J. Phil Thien's Projects

When I built my separator, I made the chamber height 1/4" taller than my inlet pipe with the outlet inserted to a distance equal to 1/2" its diameter. However, there are a few threads that addressed shop situations that produced more than a normal amount of fines. (generally a drum sander or the like)

Phil said that increasing the chamber height, keeping the inlet at the top and then dropping the outlet further into the chamber would help separate fines. For example I currently have a 6 1/4" tall chamber, with my outlet inserted 3". If I increased the chamber height to 12 inches, I would insert the outlet to 9".

I haven't experimented with this yet, but it's been on my "to do" list.

300e, here is a tophat separator. The side inlet refers to the duct inlet coming in from the side and the outlet in the top center. In the original version that you see on the website's front page, both the inlet and the outlet came down through the top.



Steve

The dimensions will vary somewhat, but basically 11.75" D x 14.50 tall. Check out USplastics.com under the bucket tab and you will see some of the variants.

Steve

They are knobs with threaded inserts to allow for adjustment.



The flat washer like portion is on the inside of the tube and was just the right size to make up the difference between the tube with holes and the solid stuff. The knobs themselves were stock off the shelf but I shortened the threaded portion somewhat.

Just posting to see if it helps Phil test the new forum settings.

Over the summer, I've added an overhead blade guard to my Uni-saw. I never installed the stock blade guard and chose to just use a Delta splitter instead. That system worked well and I never found myself getting so near the spinning blade that I felt I was doing something stupid or dangerous. Actually it seems like an open blade provides a visual reference and keeps me aware. However, I am slightly allergic to sawdust. (especially oak and cedar) That has led me to wanting to improve dust collection above the blade. I chose a Shark guard. For overhead use it comes with a guard and bracket only with none of the struts for mounting.

It is up to each individual user to fabricate the mounting hardware to use the guard overhead. I don't have many metal working tools or a welder, just metal cutting blades for my woodworking tools, files grinder etc. The struts and hardware were all items that I picked up from Lowe's and the entire assembly was bolted together. I wanted to be able to do all of my normal cutting operations with the guard in place so it was important to me to design a system that would allow me to adjust the guard side to side as well as up and down. I have retained the Delta drop in splitter and anti kick back pawls as the Shark Guard fits over it.

Here is a picture from the rear.





If necessary it can be removed quickly and hung from the mount.



Steve

Test post.

Wall mount or mobile? I never moved my DC when it was on a mobile base, so I side flipped and wall mounted it. It's been that way for 1 1/2 years and I wouldn't change a thing.

Lathe dust collection? Works when sanding due to the fine dust and direction. When cutting, the tool naturally throws chips towards the operator, I don't see any way around that and still maintain visibility.

Some folks have used cfm calculators and the consensus seems to be that the 2 HP HFDC is most efficient with 5" ducting. 

I've never tried what you are describing, but due to the cone being below the baffle it seems like you wouldn't get a noticeable increase in fine separation. It would seem to be that the baffle has already got what it will get and the remaining fines will have already passed to the filter.

Have you considered raising the height of the chamber? Drum sanding fines are what brought me to this forum in the first place. I use a standard tophat with a 2 HP blower and have had good results. If/when I build tophat version 2.0 I will use a round to rectangular inlet, with the inlet being high in the chamber and the outlet deeper in the chamber than the standard 1/2 D of the outlet tube. (I will increase the outlet depth by the same amount of distance that I have added below the inlet, plus the 1/2 D and see what I get)

Steve

I first became interested in the Thien baffle after reading of another persons tophat separator on another forum. The OP linked to Phil's site and I read thru that specific build and then several others. Many different people have tweaked the original design seeking to improve or more commonly to work with a specific piece of equipment or requirement due to their own shops needs. Therefore, it seems like a person could find information from several areas to incorporate into their own design. True the basics remain the same, but inlets, outlets, baffle material, sidewalls and virtually every piece of the baffle has been fabricated from a myriad of material based upon someones ideas and the material they have on hand.

If the forum were to be broken down to specific types and I was building a 6" side inlet separator, I may only read that section and could miss an innovation from another section. So a new to the subject user would likely read through all of the sections anyway. When a person first finds the Thien baffle they don't know what "Top Hat" means or if a side or top inlet would work better for them. Reading through the threads of other experiences seems to help each person in their own design process. Then many "myself included" ask questions and seek feedback for what we/they have done.

Bottom line is that Phil invented the baffle and has been gracious enough to not only share the concept, but to run a website to aid others in building the separator for their own shops free of charge.  For this I thank Phil and all of the contributors to his forum.

Steve

That seems to be the way to go. Like I said, I made my baffle out of 3/4" and chamfered, but if/when I rebuild it I plan to use a thinner baffle with the bottom support and will "sandwich" the baffle like galerdude's.
http://www.jpthien.com/smf/index.php?topic=503.0

Here is a link to the one that I was talking about. Galerdude also has a sandwiched baffle, but I don't think that he had the support like the link shows.

http://www.jpthien.com/smf/index.php?topic=660.0

Alan, you are right. Phil discussed that in a different thread. I haven't seen pictures of anyone using the idea yet, but it's on my "to do" list. The concept was to use a side inlet mounted high on the chamber, with an increased chamber depth to allow the dust stream to slow more before re-entering the incoming stream. The outlet pipe would have to be lowered the normal 1/2 D, plus whatever the chamber depth increase amount was.

Steve

It seems like there are so many variables in different systems, (amount of 90's, leaks, duct material, etc.) that it is hard to say if you would find a noticeable improvement by chamfering or not.

I have two baffles, one is a top hat over a 30 gallon barrel for my DC system. It has a 3/4" baffle plate that I chamfered after seeing dust hit the very end of the drop slot and deflect back up into the dust stream above the baffle. Chamfering fixed that for me.

My second baffle is in a five gallon can separator with a Shop-Vac and I used 1/4" hardboard with a chamfer. This small set up is what I use for hand sanding, routing and general clean up. It gets a lot of fines, especially when hand sanding.

Bottom line, if you are happy with the amount of separation you are getting with your current set up, it is good to go. If you find that you are more dust in the filter than you had hoped, I would experiment with the chamfer.

Down the board a ways, is a build where someone, (I don't remember name) used a sandwiched baffle. 3/4" to support the baffle but the working edge of the baffle was 1/8" or 1/4" material. It looks pretty nice. If I ever decide to rebuild my main separator, I plan to use that idea as well as a deeper chamber.

Steve

It works, just remember to account for the make up air. If you are in an area that needs a lot of HVAC, the loss of conditioned air could be signicant.

You should never expect to capture 100% of the fines. This is true of the Thien baffle as well as a cyclone or any other DC system currently available. In my opinion, if you are happy with the collection and the amount of bypass that you currently experience, I wouldn't change a thing. If you later find that you get clogging or too much bypass, you could then remove the additional 120 degrees of the baffle.

I use a tophat separator with clear sides so I can see the dust stream when it is above the baffle. I do see a considerable amount of dust going through the baffle in the last 120 degrees. (right before the circle meets the inlet pipe)

Steve