J. Phil Thien's Projects

I discovered some small defects (leaks) in my 2" hosing. Between replacing that and probably replacing the baffle to something thinner, I have some revisions to make. I'll get back online afterwards and let you know if the problem is solved or if I have to keep looking. Thanks for your patience and help so far.

I'm thinking that the problem is not in the separator. I attached the shop vac directly to the saw, first removing the filter, eliminating that as a potential source of blockage. I sealed with silicon the connections between the vac hose and the the 2" hose that connect to the dust outlet of the saw and and between the hose and the saw. Still got dust coming at me above and below the table. I've read that the exhaust system on the Bosch 4000 is not very good. Does anyone know about that? Could that be a contributing factor? Could the vac simply not be strong enough (although it does seem to meet specs that I've seen on this forum)? Any other ideas?

Alan - I thought about which side to chamfer before doing so. My idea was that the slope was to help move the dust down into the drum.  Guess I was wrong.  What is the advantage in chamfering the bottom?

I followed all suggestions (except removing the seal - still not sure what that refers to) - cleared the 25 mm bottleneck (hose now goes from 50 mm to 35 mm),lowered the baffle, corrected the angle of the inlet, chamfered the edge of the drop slot. A small improvement (I think), but problem not solved. Any other ideas?

I suspect that the 1" connector might be at least part of the problem.  I am looking for a better solution athat will leave me the 1-1/2" of the the vac hose.

The fittings go through rubber seals which are air-tight. That shouldn't be a problem,  but I will re-check. That goes to Alan's suggestion about the seals - can't really remove them.

I will lower the baffle, can probably go down about an inch wtihout replacing the rods.   I will adjust the direction of the inlet. Should I increase the distance between the outlet fitting and the baffle?

the baffle is just under 1/2" (10 mm). It is some synthetic product, not sure if it is MDF.  With this thickness, do you still recommend chamfering the bottom edge?

thanks for your help.

I check the lines - no blockages and I don't find leaks.
Could it have something to do with the air flow speed and volume ratio? If so, how do I check that?

Well, I built my Thein separator, using a 69 liter/18 gal. fiber drum with a lever-lock ring. I've attached it to my Bosch 4000 TS with 2" flexible tubing and a 1150 W (220Volt) shop vac on the other side. The vac comes with a 36 mm (internal) diamater hose. I had to improvise the connection between the vac hose and the 2" connector to the DC and at that point the internal diameter goes down to 25 mm. No chance of an air leak. Initially seemed to work great. I don't have any way to measure how much dust stays in the drum and how much goes to the vac - but it seems like there is alot in the drum and not much in the vac. BUT, today, after not much use at all, I find that dust is spewing all over the place - coming back at me from the saw and over the top - in addition to what does go into the drum. Also looks like there is more dust in the vac. I tried to compare on my hand the suction directly from the vac and then from the DC - didn't feel any difference (for whatever that sophisticated scientific test is worth).
Any ideas what is wrong here?

I am using a fiber drum and have the same concern. I'm not sure that the fiber wall will support a reinforcement glued/siliconed onto to it.  I am thinkg of adding leg supports to the reinforcement from the bottom of the drum. Looking forward to hearing others' experiences and ideas.

Is the width of the drop-slot related to the diameter of the lid/container? If I understand correctly, the plans refer to a container diameter of about 20.5" with a 1.25" wide drop-slot.  I am making a separator that will fit into a drum with a diameter of just under 16". Should I reduce the width of the drop-slot proportionally?
This is my first build. Browzing through the forum, I assume that it will not be my last, as I continue to learn, that is, make mistakes and try to figure out what went wrong. Thanks for your help.