J. Phil Thien's Projects

Soon after completing my HF DC separator (see my post: "Thein Separator with Younker Lift"), I decided what the heck and bought a canister filter for it. Being as it was at the end of the pandemic, it took a little over a year to arrive.
It was worth the wait.
It is light years ahead of the bag that comes with the DC in keeping the shop's air clean.
I am still amazed every time I use the DC at just how efficient the separator is. It even gets a large amount of the finer particles, such that I've emptied the bin a couple times and there is still barely anything in the bag.
I thought it must be on the inside of the canister filter, but an inspection of it showed very little accumulation.
After I received the canister, I considered also buying the larger impeller, but I've had no issues with the stock one, so I'll skip that. My longest run of 4" pipe is under 20 feet, and there are a few bends in all my runs.
I am curious to know, anyone who has installed the larger impeller, did you notice any difference in the quantity of dust that gets pulled through the separator into the filter?
I wonder if at some point, an increase in airflow would pull more dust through without separating it.

Leil, it works very good the couple times I've been able to use it. My regular job has me going 6 1/2 days a week, plus I need to put in another circuit for the dust collector, so I haven't been able to make nearly as much sawdust as I'd like. I'm hoping in the fall things will slow enough for me to get more time in the shop.

Nice! And here I thought I had to buy a 2hp dust collector to replace my shop vac setup when I bought the 735 planer.
As to your grounding, is it all just connected to the planer as seen in that one pic? I'm planning to ground my system as well,  and haven't yet decided on how to do it.

Has anyone ever tried adding a half-profile NACA duct shape to the end of the chip slot? Any thoughts on whether it would have any beneficial effect on chip removal from the airstream?

I think the diameter is generally dictated by the bin, but the height can be anything from the Inlet diameter up. Taller is reportedly more efficient.
The 240 degree slot is to reduce scrubbing of the chip bin (especially as it gets near full) by the air stream; otherwise chips could be churned up and ultimately end up in the dust collector.
The air leaving the separator through the top is the air that entered the separator from the Inlet, minus the chips. As it spins around inside the separator, it slows, the chips fall out of the airstream and through the slot into the bin, and the air, pushed into the center by faster incoming air, exits through the outlet.
The only silly question is the one that goes unasked.

Here's what I've gleaned from reading quite a few threads on here, but by no means am I an expert.
I believe the two different baffle designs in your pics are for (top) one that goes inside the chip bin, and (bottom) a tophat that goes on top of the chip bin.
The one I made is a tophat, but I made the drop slot to the edge, flush with the curved lexan.
Distance from the lid to baffle can be anything from the diameter of the Inlet up. Taller reportedly is more efficient.
The distance from the bottom of the outlet to the baffle is roughly 1/2 diameter of the outlet. If you make it temporarily adjustable, you can fine tune it in use.
A couple of fairly exhaustive threads have stated that ideally, a tangential rectangular Inlet is most efficient. I think if you're a home woodworker that's not generating huge volumes of chips, any design will work for you. Some are more efficient than others, but all will greatly reduce the quantity of material entering the dust collector itself, which is the ultimate goal. The separator is most effective on chips, not dust, so filter inspection and maintenance shouldn't be neglected.

I happened upon the Thien design after I purchased a HF dust collector. I had only glanced at a few photos and knew it needed some sort of apparatus to support it when emptying the bin. I then read several posts that mentioned working on a bin lift to raise the bin to the separator. This was a totally unsatisfactory solution to me, in part because mine would be cart-mounted. Plus, my thinking is "don't lower the river, raise the bridge."

My criteria were fairly straightforward:
1. It had to be simple, yet robust
2. It had to be operable single-handed
3. It had to automatically stay in the raised position, but able to be lowered without having to disengage anything
4. It had to be readily removable from the separator without needing tools

I came up with a few designs before distilling them down to an elegantly simple cam lift. A 90-degree throw of the actuating handle is all it takes to lift or lower the entire separator from the bin (after unlatching the hasps).

The pics and drawings show the relevant details. I made mine almost exclusively from materials I had on hand, except for a few small bits like the wire clips and hasps. Mine isn't completely finished as I'm in the process of rearranging my garage/shop to accommodate the dust collector and a new planer, but I've tested both the separator and lift and both work beautifully.

Although I didn't include a specific design for a wall-mounted version, it can easily be adapted for it by slight modifications of the shaft mounting brackets.

I attached scrap Formica (blue) to the cart base beneath the bin to make sliding it in and out easier, and stop blocks make positioning a breeze.

I made a bellmouth for the outlet by turning a form on the lathe which I used to thermoform a section of pipe (forgot to get a pic of the finished pipe). I first stuck the end of the pipe in boiling water to soften the first couple inches, then placed it on the form with a 10 pound lead weight on top. This keeps you from having to apply downward force while also heating the pipe with a heat gun. The wood collar, which will be used to attach it to the separator lid, is placed just above the top of the form to prevent the pipe from ballooning when it softens.

It is important (and not particularly easy) to keep the entire lower section of pipe that's on the form heated to pliability, or it won't make the bell properly. While plastic does retain heat remarkably well, this thin-walled type loses just enough quickly enough to fall below formability if you don't keep the heat on and constantly moving. I suppose I could have submerged the entire form in boiling water and done it that way.

I also added a viewport to the bin by cutting a hole and attaching sheets of lexan inside and out using machine screws and sealing it with Lexel (a rubber-based adhesive/sealant superior to silicone) I also used Lexel to seal the separator where necessary.

Please excuse the poor quality drawings; I knocked them out on paper pretty quickly. If anything isn't clear, I'll be happy to answer any questions. I work 6 days a week so I may not respond immediately, but I'll do my best.

Thanks for looking.