J. Phil Thien's Projects

In reference to the dust collector, It works great with various shop vacs that I have. It's great for saw dust and other light materials. I suspect that a dust collector fan with a higher CFM would fare even better. As there are multiple designs floating out there, I think I may try something with more suction as well. Perhaps a 'home made" fan/impeller. I worked in the car audio industry for over 10 years and I'm acutely aware of the damaging effects MDF has on your lungs. I have a friend who died recently of Pulmonary Fibrosis. I used dust collectors and masks. He did not. I don't know his health history but he worked in a similar industry. If this collector helps to make the air in my shop cleaner, then I'm using it.

Ninja,
I don't know why you can't post pics. The "attachments" tab is just below this window when replying to a post.

Thanks for the comments. I owe most of the influence to this site as well as Matthias Wandel. This is his take on the Thien baffle. I took his design and went with it. His inlet port is situated about like mine. I plan on making several of these once I get the final design down. I will replace the flex between the vac and separator with rigid pipe to enhance flow. It works great for my BT3K table saw but don't know yet how it will work for my Unisaw. Perhaps a DC instead of a vac. I do have a larger vac that moves more air so we shall see.

Oh, as a side note, with this design, I could toy/adjust the orientation of the baffle by removing the screws and rotate it.

Not my original design, but I liked it enough to copy it. I wanted to post pics and key design measurments that worked for me.

1. I cut 1" from the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket.
2. I removed the top rim down to the last ring. (I wouldn't have but the bucket I used was        damaged)
3. Small radius on baffle is 1" less than large radius.
4. I attached a lid to the bottom of the ring/chamber thingy and trimmed the inside flush.
5. Inlet port is 4 1/2" square with snug-fit hole for hose.
6. Top is cut with a router/circle guide and rabbeted to fit the lip tight.
7. I used the top as a template for cutting the inlet port top/bottom by laying the top down to intersect a right angle with height of angle at 4 1/2". The other side of radius ran wild to intersect at width of right angle.
8. Inlet port is screwed to side right under outside lip and opening is positioned 1/3 distance of larger radius from smaller radius on baffle.
9. Baffle is screwed to side 6" down from top.
10. Outlet pipe is 2" pvc and extends into top 2". (not 1/2 radius of port)

As stated, performance is excellent. My crude test is definitive for me. Hardly and I mean hardly any dust gets into the vac. The filter is very clean. The junk stays in the 5 gallon bucket.

I'm ok with the independant thought and experimentation. I can build it, and I have cruised around this site. I will gladly post my designs as soon as possible. My approach will be from a certain ".ca"'s perspective. Looks like I'll build the cyclone at some time too.

Ok, since it's been done a 100 different ways, has there been a study on how efficient certain designs are versus others ?

Ok, I may be missing something, but are there COMPLETE plans for a separator using a 5 gallon bucket ?

If the tops were leaning against something, which way was the grain orientation ? Vertical or horizontal ? Leaning wood with the grain horizontal to the floor could cause the tops to cup. Is this quarter sawn wood ? It would be less likely than if not. We all know temperature and humidity and grain orientation makes wood move. I don't think the metal clips should be relied upon to correct the cupping. It seems to me that would be forcing the top to bend rather than the clips holding the top to the frame.

Greetings ! I just joined a few days ago. Looking forward to building a few separators for stationary tools. I collect and restore vintage woodworking machinery to use, not just to look at.

I have 2 BT3k's ( 1 was free and the other was $40, yes I suck). I repair furniture for a living and use 1 at work. The other is a working unit, but missing some parts. I don't use the sliding miter and built a left-of-blade miter table/slot that I feel is more accurate. I stumbled across another sliding miter sled at a huge hoarder warehouse sale. (The kind you have to crawl around through) I paid $2 for it as it was missing some parts.  I think I'll make a rolling cabinet with 2 sets of rip fence rails for 50+" cuts on the left and the balance of that to the right of the blade. I'll increase the depth of the table for better cut-offs.