micron filtering, then you could buy an industrial filter that would take you down in the 0.2-0.3 range (at a healthy upcharge) but the DC would be a first and last purchase.
I can supply you with multiple websites where people have build logs of Bill's Cyclone. Just ask...