# how good are cyclones on very fine dust?



## Charlie68 (Dec 30, 2019)

At present I am using a cyclone dust collector piped to my major tools and am having good results. The cyclone sits on a sealed 15 gal box. 

The cyclone and vacuum are located in a separate room to help with noise reduction. This means tho that monitoring exactly what it is doing is not the easiest. 

I am thinking of setting up a roll around setup with a cyclone and vacuum for just sanding.

I know the cyclones deal well with heavier particles but how well do they work on very fine dust?


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## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

Charlie...I use a Dust Deputy on top of a 5-gal bucket with a Ridgid shop vac. Connections are 2 1/2".

I use it for sanding spackle and sheetrock dust as well as fine sawdust when connected to the dust port of my Dewalt ROS. I've also used it the same way on the teak on my boat and a quick sanding before bottom-painting. Outside furniture, old varnish (until I started using my Stanley 80 scraper), refinishing table tops, between poly applications, hardwood floor repairs, holes in the wall repairs, etc... It's very handy because it's portable... I have also connected it to my Fein tool dust port...

I start with a clean filter in the shop vac and it stays that way...all the fine dust is in the 5gal bucket. I have noticed that the shop vac can "over-suck" the DD and the dust swirls at the top (instead of dropping down) until I break the vacuum. Easy fix is to put a small door at the top of the DD to let some air in and that should take care of it.

The ROS's I have (Dewalt and Bosch) sometimes leave fine dust as the ports don't grab all the sanding dust...but that's a ROS issue.

Short story...? Works for me...for all the sanding jobs I do...


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

@Charlie68 I have a set up similar to yours. The only way I can tell is that I have a dust box at the bottom of my twin Wyn filters. When I empty my 32 gal dust bin, and back blow the filters, I get about a quart of truly fine dust in the dust box that I have to vacuum out. that is from my drum sander and downdraft table.
HErb


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I only get sawdust in my bag if I need to clean out the 30 gallon fiber drum. I have my DC unit in a small chamber I closed in between the shop shed and another shed I use for an office. The enclosed space returns the filtered air through a 20x20 filter back into the shop so I don't waste the heated or AC air. Lots of ways to enclose the DC, but you need an easy access door so you can check the bucket. 15 gallons means you need to empty it about the time it's 2/3rds full or you'll get blow by dust that can clog your filter. Here's a pix of the setup. The super dust deputy sits atop the fiber drum, air flows out the top into the DC motor/blower, any remaining sawdust drops into a plastic bag, then the air flows up into the Wynn filter. You can see the 20x20 return filter on the wall behind. The power plug is connected to a switch inside the shop. This is a revised installation. I shortened the connectors, straightened them as much as possible, and made a very gradual turn down from the top of the SDD. The sound level is so low I occasionally forget to turn it off. Someday I'll put in a remote.


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## sreilly (May 22, 2018)

What I think is key here is the filter itself and its ability to stop the finer dust from escaping. Correct me if I'm wrong but a poor filter will not stop the finer particles. Poor being a filter rated above .1 microns. What is available for the shop vacs in terms of filters will determine the end results I think. The Dust Deputy will do the separation. I could be wrong but that's my understanding. At least with my Shopsmith rolling DC the filter hood is the filter and I think the standard bag was 7 micron where there were 2 optional finer bags available. 5 micron and 1 micron. Not sure even the 1 micron would stop the dust from say MDF which is like cocoa. So if your using a shop vac it's filtering ability will be the limiting factor........I think.


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## Pcurry (Dec 5, 2013)

I’ve been using a mini Dust Deputy with a Nilfisk Vac and HEPA cloth filter on a cart for years now. Not having to replace the cloth filters has paid for the DD many times over.


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## Charlie68 (Dec 30, 2019)

Thanks everyone. 

I think I will go ahead and put together a mobile unit with a cyclone and a shop vac with maybe a hepa filter.


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## MEBCWD (Jan 14, 2012)

When I tested the different small dust separators I found the Dust Deputy (Oneida Air) and the Dustopper (Home Depot) to do a good job of separating even the fine dust. I have used the DD with RO sanders and dust collection hoses and the DD keeps the filter in the vac clean so I get excellent suction from the vac for a very long time. Side by side comparison I would say the Duststopper would give similar results but have not used it as much as the DD.

https://www.routerforums.com/woodshop-dust-control/135073-dust-separator-comparison.html


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