Hello all. I'm new here, and would like your help, and expertise. I wanted a better dust solution for my modest shop. I don't have a DC, and really can't afford one atm. I have a Craftsman shop vac, and attached a picture of it, so you can see the exact model. I also just recently discovered the " Thien baffle", but before I knew anything about it, I was browsing around on YouTube, and found a dust collector build that looked like would work for me. Here's a link, for those that would want to see it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNDc66V1_64
So I ordered my fiber drum, got the rest at the local hardware store, and built it. I made a couple mistakes as I went, corrected them, and finally got it finished. I've made some adjustments since, and attached pictures of the current configuration. Why I need your help, is that the shop vac is "scavenging" dust/planer shavings/debris from the bottom of the barrel. The reason I'm saying this is because I can empty the shop vac container, turn it on with the hose from the collector/separator just laying on the floor, (not actually sucking anything up) and after running for a few minutes, there is a small amount of debris in the shop vac, and on the filter. It's not a lot, but more than I think it could be. Obviously, the longer I let it run, the more stuff ends up in the shop vac. Again, this is with the inlet hose to the collector just lying out in the open. The unit does seem to work for the most part, and in one photo, you can see the "vortex" pattern in the debris at the bottom of the fiber drum. So, would one of Phil's baffles be what I need here? Or some other baffle? If so, where would be the best place to put it? I was thinking of snugging it right up to the bottom of the wooden caul, that holds the horizontal pipe. If anyone is wondering, I did initially play with placement of the bottom of the vertical pipe, the one that goes to the shop vac. The original design called for the bottom of the vertical pipe to be 3 inches below the horizontal pipe. But the "scavenging" was worse when it was located there. I finally ended up with it where you see it in the picture now, just even with the bottom surface of the lid. I used 2 inch PVC pipe. The drum is approximately 18.5 inches in diameter, and 26 inches high. Again, I didn't build this unit ignoring the Thien baffle, I just didn't know about them at the time. What do y'all think? Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
So I ordered my fiber drum, got the rest at the local hardware store, and built it. I made a couple mistakes as I went, corrected them, and finally got it finished. I've made some adjustments since, and attached pictures of the current configuration. Why I need your help, is that the shop vac is "scavenging" dust/planer shavings/debris from the bottom of the barrel. The reason I'm saying this is because I can empty the shop vac container, turn it on with the hose from the collector/separator just laying on the floor, (not actually sucking anything up) and after running for a few minutes, there is a small amount of debris in the shop vac, and on the filter. It's not a lot, but more than I think it could be. Obviously, the longer I let it run, the more stuff ends up in the shop vac. Again, this is with the inlet hose to the collector just lying out in the open. The unit does seem to work for the most part, and in one photo, you can see the "vortex" pattern in the debris at the bottom of the fiber drum. So, would one of Phil's baffles be what I need here? Or some other baffle? If so, where would be the best place to put it? I was thinking of snugging it right up to the bottom of the wooden caul, that holds the horizontal pipe. If anyone is wondering, I did initially play with placement of the bottom of the vertical pipe, the one that goes to the shop vac. The original design called for the bottom of the vertical pipe to be 3 inches below the horizontal pipe. But the "scavenging" was worse when it was located there. I finally ended up with it where you see it in the picture now, just even with the bottom surface of the lid. I used 2 inch PVC pipe. The drum is approximately 18.5 inches in diameter, and 26 inches high. Again, I didn't build this unit ignoring the Thien baffle, I just didn't know about them at the time. What do y'all think? Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!