J. Phil Thien's Projects

I just completed my Thien separator and used it for the first time to clean up the shop.

Wow.

I filled half of a 30 gallon trash can with table saw dust (yes, it had been a while since I'd swept), and there was barely an eighth of an inch of fine dust in the bottom of the shop vac. The filter was nearly perfectly clean. This thing really works.

Would greater airflow eliminate that dust that made it to the filter?

Thanks Phil, from me and my lungs.

Jeff

Hi All,

I've been reading over this forum for the last month and have finally decided to jump in and build myself a Thien separator. They just look awesome, and I'm drowning in sawdust.

I plan to run it on my Rigid 12 gallon shop vac (comes with 2.5" hose) on a 30 gal trash can.

What size dust collection hose and fittings would you all recommend for this setup on the tool side of the separator? The "here's the plans" posting suggests 4", but this seems too large for a shop vac setup.

Maybe 3" from the tool to the separator (with 10' of 3" vacuum hose and 3" fittings) and reduce to 2.5" from separator to vacuum? Seem reasonable?

Thanks for providing so much great information.

Jeff

edited to correct vacuum size (i incorrectly said 5 gal initially)