Water separation - vacuum

T

Technohedge

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Sep 9, 2018
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So i have my spark arresting bong setup on my grinders dust collector. Seems to work brilliant so far.

The suction is from a wet/dry vacuum, however I want to be able to use the HEPA cartridge filter with it to remove the residual dust that makes its way to the vacuum. If it sucks water this is not good idea according to the instructions (filter is meant to be used dry) and it would also be good to use a dust bag as extra backup.

The vac sucks a fair bit of water from the bong, due to the agitation from the inlet. I have tried using as little water as possible and installing a baffle to prevent water getting up the vac hose but to no avail. I was wondering if using a cyclone type separator would work to shift the water out of it? Has anyone had any experience with these?

Funnily enough i have just built a unit to do exactly this at work to take water out of a vacuum system that serves a wet grit blaster, but its a bit more work than id like to do if this would suffice
 
First, show us a sketch of your bong/trap. The position, end angle, and spacing of the IN/OUT ports is important.

Second, a HEPA filter isn't needed … or frankly much use on a shop vac for a grinder. It is sort of like wearing rubber gloves while shoveling out the horse barn.
 
i think a hepa filter will add too much resistance and its not going to work well. i took the hepa filter out of my vacuum cleaner, it has almost twice the suction now. its so fine that even the smallest dust will clog it.
 
you need to add a blast gate in the line from your vac to the bucket. Play with the opening until you don't suck up water anymore.
 
I saw on here that someone actually used corn syrup instead of water, said it still quenched the sparks and was heavy enough that his dust collector didn't suck it up.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Second, a HEPA filter isn't needed … or frankly much use on a shop vac for a grinder. It is sort of like wearing rubber gloves while shoveling out the horse barn.
Click to expand...

You mean the extra fine filtration is overkill? I can swap it for a lesser cartridge if need be. What size particles (smallest) come from metal and wood grinding out of interest?

john april said:
i think a hepa filter will add too much resistance and its not going to work well. i took the hepa filter out of my vacuum cleaner, it has almost twice the suction now. its so fine that even the smallest dust will clog it.
Click to expand...

This thing sucks like crazy even with that filter on. Granted it will probably reduce as it clogs. As i sayI can replace with a normal cartridge, but it will still need to be kept dry

Kevin McGovern said:
you need to add a blast gate in the line from your vac to the bucket. Play with the opening until you don't suck up water anymore.
Click to expand...

Can you describe a blast gate?

googlebutt said:
I saw on here that someone actually used corn syrup instead of water, said it still quenched the sparks and was heavy enough that his dust collector didn't suck it up.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Sounds messy to empty though. Could even quench your blades in there ;)
 
So to answer my own question...... YES the cyclone does separate liquid out of the vacuum stream.

20181018-202439.jpg


The vacuum attached to the green cyclone is dry as a bone, it just drops it all in the little container at the bottom.

Heres the vac point on the grinder:

20181018-202413.jpg


Not used this setup in anger yet but will get some serious grinding done this weekend and see how it performs...
 
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