J. Phil Thien's Projects

Quote from: CheapScotsman on November 22, 2008, 02:09:49 PM
Why not rotate the shop vac 90 degrees so that the outlet from the baffle separator goes straight into the inlet for the shop vac ... would just need to build a cradle to hold the shopvac on its side.

Brilliant! That's thinking outside the box, for sure. I'll keep that in mind for version 2 of my lid.

The only (small) problem is that it makes emptying the trash a bit harder - you have to take the vac off the top shelf.

  -- Bill

Quote from: dbhost on November 17, 2008, 10:06:20 AM
Just my humble little opinion here, but the short radius 90 bill uses, looks like it would make for some pretty big CFM drops, which should be avoided with a Shop Vac based system, keep your hose and make the curve long and gentle... I like the idea of keeping things neat and tight in as well, but it just looks like there would be a functional impact is all...

Yeah, I thought of that. It's hard to say without testing with an anemometer what works better. The long hose with the ribbing is likely to induce turbulence (?) in the hose. The shorter pipe has sharper bends. Also the 1 1/2" joiner creates a bottleneck right at the inlet to the vac. I just got tired of that long hose flapping around and getting in the way!

I may try a second version of the outlet tube using 45 degree elbows, and instead of a joiner to connect to the vac, try to sand/file down the 2" PVC to fit.

For now, though, it works sooo much better than the LV cyclone lid I think I'll leave it alone for a while and work on some "real" shop projects.

  -- Bill

Have a look at this thread:

http://www.jpthien.com/smf/index.php?topic=50.0

  -- Bill

Quote from: dbhost on November 12, 2008, 01:57:05 PM

That's a very nice looking cart. Looks pretty simple. Just 2x4s and plywood right? Is that just butt jointed? And is that stiff enough to keep from skewing?

2x3's, actually. They're usually straighter! Yes, just butt joints, two screws into the end of each 2x3. The plywood bits are 24" square. I was concerned about skewing, but it's good enough. The vac is pretty light weight. If the cart needed stiffening I'd just screw a couple of small hardboard panels onto the sides, or maybe corner braces -- whatever works. It doesn't have to be pretty, as long as I can get the can out.

  -- Bill

Finally got around to building a lid, after coming to the conclusion that the LV lid just wasn't doing an adequate job. As shop space is at a premium I stacked the vac above the can, with 2" PVC pipe connecting the lid to the vac.



Here's the lid. The inlet port is a 2" "street" elbow that press fits nicely into a 2-1/4" hole. The outlet port is a standard 2" elbow with a bit of pipe to extend below the lid per Phil's design.



And here's details of the connection to the vac.



This is the end that connects to the vac.



It works a treat! By my unscientific test works much better than the LV cyclone lid.

More and larger pix here:

http://billw.smugmug.com/gallery/6116486_jmn5N/1/412633806_WFhfS

And a few more details in my post at the Canadian Workworking Forum:

http://forum.canadianwoodworking.com/showthread.php?p=190090#post190090

  -- Bill