J. Phil Thien's Projects

Just an update to my build, I emptied the 35 gallon garbage can today and still have virtually no dust in the dust collector dust bag, not even enough to fill a sandwich baggie.  The dust separation on the baffle far exceeds all expectations I had before I built it.

Fred

I used the lid.   It does oil can a bit if you have an obstruction in the line, but pops right back.   Use close cell foam weatherstripping inside the top of the lid to get a good seal.   Pics at the bottom of the thread below.

Fred

http://www.jpthien.com/smf/index.php?topic=320.0

Thanks Phil,

I'll give that a try.

Fred

Interesting, so you're saying I'd be better off locating the major diameter more centered over the inlet?   I'll have to try that before starting the next big project.   Haven't tried any other location - worked so well as I first set it up that I haven't played with it all yet.

Thx

Fred

I started the 120 degree part of the baffle an inch or two before the inlet, i.e. the air flow coming from the inlet sweeps over almost all of the 120 degree part of the baffle.   Don't know it that's how its supposed to be, but its what I did and I get virtually no dust, coarse or fine, into the plastic bag of my harbor freight dust collector (maybe a cup or two for every 10 gallons of dust in the separator), and rarely need to blow out the canister filter.   I made my separator as a side inlet, don't know if that alters the tuning at all either.

Fred

The other thing I noticed that's different from mine is that you have the inlet positioned more or less center on the major diameter of the baffle whereas I have my inlet positioned right at the start of the major diameter.   So far, I see no larger sawdust and very, very little of the fine dust getting past the separator into my dust collector.

Fred

I just used 3/4" wood dowels for my baffle and fastened the baffle and lid to the dowels w/ wood screws.   Worked well - just a matter of preference as far as I can see.

Fred

Sorry didn't read carefully enough.  You're talking about the 90 elbow inside the drum - for that I'd use a 5" adjustable elbow set at 90, but my recommendation is to go side inlet.   I did it and it wasn't that difficult - just took a bit of patience. 

I've cut up 2 4x8 sheets of plywood and a bunch of solid stock since I finished my separator and I still only have about 1/2 cup of very fine dust in the DC bag.

Fred

I used a pair of 5" adjustable elbows (less than $3 each IIRC) from menards with approx 1 ft of 5" straight pipe between them to approximate a long sweep elbow.  Easy and much cheaper, worked very well.

Fred

The only thing I think you might need to change is to start the major diameter of the baffle just an 1" or so before the elbow and get the elbow as close to the side of the can as you can.  On the one I built (5" inlet/outlet), I started the major diameter right at the inlet and it separates all but a fraction of the finest dust.

Fred

1) No
2) I don't see why going in and out of a 55 gal plastic drum would be any different than what I did using a galvanized garbage can.   Easy to do and worked very well - used 5" snap-lock duct from Menards.   They were cheaper and had heavier gauge snap-lock than Lowes.
3) Absolutely - I used 5" snap-lock from the blower to the dust collector ring to the separator and then for the main trunk of my system.
4) Yes, www.kencraft.com carries 5x5x4 wyes at a (semi) reasonable price.   I elected to use 5x5x5 wyes and use a reducer so that I have an option of using 4" or 5" to the machines.

Fred

When I talked to Wynn to order my filter I had planned to buy the spun bond and he talked me out of it.  Said that for hobbyist use,  the paper blend is still a lifetime filter.   Just blow it out with an air nozzle once in a while.  With the miniscule amount of fine dust that gets past my separator I'm guessing I'll need to blow it out once or twice a year.

Fred

Mark,

Because of limited space and the need to be able to move equipment around I use 10' of flex hose from my main 5" run to the machine's dust port.   I'm still finishing up the addition of DC to my shop, but I'm planning on upgrading the 4" hose I'm using now to 5" hose for the jointer and table saw.  Not sure if it will help or not, but since there's a 50% difference in cross sectional area between 4" and 5" it seems like it would minimize flow losses.

I was only wondering if the use of 20' might be causing too much loss....   Might be worth positioning the DC so that you can use a shorter hose once and see if things improve at all.

Fred

Mark,

I wonder if you've lost too much air flow due to the excessive length of flex hose.   From what I remember reading as I was researching how to set up my DC, a foot of flex hose is the equivalent of 9' of smooth wall pipe and for a small DC total length of run should be limited to about 30'.

I put one of Phil's baffles in a 30 gal galvanized garbage can and it separates fine dust very, very well.   After several days of use I have about 6" of dust in the can and less than a cup in the plastic DC bag.   The separator is removing 99+% of the dust, including the fines.

Fred

http://www.kencraftstore.com/24_gauge_sheet_metal_wyes.htm

Imperial Mfg Group in Canada makes 26 ga HVAC wyes, but I couldn't any 5" wyes from them anywhere in the US.

Fred