J. Phil Thien's Projects

Anybody try the Wen impeller as an upgrade for the HF?
Thanks

Planning my new ductwork. Really hoping some of the collection gurus out there can help.
I have my tophat setup tucked in a corner out of the way, and planning to ditch the 2@4" splitter that came on the HF 2hp unit, and run a 5" main diagonally along the ceiling. The furthest tools away are- miter saw, radial arm saw, and contractor saw. Closest is router table, and Dewalt 735 planer about half way between.
I'm thinking- the main is going to be 20' (+-), do a 5" drop to each of the furthest machines (the table saw is getting revamped as in an old FWW article (issue #205). The other, closer machines, do 4" drops.
This sound OK, or am I really missing something?
Thank much.

Well, got it all installed. Plumbing all temporary, and only sealed where I had to. Just did enough to test. Worked like a champ!! The wife watched the exhaust outside while I took a fairly heavy cut off a 2x4 with the thickness planer. She said the only thing coming out was air.
Going to try a video, never posted one before.

Well, finally got some time to make my tophat.
5" in, changed to 3 1/2"x 5 7/8".  6" out homemade bellmouth set at 3" above baffle, also reduced to 5" to match my HF collector. This will give me the option of going up to 6" in the future if I change the impeller.
Tomorrow's plan is to set the motor on a shelf, exhaust outside, and plumb from tophat to motor with 5" pipe. Thru the wall will be 6".

you guys think this will work ok?
6" pvc. Making a 1 1/2 or 2 height tophat, 5" inlet.

Been planning to build a tophat for a looong time. Have almost everything together finally.
One question-how many of you have built one using a 32 gal. brute and after using it wished you would have went with the 40?
Really having a heck of a time trying to decide. The 32 sounds more attractive as far as cost and weight when full, but.... Then IIRC, didn't Retired2 say the smaller diameter pose problems with scrubbing, or am I wrong.

found this online but can't remember where.
Maybe you guys that are good with google search can find it.
I have it saved to books on my phone. It's around 15 pages maybe.

Getting ready to start my top hat for HF dust collector. To avoid having the problems with attatching the lexan to the baffle plate and still have the drop slot at the edge of the container, has anybody ever tried this? Top of the angle pc. would be siliconed.

Hi guys, newbie here, so be kind. Been searching for a few days, but can't seem to find the answer. My BIL just brought me a new HF dust collector. (Guess he thought my shop was a real mess). Oh yeah, it is, he he.
Anyway my first mod after trying it out, was decided to make a top hat on a 55 gal drum.
Is there any hard set rule as far as how tall to make it for a given inlet size? ( I'm gonna use 5") Also, I think I recall reading to keep the inlet as high as possible, correct?
Thanks a lot