What type fittings?

[horn man]

Hello,

First time post.  I'm converting a HF 2hp dust collector.  I've built a cradle to tilt the blower motor to allow a 30 gal. fiber barrell under the in port on the DC (all of this mounted on the original cart stand).  I plan on building a Thien baffle inside the barrell  with a Wynn 35a 80/20 cartridge. I only have about 6 1/2" of space between the top of the drum and the blower housing to mount the hose fittings.  What might fit?  I've looked at the Rockler dust right fittings and also the 4" flange mount 90 degree ones found there and other places (I'll be using 4" collector hose). I would like to use some sort of 5" fitting for the exit directly into the blower.  I gather that a side inlet would be ideal, but would this be doable on a fiber drum?  If so, how?  Any advice would be appreciated.

[Peter]

What you describe is pretty much the tophat solution for the HF DC. I am using a section of 5" snap-lock to close couple my tophat to the blower. Of course, this means I need to either move the tophat AND the blower up and down to empty the barrel ... OR, my solution, to move the barrel up and down under the thing. That might not work well if you intend to use the cart supplied by HF.

[RonS]

I would build a Thien TopHat separator and set it on top of the barrel. There are many posts with as many solutions on this site and lots of HF DC solutions.

Here are a few posts for you to look at.

http://www.jpthien.com/smf/index.php?topic=90.msg466#msg466
http://www.jpthien.com/smf/index.php?topic=503.0
http://www.jpthien.com/smf/index.php?topic=262.msg1503#msg1503
http://www.jpthien.com/smf/index.php?topic=429.0
http://www.jpthien.com/smf/index.php?topic=563.msg3037#msg3037

[horn man]

Thanks for the helpful links.  Based on that, I've begun building a top hat modeled after Galerdude's.  I have already built the side wall section using stave construction (20 sided with 10 degree angles, minus 3 pieces for the entry way).  I plan on lining the sides with metal flashing.  However, is this necessary?  I have thought about filling the "corners" with caulk and leveling in order to make it more "round".  Obviously, it wouldn't be a true circle, so how much less efficient would this be as opposed to a true round walled interior?