J. Phil Thien's Projects

Phil:  Thank you for responding.  I plan to go ahead this weekend and put the holes in my lid for the 4 inch fittings, with the center one a few inches off center. 

Brian:  Thanks again for your detailed photos.  I really like your idea of using the two angled fittings on the outside and inside for the input line.  That looks like it should reduce turbulence significantly.  I also bought one of those PVC to Clay pipe adapters - that also looks like it is going to work out great!  That is exactly what I was trying to do, but couldn't find a way to do it until I saw your post.

Looking forward to getting this thing built and tested!

Thanks again everyone.

Brian,

Yeah, I saw someone else raised theirs with dowels.  I also decided against that path just because I barely have height clearance now below my garage door rails when rolling it around.  I just noticed in your pictures that you have the solid portion of your stand supporting your barrel.  I assembled mine with the solid portion under the plastic bag because I thought it would need the support.  Have you had any issues with that?  I guess if the separator does its job, you won't have much going to the bag anyway.

I would still like to get feedback on how well this design would work if the connection to the DC was not exactly centered on the lid.  I saw some other posts that said they had added Phil's baffle design to the Rockler / Lee Valley type of pre-separator lid with success, so I was hoping that I could get away with having mine a couple inches off center.

Brian:  Wow,  thanks for the great write up and photographs.  This is exactly what I have been wanting to see.  I just bought a 50-760 at the KC wood show about 10 days ago and have started working on my separator.  I bought the Lowes 30 gal metal trashcan and have been working on the lid.  I have been struggling trying to figure out how to connect the lid to the DC, so I was really glad to see how you did that.  I will see if my Lowes has one of the PVC to Clay couplings!

I would like to know what Phil and others think about the output (what goes to the DC) not being EXACTLY centered.  I would rather NOT cut the brace on my brand new DC if I don't have to, but I have the same problem you did with the 30 gal trash can not being centered under the DC input port.  I would say it is about 2-3 inches off center, but I haven't really measured it yet.  Would this be a significant impact to the performance?  Should I cut my brace to make sure it is centered or try it off center?

Thanks again for everyone's input

QuoteI threw together one of these using a Home Depot 5 gallon plastic pail and plywood and some vacuum fittings from Home Depot. I use this seperator with my shopvac

So, I went to my local Home Depot today to get some PVC fittings for my Rigid shop vac hose (2.25 inch diameter) so I could start building a 5 gal version of the separator.  I could not find any fittings that would work with this hose.  The fittings for 2 inch PVC were slightly too large.  I want to be able to connect and disconnect from the separator quickly, so maybe I need to buy the fittings from Rockler / Woodcraft.  I just wondered what fittings you used, and how did you connect your shop vac hose to it?

Thanks!

dr_when:  I have a 14 gal Ridgid vac that I would like to try with the "5 gal bucket" size separator.  I have been reading some posts that say this can be problematic because of limited room for fitting placement and hose hookups.  Any chance you could post some pictures of what you did?  Thanks!

I am totally new to this forum and subject, but it is VERY interesting and informative.  I am thinking of buying a Delta 50-760 DC at the Wood Show in KC this weekend, and this separator looks like it would be a great addition.  Since I am so new, this is probably a really dumb question, but here goes anyway:

It seems to me that putting the baffle in the DC itself still leaves this as a "single stage" collector, which means that the impeller will still see everything that is "sucked up".  I thought one of the big advantages of this separator design was to make the 50-760 into a "two stage" collector which not only reduces the debris into its collection bag, but would protect the impeller from damage.

Is that right, or am I off base here?

Thanks again to everyone who has contributed to this forum, especially Phil!