[ranman]

Watched every how to on the internet, then decided to do it myyyy wayyyy.
I had a Air Research turbo housing laying around and it was time to make use out of it. It was vortex time and this was my start.
It needed grinding to open the small end of the inlet, then I needed to get rid of the large gap on the perimeter of the unit. I did that by cutting the bottom of a stainless steel steamer/strainer thingy. Perfect fit to the turbo's radius. JBweld and a few rivets got it done did. Here's before and after, or after and before. Gap is gone and now the air spins.
I'll continue with more posts

 

[Stick486]

and I like that Estwing fine adjustment tool...

 

[ranman]

Now I needed a cone. Looked for cone shapes everywhere... Pitchers, trash cans.... Nothing close in width height or diameter could be found anywhere. Traffic cones wouldn't work. I didn't want to build an ugly support for those even tho the taper looks right, or right enough.
So instead of $1 pans I bought for the project at the thrift stores, I had to shell out almost $25 for sheet metal from the True Value hardware store. Major hit as everything else was nickels and dimes.
I cut a section from another cheap bunt pan I found and it's exactly the same diameter as the turbo housing.... and has a rolled edge, so the coupling on the turbo and the pan will be coupled together with a long hose clamp.
I searched the internet once more to learn how to make a cone out of the sheet metal. The diameter of the top of the cone needed to end up fitting the bunt pan-turbo connection. I made a cone out of poster board and it fit... so I
duplicated the layout on the sheet metal. The seam was riveted together, then the cone was riveted to the section of the bunt pan rim I cut off.
Here's the cone and turbo as it will look when completed. It's mounted on some really nice 11 ply free plywood.
This contraption will set stop my old 16 gallon shop vac tank.

 

[ranman]

Bought it in '87

 

[ranman]

My Frank Sinatra part is using a 3 inch return pipe instead of trusting the cleaner air will come straight back up the center of the vortex.
So anyway, the dust spirals down the cone and enters the tank and is forced to the outside of the tank rather than just dropping out. It exits the cone into the tank and hits another $1 cake pan, which forces the dust outwards.

 

[Stick486]

looking good...

 

[ranman]

It didn't function bad, but more was needed. Instead of flinging outwards, I figured it needed to continue to spiral outwards once it entered into the tank.
I had some Plexiglass, so I cut some strips, heated them then bent them over a form. I cut them to final length then glued them onto the plywood.
I also reduced the pan to plywood gap to the 1" thickness of the Plexiglass strips, forcing the air/dust to swirl.

 

[ranman]

I decided since the dust will be swirling around the outside of the tank, some sort of baffle would be needed to continue slowing the dust. I inverted a small plastic bucket and suspended it with 4 wooden dowels so air would move under the bucket. It was just suspended 2 inches from the bottom.

 

[ranman]

Time for a test. I cleaned the Frank tank and the shop vac tank to better see the dust flow on the sides of the tanks. Static attraction on the plastic might be as helpful as what's in the bottom or in the filter.
Not too bad but I think I need the top of that small bucket way higher so that it fits almost inside the aluminum cake pan, which is the "cleaner air"intake.

 

[ranman]

I sanded 1/4 inch of particle board in a one foot by three foot area to make the dust. Clarke edger and 16 grit paper did just fine.
I didn't make this for sucking up paper towels an wood chips from an axe. Just for dust so I don't have to clean my filter so often when grinding concrete or floor patch, or lumps and bumps in floors. I install flooring and once in a while this will come in handy. Needs some refinements and maybe a sort of pre-filter in the Frank tank. I have made a pre filter before using those cheap loosely knit terry cloth shop towels. Just got to hot glue a few towels together and wrap them around the air intake loosely..... Kind of like draperies. Just have to open the lid and tap em once in a while to shake off the dust.
So not quite done yet, but it will work.

 

[JFPNCM]

Well done and a great series of photos detailing the project. Now all I need to do is find a spare air research turbo housing.

 

[Nickp]

Very creative and well done. I especially appreciate that you explained WHY you did what you did for certain pieces and not just the HOW...VERY NICE...! ! !

 

[Nickp]

Well done and a great series of photos detailing the project. Now all I need to do is find a spare air research turbo housing.

Find two, can you...? :grin:

 

[JFPNCM]

Find two, can you...? :grin:

Found one. On eBay. I’ll leave it for you. 😀

 

[ranman]

Thanks all. Found the turbo unit on the edge of a logging landing 30ish years ago. Had bad bearings so it was probably replaced on site and the old one tossed over the edge.
Basically, the housing flange was my starting point. The large end of the cone was my starting point for the project. Some math from internet searches have me some data for the angle and the diameter of the small diameter of the cone.
That said, I didn't trust my math and the particulate velosity that would be created inside the cone to do what it's supposed to do.
That's why I put a 3 inch ABS pipe inside the cone, to carry the "cleaner" air straight up the spinning vortex of dust with no interaction between those two air flows. Dirty down, and cleaner up and out the center.
Most guys with a serious woodshop use a more serious store bought collection unit and it's stationary. Mine is going to be portable and used rarely, maybe once per year.
I had a week with no work and the sun was shining, so it was simply time to make a go at this project. It was fun project and a learning process. Efficiency couldn't be as good as commercial units, but mine will work 10 or 30 times better than running dust straight into a shop vac filter. If I have to shake or blow out my shop vac filter 3 times instead of 30 times, it will save me a lot of time when this is actually needed.
Besides, it's a shiny cone with a turbo on top..... Can't get more cooler than that. 😄
If my fine tuning produces results of any value, I'll add more images.
I have made more primitive devices like this over the years that worked well for my needs, so this is just a more serious attempt. Regardless, it's fun messing with my own mind to see what it comes up with next. 😄

 

[ranman]

One of the fun parts of the project was scouring the thrift stores for cheap parts..... Rims and bottoms of pots and pans and angel food cake pans that fit the diameters that I needed for transition pieces. I have some leftovers if anyone needs em. 😄

 

[ranman]

Not sure why that happened.
Hey JFPNCM, I live in a nearby country 250 miles south of you, Coos Bay. 😄