J. Phil Thien's Projects

I had somebody ask me about design on this. So, I am posting my basic incomplete rendering I did with visio while I was thinking throught the design.

As an update, after completing a couple of projects, I just had to empty a 3/4 full trash can for the first time. The lower bag of the DC may have had an inch or two of material. I am a HAPPY camper with this! I used a garden watering can to wet down the material in the trash can before popping the lid on. I then delivered it to the dump - no fuss, no inhaled dust! The moist dust didn't even cloud up when I poured it out into the brush bin at the recycle center. A BIG improvement over the last bag emptying episode where I inhaled more dust in 5 minutes than the months of woodworking that created the mess.

Thanks to Phil for this site and all of the folks here for sharing their ideas!

Here it is integrated into my DC system. I REALLY like the side benefit of having a more accessible switch.


The results from its first test while cleaning up the shop



And finally, here is a video of it working with the hose between the motor and DC bags disconnected so that you can see how well it works!

Demo Video


-Don

I am a new member to this forum but I have been gathering insight here for a month or two. Like alot of others, I was looking for a way to avoid emptying the DC bags as often. My design goals were as follows...

1) Integrate the separator within my existing system such that it could be used by everything or easily bypassed.
2) Design the separator to sit on top of the can so that (a) the can's full volume could be utilized (b) 6" ports could be used (c) I could readily modify it to work with another container


Here is the core of the separator where you can see the side entry port



In this photo, I have just added the 1/8" hardboard in the core to create the perfectly round skin. You may be able to see that I beveled the leading edge (nearest the entry port)



Here is the 1" thick bottom plate with a 5/8" x 3/4" deep groove around the perimeter that perfectly mates my current trash can. You can also see the 1 1/8" drop slot.







This photo shows the underside of the top plate. The green 6? PVC pipe passes through the plate and is tightly trapped by a coupler on the top and 1? cut-off from that same coupler on the bottom.






Now? on to integrating my new toy into my DC system!