I found a “new, unused” Dust Deputy (cyclonic dust separator) on craigslist, but closer inspection later on showed opaque stress marks in the plastic where the bottom of the cone meets the flange (maybe it was a little more used than claimed). I had also seen references to problems with Dust Deputies being weak in this area so I wanted to provide some additional support when I mounted this one to the plastic lid of the 5 gallon pail. My solution augments the standard flange mount with a pair of plywood rings joined by 4 rods which provides additional strength and stiffness for the Dust Deputy.
The support was constructed was from scrap 5/8″ plywood, 1/4″ rod, gasket material, nylon-insert locknuts and 1″ fender washers. I started layout on the plywood using the manufacturer’s template for the holes in the plastic lid and then added the 8″ outer circle and 4 holes for the support rods. Both plywood rings were cut and drilled together, though the 6 flange holes were only drilled in the bottom ring. I’d originally intended to put gaskets on both sides of the lid, but that was overkill so I only put gaskets on the top of the lid. The bottom set of nuts on the rods were tightened to securely clamp the lid and bottom ring, but the top nuts were only gently snugged to avoid putting too much compressive force on the Dust Deputy.
