Category: Dust extraction

Dust extraction – Part 1: Valves

In my workshop I have a lot of machines producing dust / chips. In order to not make the complete house / workshop dirty I connect a vacuum cleaner with cyclone to the machines. The downside of this is that every time I switch machine I also need to disconnect the dust collection hose and connect it to the different machine. To solve this inconvenience I decided to make a central dust extractor with fixed tube to all machines. Each machine will get a valve that can be opened or closed to get the suction to a machine.

For the valves I did some research , and I found that a lot of people use sliding gates for their dust valves. For example:


(Source: Reddevil on Schematheek.net)

I did not like the fact that these take up too much space. So I opted for a design that looks more like a ball valve. However a bit different, so I could 3D print it. I found some central door lock actuators for cars on my desk and thought of a concept to operate the valves with these.

A first test:

This was made for a 40mm pipe, the dimensions of the moving parts where not very good yet and it got stuck sometimes. After this test I decided to use 50mm pipe for the dust collection, the linkages etc I reused from the 40mm and it turned out to work very good. The only downside is that the valves only open to ±70%,. But for the small chips / dust that goes trough I do not expect any problems.

Valves assembly:

The next part of this project will be a current sensor unit.

Dust extraction – Part 2: Current sensor

In this part of the dust extraction build I will show the current sensor. This sensor measures the current that the tool draws and gives a signal to a central unit once it is higher than a set value. In order to leave the vacuum cleaner on during the machine spinning down a settable timer is added. Also I added a start stop circuit, witch can be used to manually start/stop the valve and vacuum.  This can be handy to clean the work table. These buttons are not placed on all sensor units.

 

This unit consists of 2 parts.

Part 1: the current sensor:

A current transformer (ASM-010) is placed around the live wire.

The output of this transformer is send trough a 50R resistance. This converts the output current of the clamp to a voltage. This voltage is then amplified and compared against a level set by the potmeter. After this a 555 timer is added to keep the suction active while the machines motor spins down.

Part 2: on / off buttons:

This part works with a set reset flipflop. This has 2 buttons connected to manually start / stop the dust extractor.

Total:

The output of the 2 parts are coupled together with 2 diodes to a transistor that pulls the interface line to the controller low when it wants to turn on the dust extractor.

 

The PCB I designed for this project:

In order to keep the potmeters in place I added a small 3d printed bracket.

Build in the enclosure:

Links to previous parts of this build:
Dust extraction – Part 1: Valves

The next part of this project will be the central unit.

Dust extraction – Part 3: Central Unit

In this part of the dust extraction build I will show the central unit. This unit receives the signals from the current sensor boxes and uses this information to switch the valves and the vacuum cleaner.

Some time ago I designed a board with a pic processor that has robust in and outputs. These have protections similar to a PLC has.

To drive the valves a lot of current is required, more than this board can drive, also more outputs are needed. Therefore I bought a 16 channel relay board.

This relay board needs 16 signals to drive the relays, unfortunately the board I use only has 8 outputs, of which 1 is already taken by the vacuum cleaner. Therefore I designed a board around 2x 74HCT595 IC’s to drive the relay board. To make the board also useful for other applications I added ULN2803 drivers to each output, however they are not used in this project.

There are optocouplers on the relay board in the drive path of the relays. They invert the signals. I do not want this, so I removed these and replaced them with 0 Ohm resistors.

The inputs I have on the controller board are made for PNP sensors, however the sensors have a NPN on the output.  This I fixed by putting pullup resistors on the inputs. However this makes the signals come in the microcontroller inverted, but this is easy fixed in the firmware.

All boards mounted / wired to contact strips:

Next to the dust extraction controller I also build the power supply + power distribution strips for the LED strips. To provide music in the workshop I also fitted an audio amplifier in this enclosure.

Amplifier

Links to previous parts of this build:
Dust extraction – Part 1: Valves
Dust extraction – Part 2: Current sensor

The next part of this project will be the solid state relay.

Dust extraction – Part 4: Solid State Relay

In this part of the dust extraction build I will show the solid state relay that is used to drive the vacuum cleaner.

I could make this part of the project with a PCB with a triac and optoupler etc, but decided not to do this to save time. Instead I used an off the shelf SSR-40DA solid state relays.

During use this component will get hot, therefore I mounted it to the side of an aluminium enclosure. In this enclosure I also mounted a grommet for the power input, a grommet for the signal wire and a power socket for the output.

Inside soldid state relais module
Inside soldid state relais module detail
SSR front panel

The box mounted near the vacuum cleaner:
SSR Mounted

Links to previous parts of this build:
Dust extraction – Part 1: Valves
Dust extraction – Part 2: Current sensor
Dust extraction – Part 3: Central Unit

The next part of this project will be the instalation of the tubes / hoses