Low profile bucket lid and dust cyclone

A combination of a bucket lid for a portable dust collection bucket and a built-in low-profile cyclonic dust separator, comprising

• a lid ring having a center axis and having an outer edge adapted to conform with and fit onto an upper rim of said dust collector bucket, with an annular channel at said outer edge adapted to secure sealably but removably onto said upper rim;
• and having an inner generally circular inner circumferential edge concentric with said outer edge thereof;
• a low profile cyclonic separator centered on said lid ring and rising from said inner edge thereof;
• the low profile cyclonic separator having a horizontal inlet tube adapted for accepting an inlet hose connecting to a source of said dust and air flow in which said dust is entrained;
• a vertical outlet tube at a center axis of said separator adapted for connecting to a vacuum source;
• a shell having a rounded wall that is affixed onto the lid ring at the inner edge thereof, and defining within it a cyclonic chamber creating an air flow direction from said inlet tube around the interior of the shell to a vertical outlet tube at the center axis;
• the shell having a shape that spirals from the outlet tube around said center axis in a downward direction;
• and
• a baffle assembly within said chamber disposed at the center axis and including a baffle plate having a central opening and an outer circumference positioned substantially at said inner circular edge and spaced therefrom over a major portion of the outer circumference thereof, to define an annular exit slot permitting separated dust to drop therethrough into the bucket;
• the slot having a gap that increases in the direction of air flow;
• and the baffle assembly further including a vane turret having a plurality of vertical slots admitting air flow from said cyclonic chamber, and a lower opening at the center opening of said baffle plate and an upper opening coupled to said vertical outlet tube;
• wherein said vane turret is formed of a circular array of vertical vanes rising from a center of said baffle plate to said outlet tube, the vanes defining said slots therebetween;
• and wherein said vane turret has a turret ring at an upper end thereof fitted to the outlet tube.