Here's my version of a bucket separator for my shop vac. It uses a 5 gallon bucket inverted over an 8 gallon bucket.
Piping is 2" ABS. There is a threaded coupler used to plug into the shop vac and a straight coupler inside the top (bottom?) of the top bucket that keeps the top piping from coming out. I have no sealer in there yet and occasionally I get a slight whistle from there when it's running, but nothing that has any significant effect on suction. If I decide how I want the piping clocked I may put a bead of silicone, but the buckets can spin as is and that has its own advantage.
I used 1/8" plywood for the baffle and it's sitting about 5.5" down from the top, connected by 1/4-20 all-thread. There is a short piece of pipe connected to the outlet about 1/2 a diameter from the baffle. I heated it up and stretched it much like the intake, then rounded the inside edge to create as much of a bell mouth as I could manage. That makes it about 2.5" on a 2" pipe.
I couldn't cut a neat enough hole for the side inlet to be epoxied by itself, so I mounted it in a pine block so I could get a good seal and a strong glue-up.
The 5 gallon press fits over a lip on the 8 gallon, so I got lucky there. I'm still thinking of bending the bucket handle into a couple clips as insurance, but it's a tight fit already and under vacuum it seems solid enough without.
The connection from the lowest elbow to the straight pipe is the only one not glued. I'm not 100% committed to the piping yet. I'm not sure if I need to make it more mobile yet.
It seems to work very well. I don't notice any less suction than using the shop vac without the separator. I can see that there are some fines getting to the vac, but I've always run it with a HEPA filter so I'm not worried about that. The majority of debris stays in the separator. I might run a test later but I'm happy with it so far. I have another 8 gallon with a screw-on lid, so I don't even have to empty a full one immediately to keep on working.
Next up is a bigger one for my Delta 50-760. I just installed a locally made MERV 13 nanofiber canister filter in place of the bag and I'd like to keep it from getting clogged to quickly.
Piping is 2" ABS. There is a threaded coupler used to plug into the shop vac and a straight coupler inside the top (bottom?) of the top bucket that keeps the top piping from coming out. I have no sealer in there yet and occasionally I get a slight whistle from there when it's running, but nothing that has any significant effect on suction. If I decide how I want the piping clocked I may put a bead of silicone, but the buckets can spin as is and that has its own advantage.
I used 1/8" plywood for the baffle and it's sitting about 5.5" down from the top, connected by 1/4-20 all-thread. There is a short piece of pipe connected to the outlet about 1/2 a diameter from the baffle. I heated it up and stretched it much like the intake, then rounded the inside edge to create as much of a bell mouth as I could manage. That makes it about 2.5" on a 2" pipe.
I couldn't cut a neat enough hole for the side inlet to be epoxied by itself, so I mounted it in a pine block so I could get a good seal and a strong glue-up.
The 5 gallon press fits over a lip on the 8 gallon, so I got lucky there. I'm still thinking of bending the bucket handle into a couple clips as insurance, but it's a tight fit already and under vacuum it seems solid enough without.
The connection from the lowest elbow to the straight pipe is the only one not glued. I'm not 100% committed to the piping yet. I'm not sure if I need to make it more mobile yet.
It seems to work very well. I don't notice any less suction than using the shop vac without the separator. I can see that there are some fines getting to the vac, but I've always run it with a HEPA filter so I'm not worried about that. The majority of debris stays in the separator. I might run a test later but I'm happy with it so far. I have another 8 gallon with a screw-on lid, so I don't even have to empty a full one immediately to keep on working.
Next up is a bigger one for my Delta 50-760. I just installed a locally made MERV 13 nanofiber canister filter in place of the bag and I'd like to keep it from getting clogged to quickly.