It's time to share! And more importantly, to say Thank You to Phil for the great design of his dust separator.
As you can see by the photo, I was able to integrate the Thien separator into my 16 Gallon shop vac. Also note that I used a Lowe's bucket to mount the shop vac to the separator. To my surprise, the Shopvac lid locks with this bucket.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FD4r0Gbrvxs/Uh--8w9EO8I/AAAAAAAAF-Q/xCCKbZNkzdo/s512/P1080592.jpg)
Follow the link to view the photo album this project. Please note, I do not have plans or drawings and dimensions to share, however, the captions under each photograph illustrate how the separator was constructed.
https://picasaweb.google.com/104032558344910866540/ShopVacDustSeparator?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPKIrsSQ4POhWQ&feat=directlink (https://picasaweb.google.com/104032558344910866540/ShopVacDustSeparator?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPKIrsSQ4POhWQ&feat=directlink)
Last, but not least, this was not a project for advanced, intermediate, or amateur woodworkers! For this project, you simply must be persistent ;D
-Don
Don, Wow A TopHat separator for a Shop-Vac., what a great design. I can see lots of duplication with this setup.
Good luck and success with your Thien-Vac.
Ron
Don, nice build! I'm going to check whether my 6-gallon ShopVac mates with a Lowes (or other) bucket. One question -- other than the friction (or gravity?) fit between the groove in the bottom interface ring and the top rim of the 16-gallon canister, is there any other attachment (clamp, tab, hold-down) at that point?
John, San Francisco
You may want to have a look at my solution which works very well for me. Here's a link to the original post:
http://www.jpthien.com/smf/index.php?topic=740.msg4266#msg4266
Note that I have extended the concept of the Thien separator to my shop-built table saw with great success:
http://www.jpthien.com/smf/index.php?topic=1192.msg6975#msg6975
The compactness of the separator gives birth to many unusual applications. Your imagination is the limit!
Super-nice work, Don, great execution all around.
Don,
I did pretty much the same thing with my shop vac. Since my shop vac had a cylindrical reservoir, I placed it directly on top of the Thien separator where you have your bucket then put a can under the separator. You should now consider upgrading your Shop Vac filter. See my post here, at the end is the filter info. http://www.jpthien.com/smf/index.php?topic=1201.0 (http://www.jpthien.com/smf/index.php?topic=1201.0)