(Trial 1) DIY Thien cyclone chaff seperator

[az erik]

Looking around at the cyclone options and things  that mostly wood workers messed with for dust collection I came to an idea that I'm trying to have a go at. The Cyclone (Dust Master) that Susan and others may have sits on top of a 5 gallon bucket. In reality it doesn't need that big of a bucket as all the bucket is for is chaff collection. A mason jar is big enough to catch 5 to 6 lbs worth of roasted coffee chaff. However every Thien seperator (Thien was the professors name) http://www.jpthien.com/cy.htm, seemed to use a 5 gallon bucket or a 30 gallon trash can. Overkill for us. Then I ran into a shop vac, dirt cheap mind you, that uses a 5 gallon bucket for the bottom. Hey 2 birds one stone eh? Nicely this thing is at Lowes so I made a stop there on the way home and picked up this $23 shopvac with far more power than we need. Went home and before starting to cut it appear I ran it with my Variac to make sure I could control it and it not burn out on me instantly. Things appeared good after 5 minutes so I hooked the 1.5 inch hose up to the end of my j pipe and ramped it up to 100%, it removed chaff from my burner! Ok so I'll probably not need any more than 60% but eh I got it.

So here's the victim


Taking it appart is only 6 screws (the 2 on top just screw on a decoration of a motor cover)


Get out my dremel

Cut most of the plastic (I made these cuts and left some as I'd like to still use it as an actual vacuum in my cars at some point) I can place most of this back in with the blue filter thing and still use it I hope)


Fit it back together

90 degree elbow to come later

Moving on to the Thien it's self. Most people actually attached the seperator to the vac, I dodn't want to do that now as I'd like to be able to move the seperator up and down to try for better seperation. So the current plan is to screw the "plate in via the sides of the can. 3 screw holes to patch later if I get it wrong.

This part is a touch harder than it seemed as I thought "just trace out the bottom of the bucket


THen realized that would fall all the way down, so I moved to the top, then figured out somewhere in the middle.



And well that didn't work so I came close and then started cutting. Key to the Thien is there is a 240 degree "notch" around the plate, and where the elbow lines up is the other part. Now most of these pull aire out directly in the middle and rely on wind speed to fling the dust to the outside edge of the bucket, then gravity pulls it down.


I only made it this far and had to stop, more to come as it develops

[SusanJoM]

so I hooked the 1.5 inch hose up to the end of my j pipe and

Do you think that 1.5" hose could be used where I've got this ??

[az erik]

It's questionable as the plastic 1.5 inch pipe probably isn't going to handle 300+ degree air. My plan is to use the current "shop vac hose" as the exhaust hose. I figure it'll cool off inside the bucket and be about 150ish degree on exit. I was going to try to find small flex piping to run from the Huky to the bucket..

[SusanJoM]

Well, if anyone finds flexible duct in a 1 1/2" diameter let me know.

In the meantime this 1 1/2" slip joint is at least an improvement on the black sewer connection 

[SusanJoM]

I got my aircraft duct..but it's not as 'flexible' as I had planned..

Where did you find that ducting?  It would still be easier to have something flexible since when I lift the exhaust tube it means tilting the entire cyclone apparatus just a bit.

I'm still loathe to cut into the stove ducting.  Call me nervous.  (and that's a gas replica of a woodstove; I got tired of sourcing and stacking and hauling wood several years ago).  But, the HUKY does not have its own vent out that same back wall.

[SusanJoM]

I wouldn't need more than about 6 inches, but let me play with it with the slip joint for a while and see.
Thanks.

Susan

[az erik]

Well so far this is working, for cleaning up mesquite leaves in the driveway and cars... I havn't found my connection for making it from the roaster to the vac yet but so far at 100% it wasn't blowing leaves out, which are about the same weight as chaff. It created a nice little pile in the bottom of the bucket.

More to come, but yeah hunting for this ducting still.

[az erik]

Ducting came at the expense of 6 feet of 1.5 inch galvanized fence post from Home Depot. However now that I've actually sat back and thought about it I'll probably melt this vacuum in the trial run.

I'm hoping to take a length and run it straight down the side of my bench to the shopvac inlet. However I have this feeling the heat is more than 175 degrees (which is what I was getting via laser temp) in the drum, and the U pipe. Either I have a small enough leak that fresh air gets in and cools it or it melts the vacuum.

My daugher's sleeping so it's about time I give this a try. Hold on I'll also put the fire dept on speed dial.

[az erik]

And this oddly worked, and worked probably a bit too well.

This length of pipe (about 2 feet) allows the outside to remain pretty much cool to the touch from the coupler down. Granted the more you ramp the power the more heat it will suck directly from the flame. I can watch the burner flame change direction at anything above 20% on my variac. Even the plastic short hose working as exhaust worked fine and remained in shape.

I did completely botch the recording of one roast but was able to drive it like, well someone not watching a computer but rather just the temps. Roast turned out oddly ok. Even with 7 minutes drying phase for a peaberry. It did however have a decent 1c as opposed to last time there was 0c.

Above 25% it sucks up too many beans. I goofed up and didn't know it had filled the j pipe with beans other than the BT was all over the map because sometimes there was beans touching it.

Smoke suppression worked great, next to no smoke in the garage and I didn't bother to move the car. However it was windy and I now have a slightly chaff covered Porsche. This pic shows the quick and dirty set up. Now that I know it works I'll finalize it. I also moved my fan under the top. I'll work on cleaning this whole thing up over the span of the next couple roasts. Also need to find my vise so I can hammer out the damper in the U pipe. (Forgot to upload the profiles but it appears after TP flipping the vac on 15% keeps the ROR at 20/24F with a couple of bursts for drying, moisture and chaff removal. Everything (chaff wise)is sitting in the bottom of the bucket. Even after I started vacuuming the workspace off and the exhaust blew off at 90%.



Oh Susan I did find 1.5 inch flex duct, Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0027J9O0O/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=13M97XHGZ1XF7&coliid=IKU0BONSGDJ5H
You probably don't need that much and read the reviews. BTW the 1 5/8ths fence pipe I bought is nearly identical in id/od of the Huky slip joint. If I could crimp the U pipe a bit more or open the pipe I have a bit the U pipe would nearly lock in.

[MJ5150]

This is a great write up and pics, thank you.

Did you make any further progress on the setup? I am curious as to how you ended up with chaff on your car. Shouldn't it all go to the bucket?

-Mike