Shop Made "Cyclone" Lids
James D. Marco
20001015

A modification for a 30 gallon garbage can

The so-called 'Cyclone' lids are not new. I built this one for myself about 25 years ago when I worked out of my cellar. The drawing is for the one I used till I moved in 1998.

The material will probably cost as much as buying the prefab lid, but the degree of customization will be better and you can apply the same technique to larger scale collection systems, too.
Material:
  • 1 - large size Galvanized garbage can with tight fitting lid.

    • Note:
    You will need some lengths of pipe and fittings to match the shop vac hose and the attachment to your machine. These are not something I can define. 1-1/4", 2-1/2" and 4" are fairly standard.

    I discovered that the "ShopVac" Brand of vacume cleaner uses a standard 2-1/2" to 1-1/4 reducer for its attachments. Remove the reducer and it will accept standard 2-1/2" flex hose. A wrap or two of duct tape allows a snug no-leak connection.

    PVC
    Many PVC pipe sizes will also work as adapters. Just make sure the vacume hose fits snuggly into the pipe. The various 'Shedule 40', 'Schedule 20', etc will have differing thicknesses, so adjust the hole sizes to fit the pipe you are using.)
  • 1 elbow to match shop vac hose
  • 2 'T' fittings to match shopvac hose
  • 1 'cap' to fit standard shopvac hose (for attachments)
  • 1 'cap' to fit your dust collector hose
  • 2 cans of heavy grey utility epoxy
  • 1 small can of PVC glue & solvent

    • (I used 4" hose originally, fearing that the larger chips would clog the hose. I later found that 2-1/2" inch worked OK.)

    Directions
  • On the lid, mark holes with a scratch awl to fit PVC pipe as indicated.
    The outlet holes (3) are located by the size of the elbows, some coupler rings made from short lengths of matching pipe, and the length of the 'T' fittings spaced as close together as possible.
  • Cut the holes out.
    (I cut the holes out with a heavy pair of snips. The holes get kind'a ragged, but the thick heavy grey epoxy covers a multitude of sins.)
  • Fit the inlet and outlet pieces.
    The inlets should extend down into the can about about 6 inches below the lid and turn a few degrees off of the side of the can.
    The outlets should only extend 1/2" below the lid...just enough to let the epoxy to bond with a fillet.
  • Glue the fittings together with the PVC glue.
  • With corse 60# sandpaper, scrub the areas of PVC that will be epoxied. This just insures a good bond.
  • Epoxy all the fittings into the garbage can lid and let it sit over night.
    TIP: After an hour or two, a hair dryer can be used to warm the epoxy, and it will set enough to be usable in about 15-20 minutes.
    I used the thick, grey two part epoxy. But they make several kinds of mouldable epoxy nowdays that set much quicker. This stuff would probably work as well or better.
    • Some notes:
    I did this twice, since I made an error. The first lid I made, there was a single hose in the center. Most of the chips and shavings migrated to the shopvac. I cut two more holes to reduce the speed of the air through the outlets and ended up with this design. This gave much more time for the larger chips and heavier shavings to settle out into the garbage bucket. The fine sanding dust/saw dust still migrates to the shop vac.

    I would improve this again. 3 - 4" holes into a 4" outlet assembly and reduce the size to 2-1/2" after leaving the outlet assembly. It reduces the velocity of air on the outlet, allowing finer sawdust and smaller planer shavings to settle. Or, you could add a filter, but this will reduce the air flow volume.

    The design has a fringe benefit. It separates the fine 'sawdust' from chips and shavings, more or less. The chips and shavings, I use for mulch around the house, or give away for the same purpose (keeps the wife happy, too!) And, it saves me from paying to have it removed (1.50 per 25# bag).

    Another Dust Collection item of possible interest:
    A sweep pickup.

    I have a few of these at strategic points in the shop.
    I haven't gone to a full dust collection system, so I plug them in to the shop vac as needed. Nice for sweeping up. Also, it separates dust from screws, easily. It doesn't have enough vacume to pick up a screw, but grabs the sawdust! A small piece of screen is handy for trapping large hand plane curlings.
    The foot is a piece of scrap aluminum siding and a couple of blocks for corners. The pipe and reducer is PVC and should be grounded to avoid dust build up on the outside as you flick the dust at it.