J. Phil Thien's Projects

I have been using Thien Top Hat separators for a long time and with great success. My latest application is an on-board dust collector for a shop-built tablesaw.

The system has five ports (blast gates) no less! Two connect to the table saw (one under the blade, one on top to a blade guard). Another two collect from a router on the right hand (again from the top and bottom of the bit) and the last one serves a small shop-built jointer powered with still another router. After this veritable porcupine started operation I was intrigued on how well the system would work.  I was gratefully surprised to find that dust was 90% sucked away.

Power comes from a surplus shop vac motor (I have several from old vacs) which I conveniently located under the table and included an easily replaceable filter(held in place with a spring loaded toilet paper roll) . Years ago I had conceived a similar system which performed very poorly and was a chore to clean and maintain.

There's a simple arrangement with relays so that as each machine is started the DC motor starts too. I only have to arrange those blast gates adequately beforehand.

An interesting breakthrough is the wedge-shaped dust bin. It bears against weatherstripping along the top four sides and, after being pushed in place, it becomes really airtight. I provided a push-in door with rubber sponge blocks to keep it in place, but suspect it could do without all this. A simple arrangement that really works.

The table saw itself was built back in 1997 and subsequently modified and upgraded many times. In its last incarnation evolved into an European Format style, got a new paint job (as it was a veritable patchwork of materials and different shades of colour) and even a logo (just for fun!).

I enclose a few photos of the DC system but if anyone is interested, there's a lot more written material, photos and plans in Google Drive. Here's a link to get there:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Bx5bCqSCHh0Na0RFWTFPZV9yb3M&usp=sharing

The most interesting folders for forum members are Thien Dust Collector (obviously) and Latest Photos (which also has some of the DC dust bin).

After reading nearly every post in this forum, I found most newcomers ask the same questions over and over again.  So I prepared a rough sketch with the design constraints resumed in a simple form. I hope you find this useful when tackling those new projects. It's a single sheet in .pdf.

In my small shop, dust collection is dealt with a shop vacuum which I hook to outlet ports in different machines (Since most are shop-built I normally include a suitable dust port in them). Full fledged DC are not very common here (Uruguay) and shop-sized ones are virtually non-existent.

Lately, I had been considering some kind of cyclone to improve my shop vac but found them too bulky. So I gave the Thien Separator a try. I cobbled a quick (and crude) arrangement and was both quite surprised and pleased with the results.

However, I wanted to have something compact so I settled to more or less copy Jeth arrangement (see his post: Shopvac Sandwich Made). The attached photos tell the story much better than I do. As you see, after the baffle was constructed I carried out a second test. The results were even more amazing. The amount of fines getting through appears to be negligible. Suction is not affected and remains constant, as if the vac had just been cleaned.

My shop vac uses 1 1/2" hose, so I dimensioned the separator accordingly. The original inlet was plugged with a rubber gasket and a new inlet constructed at the bottom. The hose coupler was modified and mounted on the separator inlet. The separator itself has a 1/8" hardboard baffle, a 1/4" hardboard top and a scrap hardwood built-up ring. I sanded it smooth and applied  a couple of coats of sealer plus some well buffed wax.

The final product uses a heavy cardboard drum which I shortened to have the whole contraption fit in its assigned space. The wheels let me drag the ShopVac around. Initially I used just the two big wheels and a piece of scrap at the front to keep the whole level. This was not very comfortable so a couple of casters were added. That was a big improvement but left the unit with a tilt. No big deal, I didn't want to modify what I had and found I could live with it. It even helps to tilt the unit even more and drag it on the big wheels to a new location.

Now my filter stays clean and I don't lose suction when the dust bucket starts filling up. Cleaning is also easier. I hinged the orignal Vac in order to ease bucket removal. Now I only have to empty its contents in a bag, reassemble and go back to work. From time to time I remove the filter cover and give it a good wash with warm water and soap. And, yes, maybe next year I'll even change that filter.