Jump to content

Water Trap Dust Collector


Ptychodus04

Recommended Posts

Need dust collection but don’t want to spend a ton on a <3 micron collector? Here’s what you need. The water trap collector.

 

The parts are...

1 -2 1/2” shop vac hose

2 -1 1/2” to 1 1/4” threaded adapters

1 -1 1/2” threaded coupling 

1 -1 1/2” threaded 90

short piece of 1 1/4” pvc pipe

1 -5 gallon bucket

1 -5 gallon bucket lid

2 -2” hose clamp couplings 

 

7E328632-83CF-470F-B167-01D3230C2AF1.thumb.jpeg.25c13675be11e886e6a17a8bfb7632aa.jpeg

  • I found this Informative 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cut 2 holes in the lid and assemble the threaded adapters. Silicone in place.

 

cut short piece of pipe so there’s about 2” of air at bottom of bucket when assembled. Connect 90 to ship vac. Connect straight coupling to extra hose using hose clamps. 

 

Add water ti bucket until just just below draw tube. 

 

Now, you can collect all the fine dust from preparation without burning up your ship vac. Total cost around $40 USD.

 

D279FF7A-27D9-4271-A749-53F6ABB965E8.jpeg

  • I found this Informative 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, aerogrower said:

Can you dehydrate and reuse the medium, or just toss it?

 

You should be able to recover the medium. Most will remain in your blast cabinet, this just clears the air by collecting the fines. 

 

My use of abrasion is rather limited (I prefer to scribe as much as possible) so I don’t bother trying to save spent abrasive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the plans of the collector, I don't have a micro blaster yet but one day this will hopefully come in handy ;)

 

I have one question regarding the depth of tubing comming from the cabinet, if I understood correctly then it goes down to just about 50mm above the bottom of the bucket, so while the vacuum is running the air from the cabinet is forced through the water, bubbles up and is then sucked out with the vacuum cleaner ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, Phevo said:

Thanks for the plans of the collector, I don't have a micro blaster yet but one day this will hopefully come in handy ;)

 

I have one question regarding the depth of tubing comming from the cabinet, if I understood correctly then it goes down to just about 50mm above the bottom of the bucket, so while the vacuum is running the air from the cabinet is forced through the water, bubbles up and is then sucked out with the vacuum cleaner ?

 

The lengthe of the pipe is dependent on the amount of water you want to keep in the collector. You want to pipe to be a centimeter or so above the surface. You are significantly increasing the velocity of the air by necking the inlet from the 2.5” vac hose to 1.25” pipe. This forces the dust particles to make significant contact with the water, thus trapping the particles before they are drawn out of the top.

 

This is functionally different than a water bong where the tube is submerged and the dirty air bubbles up. This design requires a container stronger than a paint bucket as the suction of the shop vac can crush the weak walls of the bucket before the air can bubble up.

  • I found this Informative 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

 

The lengthe of the pipe is dependent on the amount of water you want to keep in the collector. You want to pipe to be a centimeter or so above the surface. You are significantly increasing the velocity of the air by necking the inlet from the 2.5” vac hose to 1.25” pipe. This forces the dust particles to make significant contact with the water, thus trapping the particles before they are drawn out of the top.

 

This is functionally different than a water bong where the tube is submerged and the dirty air bubbles up. This design requires a container stronger than a paint bucket as the suction of the shop vac can crush the weak walls of the bucket before the air can bubble up.

 

Thank you for the clarification

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:1-SlapHands_zpsbb015b76: You’re welcome. FYI, this is a general fine dust collector.  It does not have to go on a cabinet to work. You can simply lay it next to the material you are working on and it will pick up the fine dust. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Update: My heavy duty Rigid shop vac was causing me grief with this setup. The suction is so strong that the water was getting pushed so hard by the air coming from the dip tube that it was getting sucked out the top and into the shop vac. Thus, defeating the purpose of the water trap. 

 

A simple fix fix took care of this problem. I cut the top off another 5 gallon bucket, cut a hole for the dip tube and drilled a bunch of small holes on the opposite side. This goes into the bucket and allows the water to splash around below without getting picked up by the suction of the shop vac.

 

The eye bolt allows me to lift the piece out to dump the mud that collects.

3282D896-1337-451A-AB31-EB17CEBCA81D.thumb.jpeg.f974236d229d00c81acb46617f839199.jpeg

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My one question is as follows:  Can you run a shop vac for an evening's wort of dust collection, or will that burn out the motor?  Also, this sounds like it is quite loud.  Get it!?... Sounds Like.. Loud...   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, jpc said:

My one question is as follows:  Can you run a shop vac for an evening's wort of dust collection, or will that burn out the motor?  Also, this sounds like it is quite loud.  Get it!?... Sounds Like.. Loud...   

Ha ha! They definitely sound loud. I used to use a shop vac before I got a "real" dust collector. I found they would normally last about 6 months of heavy use.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/2/2017 at 5:05 PM, Ptychodus04 said:

Cut 2 holes in the lid and assemble the threaded adapters. Silicone in place.

 

cut short piece of pipe so there’s about 2” of air at bottom of bucket when assembled. Connect 90 to ship vac. Connect straight coupling to extra hose using hose clamps. 

 

Add water ti bucket until just just below draw tube. 

 

Now, you can collect all the fine dust from preparation without burning up your ship vac. Total cost around $40 USD.

 

D279FF7A-27D9-4271-A749-53F6ABB965E8.jpeg

Let me make sure I get this right.  The piece of pipe that extends down into the bucket is connected to the straight coupler that goes to the hose extension, not the 90 degree coupler that goes to the vacuum, right?  Or do I have that backwards?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Sagebrush Steve said:

Let me make sure I get this right.  The piece of pipe that extends down into the bucket is connected to the straight coupler that goes to the hose extension, not the 90 degree coupler that goes to the vacuum, right?  Or do I have that backwards?

That’s right. The straight one connects to the dip tube and the 90 connects to the shop vac. You can do it the other way, or even do both 90s or both straight. Just make sure the hose from your blast cabinet connects to the pipe with the dip tube and the shop vac connects to the one without it.

 

I chose the different types more so I don’t accidentally hook it up backwards while distracted. If you hook the shop vac to the dip tube side, you’re guaranteed to suck all the water out, even with the modified design I just made.

  • I found this Informative 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, jpc said:

My one question is as follows:  Can you run a shop vac for an evening's wort of dust collection, or will that burn out the motor?  Also, this sounds like it is quite loud.  Get it!?... Sounds Like.. Loud...   

I have a heavy duty Rigid vac that is “quieter” than most. I think it’s somewhere around 75-80 dB. Still loud but nothing compared to a standard shop vacs at around 100 dB.

 

If you trap the fines, the shop vac will last much longer than if you don’t as they are what burns up the motor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...
On 2/20/2019 at 10:28 AM, Ptychodus04 said:

I now have around 5 hours of dust collection using the modified trap and have not found any water getting pulled into the vac. I would label this a success.

 

Is this setup still working well for you? I am setting up a spot in my shop to do fossil prep and looking for a way to handle the dust from chipping and media blasting cabinet. Thanks for what you have posted so far.

 

Cheers;

Bob

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...