The Cyclone was mounted on the outside of my workshop with its Inlet inserted through the wall in about the centre of the shop wall. With the great weather in Queensland, Australia, I don't need heating in my shop so I don't have to worry about sucking dangerous gases from a gas heater into the shop as does a lot of the U.S. guys.In my old workshop, I originally mounted the blower to Joists by chain but I changed that to remove the harmonic effect/vibration which was occurring upstairs in the house. In the new Shed, the Cyclone is mounted outside on four hardwood legs which go from the underside of the Blower mounting board. I have been careful that NO PART of the Cyclone or its Frame actually touches the Shed (and that includes the Inlet through the Wall). Otherwise, I would have some serious vibrations through the whole shed I recon.All the PVC is 150mm (6") and I have not used one single 90 degree connection in the piping, all bends are made up of two 45's with a short length of pipe between them. This is to make the turns more gentle thereby minimising their effect on the air flow.The Cyclone Inlet (i.e. the rectangular metal pipe in the construction pictures) goes through the Wall and has a gentle curve up and to the right to connect to the Main Duct run. On this are multiply Wye's that branch back down to the Machines, This basically gives only two minor branches to the tools that need Air Flow the least and the Main Duct powering the Heavy Dust producing Machines.On the Main Duct, you can see the first Wye. This is not connected to anything and is for the Tools in 'Machinery Alley' to connect to when they are used. These will eventually be plumbed in permanently. The next Wye goes down to my Sliding Drop Saw (to the left) and the other is to the Bandsaw. From there we have a spare Wye I can use to hook up tools as needed (i.e. if I move the Jointer or Drum Sander out from 'Machinery Ally' to work on some heavy stuff). After that I have a Branch that runs to the 'Sanders Wall' and lastly, the Main goes on down to the Table Saw. I am going to extend the Main over to the far wall so I can have a Duct on the Drill Press and also an Auxiliary duct if needed on that side.I have currently connected the Machines using 100mm (4") flex hose keeping them as short as possible. In time I will upgrade the machine inlets to 150mm (6") and then replace the 100mm flex with 150mm.Lastly, in a few of the pic's you can see my homemade 150mm Blast gates. I have included a couple of pic's at the bottom of this page showing their construction.I still have a bit more work to do but everything is functional at the moment. |
The Cyclone outside - Inlet goes through the Wall |
Inlet from Cyclone connected to Main Duct with Branches
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Wall Saw connectionBelt/Disk Sander and Router Branch (Updated) |
Drop Saw and Bandsaw Branch
End of the Main heading to the Table Saw (left) and 'Sander Wall' (right) |
Homemade 150mm Blast Gate Parts
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Blast Gate installed |