Building a cyclone (Stu??)

Jeff Horton

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The Heart of Dixie
I guess this is mainly aimed at Stu since I know he built one. I am to the point I NEED a DC system bad! I have some allergy problems and don't want them to get worse. I want a Bill Pentz cyclone but I keep choking on the $1000 price tag from Clearvue.

I know Bill offere plans for his and I am starting to think that maybe building one is not such a bad idea. So, how big and hard is this project? I can't help but wonder if it worth the effort to build vs. just buying? Anyone besides Stu built one?
 
Jeff,

I know a fellow on the canadianwoodworking.com forum, named Bryan Cowing, and he built himself a Pentz cyclone in record time. Unfortunately I can only find a link to his "project completed" thread, and not the thread wherein he actually had photos of the project in progress. (the forum changed software, which I think lost their old posts)

The key for him were two things: he had (or bought) some air powered shears, which made cutting the metal a breeze. And secondly, he bought the metal from a sheet metal shop and they rolled and folded some of the major parts for him. (folded the intake). This cut his assembly time to 8 hours. :eek:

FYI, FWIW.

...art
 
Art nailed it, if you can get a sheet metal shop to cut, roll and weld, solder the thing up, you will save yourself a TON of work.

I really had no alternitive, so I did the whole deal by myself.

If I live in the US or Canada, I'd look for a sheetmetal shop that would play ball.

The plans you can download from Bill's site are MORE than detailed enough that a good sheetmetal fabricator can make the whole thing.

The air powered sheers are good, but you got to have a good compressor, I think that the electric type are maybe better for most guys (looks like a hand drill, but has a cutter on the nose instead of a chuck).

Lots of work, yeah, but I'm glad I did it, lets me breath a lot better down in my hole ;) :D

Cheers!
 
Just the kind of advice I was looking for. I used to work for a sheet metal shop years ago designing stuff. Unfortunately no contacts in that field any more but I know a couple of shops. May take them the plans and get a price from them. Will probably make the Clearvue look better. :)
 
Chris [my brother] is a member here. Pm him for the link and info
 
Jeff, I suggest calling Ed at Clearvue. I would at least buy the motor and blower from him. He'll help you along the way with the rest. I can't say enough about him. He's not so concerned about getting your money as he is helping you build the unit that suits your needs. I thought about building my own also. I used to work in a steel fabrication shop. I could have built my own but, decided to buy the whole unit from Ed. I'm not sorry in the least. I must have called him 4-5 times before making my decision.
 
Thanks Russ. I have been thinking about this and I have worked in Design and worked with the fabrication of mechanical 'stuff' for years. I know the pit falls and what you don't expect will happen. I am having second thoughts about building one. Even thought it costs more there is a LOT to be said for buying one all ready built. I am just having heart burn over the cost of installing one.:dunno:
 
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