J. Phil Thien's Projects

back in 1999 I built this half cocked cyclone separator for use with my little 1HP DC1B. It was based on a cyclone tube shell (the upper portion of a cyclone without the cone). It's about 16" dia and had a 4" dust inlet and a 4" blower intake.

I used it with my router table, jointer and planer. It actually worked pretty well as long as the debris level didn't get near the blower intake pipe! After that it was just a pass through.  :)





I also got tired of the amount of room this took up. And after reading all the threads about the benefits of the Thien style baffle arrangement I decided it was high time for a retrofit. Another reason for this alteration of the old design was the fact that I am about to replace my old DC1B with a 3HP Reliant. Once the Reliant is installed I still want a pre-separator for those times I use my jointer, planer, or router table. But I want it to be more compact and efficient

With that in mind I scrounged around and found some 1/4" hardboard and 1/2" plywood. These were used for the baffle. Once I had the base materials ready I started on modifying the old cyclone separator.

I unmounted it from it's base and then cut the tube shell down by 7". I also cut the base down so that it conformed to the shape of the separator and took less room.

I shorted the dust intake pipe length by about 4". Once that was done I used by router and circle jig to make the baffle.



Once the baffle was installed I used it to help me re-size the length of the blower intake pipe. I cut it down so that it was 1-1/2" above the baffle. After that I was able to re-install it and start on the trash can.

Since the old base for the trash can was HUGE I decided to make a new one. I ended up spending more "quality time" with my router and circle jig. I made a perfectly sized disk that fit into the underside of the trashcan perfectly. I drilled holes for the (4) re-purposed swiveling casters and then gave it several coats of finish to weather proof it a bit.



And here is the completed unit.





Yeah, it's not as clean looking as some of the other ones posted here. But my goal was to see how well the design modifications worked

I am a lot more pleased with the ease that this can be moved and how much LESS room it takes up. My plan is to have this baby moved off to the side and only pulled out when it's needed.

I tested it out with the DC1B and was happy with the level of separation. The real test will be when I install the new Reliant 3HP DC and see how that behaves

Back in 1999 I bought a Penn States DC1B 1Hp DC. It's reported flow through is about 850CMF @ 6.5psig

http://www.pennstateind.com/store/DC1BXL-1M.html?prodpage=1DC

Shortly after I got it, I built a trashcan cyclone on my own design. Think of the upper part (what we used to call the "tube shell") of your typical cyclone with no cone. It sits right on top of a 20 1/2" dia steel trash can. Initially it WILL separate the chips from the fines. But as the debris builds up in the trashcan,  it would suck it right up. Anyway, I've wanted to built a better separator and saw the designs being used here. So I drew it up and was getting ready to build it.

HOWEVER, I have a small shop with a very simple dust collection installed. It's just a couple of runs of 4" sewer pipe that lead to 3 locations. One leg has the "cyclone" separator in line and it's used for my router table, planer, jointer, and lathe. Another run goes to my Drill Press and Tablesaw. While the third goes to my bandsaw. Other than the one going to the bandsaw, I don't think that any of the legs are longer than 10 to 15 feet. And yes, the elbows are kept to a minimum. Over all it's been in use for about 10 years or more and it works OK. But it does leave dust behind.Still, it's better than nothing

My original plan was to install my newly built Thien Separator in front of the 1HP DC and then having ALL of the lines go through it. After some thought I am reconsidering this. From what I remember from my days in the dust collection business, a Cyclone will steal about 2 Psig from your DC. So I would be reducing the performance on all of the pipe runs. And with this little DC, I'm not sure that's a good way to go.

Now let's complicate matters.  :) :) I have a Reliant 3HP DC that I got when Woodworker's Warehouse went out of business back in 2002 (?). It's pretty much New In Box (NIB). But I have two issues with it. First, it has the crappy stock filter bags. And to upgrade it to 1 Micron bags will cost me over $200. I also called Wynn Filters and got a price for (2) of their canister filters for this unit. It would cost me just over $350 to upgrade to those filters and even then I'd have to install a Thien baffle to make them more efficient.

Secondly it takes up more than DOUBLE the amount of room that my DC1B takes up. And in my garage/shop, floor space is at a PREMIUM.

So, knowing that I want to install this in conjunction with my small dust collection pipe system, I guess my questions are:

1.) Am I correct in assuming that installing the separator BEFORE by little 1HP DC will make it less efficient (in regards to conveying power) for my dust collection pipe system? In other words, it will be so much power loss that it will make matters worse.

2.) Would I be better served by selling the Reliant (and maybe my 1HP DC1B) and buying a 2HP DC like the PSI DC DC2000B?

3.) OR would it be a better idea to upgrade the 3HP Reliant with (2) new filter bags AND install a Thien Baffle in each of the 2 drums?

Thanks,
Dominic