I got the last of the hardware I needed today: hidden spring hinges and door handles. I just need to mill the vent slots in the vacuum door and I can finish assembling everything.
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As an aside, the cyclone is super effective… Too effective. It sprayed the dust all over the inside of the sealed box for the bucket. I’m going to have to revisit the design a bit I think. 
I have an old small house vacuum (similar to this: https://www.elkjop.no/product/hjem-og-husholdning/stovsuger-og-rengjoring/stovsuger/11878/miele-complete-c3-grey-pearl-ecoline-stovsuger) that I use for the car and messy things in the shed. It’s super impractical, because the bag fills very quickly. I’ve been thinking about taking an old brewing bucket, printing a cyclone and using this vacuumer to power it - to keep the costs down.
What’s your opinion on the cyclone now, after trying it out a little? Do you think it’ll work with a vacuum like that?
It’s definitely separating a significant portion of the dust and chips out. I’ll have to open the back and check the vacuum for buildup soon, but so far so good I think.
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I think an old house vacuum, with a cyclone is a great idea. I have a printed bucket attachment on my shop vac and almost nothing gets past it. I think it would take a long time to fill up the vacuum itself with a cyclone in line.
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I’m using the same one, but I made a 4 inch flange for my dust collector. I had a bunch of small stuff getting into the bag, so I moved the inlet bucket to the bottom. I get a lot less trash in the bag now, but it piles up on the bottom of the top bucket (just a hole cut in, didn’t remove the entire bottom). I think I need either a deflection flap at the opening between buckets to push the dust back down or a third bucket on the bottom so the hose inlet doesn’t stir up so much.
Added a bucket ring to under the cyclone, should help make a better seal for the bucket and throw less dust around inside the sealed compartment.
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Your ring looks good, great way to keep it fairly easy to empty the bucket.
Drowning warning on a bucket? I’ve never thought of that… hmm hmm
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It only takes something like 3" of water in the bucket for a toddler to fall in and drown because they can’t get back out. It doesn’t happen often, but in the US, we like to put warnings on EVERYTHING.
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WELP! I finished the cyclone, it works like a charm - but the bucket is sucked thin/implodes! I’m going to make a couple of circles out of wooden fiber plates, to make a structure that enforce the sides of the bucket. Any other ideas??
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Barry suggests a double bucket. The air pressure should be enough to keep them together.
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Put a bucket inside a bucket they said. Should be enough they said. Well - I say it all depends on the buckets…
I tried with a big and heavy clay planter. It worked at last!
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Well, I think it’s supposed to be two of the same bucket…
Personally, when I get around to a real dust collection system, I’m going to get something like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0026GO5CA
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Haha - yes, obviously. But I was too eager not to try the first thing I came across in the shed…
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That’s similar to the one I used
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LDEP0C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
One thing to be aware of is that the lip on the inside of the lid is almost 1.5", so you need to make sure you have enough room to get the lid up off the top of it. I originally had the bucket hard-plumbed to the motor above it and then kicked myself when I couldn’t remove the bucket because of the lid.
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You have to let the OCD steer the ADHD…
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The battle between those two forces is never ending! The ADHD wins too often, but on the other hand, when the OCD runs the show - I never finish anything…
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I’m very tempted to use a fermentation keg that I’m not using, because of a broken filling valve: https://www.bryggselv.no/speidel/101936/gjæringskar-30l-med-tappekran-og-gjærlås-speidel-30l-gjæringskar
It’s too nice for such a use, but would actually work very well because of the stronger walls.