Question
My Torit 36, 20 HP cyclone tends to clog when molding heavy profiles. The opening on the cyclone was 7" diameter. I opened to 9" diameter, but it still clogs at times. Anyone have experience with the correct size opening?
Forum Responses
(Dust Collection and Safety Equipment Forum)
From contributor J:
In general, a cyclone needs to have the right (the higher the better) volume of air moving through it to get good separation, and a tight seal on the discharge to allow material to drop out. What size line do you run from the moulder to the cyclone? What is the cyclone discharging to?
In centrifugal separators handling jute, cotton, and other materials of a fibrous nature, it is usually necessary to install a spiral in the entire cone to guide the material to the outlet. Otherwise, it would continue to revolve around the cone continuously until additional material joins it and a ball is formed. This process will continue until its weight becomes too heavy for the pressure to support, after which it will fall into the outlet and very likely cause a choke-up.
All that being said, unfortunately, you would need a new cone. Also, an undersized cone could keep material suspended. But, in the Torit Model 36 Series, they use the same cone for a 20 hp, 25 hp, and 30 hp. This would more likely happen with the 30 hp.
The Torit setup is a pull through arrangement. I guess sometimes a push through is purposely set up so that material enters fan first (chopped up a little) and then sent into cone. If a cyclone tapered body is cut back too much to create a larger outlet, the separation may be affected somewhat.
I ended up buying a bigger airlock and cutting the cone back to a 12" or larger opening. I did it a few years back and can't remember the actual opening size.
I remember being really frustrated with not knowing if I was going to screw up the dynamics of the cyclone or not. I figured I had nothing to lose, so I started cutting.
It worked liked a dream and we are still using the system. I have a 6 head moulder, a 30" rough planer and 36" planer/sander hooked to the system. With only 20 hp we can only run one of these at a time while the others are blast gated shut. Never plugged it yet.
