Blast cabinet water bucket filter question

[bochnak]

I made a water bucket filter and it works pretty good. The only issue I'm having is that water is making its way into the shop vac. I'd like to eliminate or reduce this since the filter will eventually get dirty since the water ends up in the vac.

I took this pic from another post but I set mine up the same way with 2" pipe:

http://www.thegaragegazette.com/index.php?topic=65.0

 

[James E]

How close is the vacuum tube to the water? Maybe turn that 90 degree bend into a 180 degree so that the vacuum tube end is closer to the lid and faces away from the water? Drill a very small hole at the bottom to let water drain out when the vacuum is turned off?

Just some random thoughts.

 

[spongerich]

Promise not to laugh at my sketch, but something like this might trap a lot of the water and allow it to flow back to the bucket.

 

[Coloshaver]

I ran into the same thing and never solved the problem. I think my vac is powerful enough to cause a lot of water to get airborne in the bucket and get sucked into the vac. I tried lowering the water level to just a couple inches - ~8 inches below the vac tube. I tried cutting a piece of foam to fit around the inlet tube and float on the water. The vac tried to eat it. I thought about, but never got to try a taller bucket to get the vac tube farther from the water.

I'd love to hear it anyone has solved this.

 

[James E]

What about a tee or a step-up connection between the vacuum and the bucket lid? If you spread out the area of vacuum (multiple air outlets or a larger air outlet that necks down to a smaller one), the air flow will be the same but the velocity of airflow will be less. Maybe that would reduce the amount of water sucked up into the vacuum?

Still just thinking out loud here. I'm considering making a water trap myself and am invested in a solution to this problem.

 

[fattogatto]

Voltage regulator to reduce the speed/suction of the vacuum?

 

[bochnak]

Guys thanks for all the responses.

First off, I'm using soda media in a HF cabinet. I know the media is not reclaimable, but man it saves me a ton of time for cleaning carburetors and other aluminum engine parts. I had to clean a head gasket that I could not touch with my usual go to methods. The soda took it right off with a little effort.

There is another issue I come across during long periods of blasting, which is the soda turns to fine dust and collects in the bottom of water filter and turns to sludge and eventually dries the water out. So I would have to frequently clean it or add water.

I thought less suction (voltage regulator), however the soda gets dusty and need a lot of air movement. I have 150W worth of halogen spot lights in there so lighting is not an issue.

I'm thinking of buying a dust deputy cylcone. Pros would be no water to deal with, cons would be the 14" of additional height. I currently can store the bucket under the cab. Not going to happen with deputy on top.

Considering it claims it can catch drywall dust, it should work for my application.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Matt

 

[HMCFab9]

In for more info also. For those that are using water in a bucket, is there any problem with mold / bad odors from the water?

Do you put anything in the water to keep it froim getting nasty? (bleach maybe)?

I thought about building a copy of the "dust deputy" if water unit doesn't work like i'd like it to.

 

[MBfreak]

Install a centrifugal separator. Water is heavy and will hit the walls and drop down. Relatively watermist free air will be sucked out from the centrally placed suction point.

Wish I could make a drawing. But ....

Ola

 

[bochnak]

I did a little more searching and found "Thein baffle cyclone plans".

Here is more info on it:

http://www.jpthien.com/cy.htm

 

[shoot summ]

Nothing to add from a water separator perspective. I was blasting the other night, use mostly glass bead. I had noticed the last few(ok many) times I blasted the cabinet wasn't getting cleared by the vacuum, and I was getting a lot of leakage out of the cabinet as well. Kept thinking I needed to pull it out and go over the seals. Then I pulled the collector apart and checked the filter. Holy **** that thing was completely plugged up. No wonder the vac sounded like it was killing itself. So a little time, and a lot of fine, fine dust later I had a clean filter, and a collector that clears the cabinet, I can see what I am blasting again...

 

[Rickster55]

Nothing to add from a water separator perspective. I was blasting the other night, use mostly glass bead. I had noticed the last few(ok many) times I blasted the cabinet wasn't getting cleared by the vacuum, and I was getting a lot of leakage out of the cabinet as well. Kept thinking I needed to pull it out and go over the seals. Then I pulled the collector apart and checked the filter. Holy **** that thing was completely plugged up. No wonder the vac sounded like it was killing itself. So a little time, and a lot of fine, fine dust later I had a clean filter, and a collector that clears the cabinet, I can see what I am blasting again...

I chuckled as I read this as the very same thing that happened to me today!

 

[nanan00]

Have you thought about making a second cyclone bucket?

 

[bochnak]

I bought a dust deputy and it works awesome! I threw the water bucket in the garbage.

Yes, it costs $60, but it solves my problem.

I'll have a video review to share soon.

 

[TheEquineFencer]

I bought a dust deputy and it works awesome! I threw the water bucket in the garbage.

Yes, it costs $60, but it solves my problem.

I'll have a video review to share soon.

I built something your "bucket" a while back before my shop burned I installed a plywood "Disc" under the lid with a 90* fitting turned out. Here's a link to something like it.

http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f27/building-thien-cyclone-garbage-can-separator-21983/

I used it for saw dust collection prior to the shop vac can. I imagine if you put water in the bottom it'd work great for that.

 

[Mattlt]

Now that you already have your problem solved...

I wonder if it would work to put a little bit of soap in the water to break the surface tension? Not so much that you end up with foam being pulled into your vac, however.

 

[bochnak]

Now that you already have your problem solved...

I wonder if it would work to put a little bit of soap in the water to break the surface tension? Not so much that you end up with foam being pulled into your vac, however.

I could have certainly made improvements to the water filter. However, I still find it annoying to add water before starting the blaster up. Also, a lot of soda escapes, which turns the water to sludge. I don't think there is a way around that. It would **** to clean bucket every 20min. That is why I bought the dust deputy.

 

[BellyUpFish]

I love the Dust Deputy.

Works great on my blast cabinet. I couldn't be happier with it.

Hoping to upgrade to a bigger unit when we get the new shop built.

 

[404]

For DIY the conical part of the system is not essential. A tall straight tube works as well. I made mine from a small diameter water softener pressure tank, of of those fiber wrapped blue things.

Keep the outer diameter small to get best separation at the expense of more pressure drop. The inner pipe is important, make it about 3 outer diameters long. Make the height of the outer shell large to keep stuff in the bucket from getting sucked back up.

I made a sheet metal helix inside at the inlet. This prevents the inlet flow from disturbing the vortex on the first lap around the track.