J. Phil Thien's Projects

Quote from: bbqguy on July 21, 2015, 08:17:31 PM
I'm getting ready to buy a HF DC.   Your design is the only one I've seen that is built into the actual DC and not a separate can. I like the small footprint as I have a smaller shop.  Are you convicted that it works pretty much as well as the Baffles that have a separate canister?  I'd love to hear your thoughts.  Thanks

I've not tried the separate canister approach, so I really don't have a good A to B comparison. I can say though, that I've been very happy with the way the DC performs with the internal baffle.

Quote from: lakrissen on September 11, 2015, 10:57:21 AM
Just curious .... isn't the dust from the filter just falling down through the cone and landing on the thien baffel ☺☺.. :)

The whole purpose of the baffle is to keep the dust out of the filter in the first place, and it seems to do that very well. Any dust or chips that do happen to end up in the upper section of the DC will indeed fall on top of the baffle when the DC is turned off, but it tends to get forced into the lower half (the collection bag) the next time the DC is turned on. Nothing in dust collection is perfect, but the baffle and Wynn filter are a vast improvement over the stock configuration.  :)

Well, it's been several years since the last post in this thread, and I never did notice the questions Donald Roth posted way back then. My apologies. Better late than never with the answer, huh?  ;D  Ya never know when a Google search will lead someone to this thread.

Regarding the neutral vane, using my own totally unscientific gut feeling, I think the performance of the baffle and the DC is better without it. After I took mine out, it stayed out and eventually ended up in the trash.

Unfortunately, I'm not able to answer Donald's other question about the dimensions since my shop tools are currently in storage. I moved from California to New Mexico earlier this year and don't have my shop set up yet. Nonetheless, my "Hoover" is just a painted Harbor Freight DC, so the dimensions will match yours if you have one.  ;)

Quote from: Donald Roth on November 21, 2011, 11:59:34 AM
I like your design and detailed photos on the HF mod withthe baffle inside. I plan make one to fit my Shop Fox DC. Could you please give some details on the nuetral vane you installed? What material did you use? Is the pipe one diameter or did you make it a smaller diameter on the end that extends into the baffle? In the photo it does appear a bit smaller. Where did you place the pop rivets to make sure it stays in place? Thanks again for sharing your detailed pics and writeup.

The neutral vane was made of galvanized sheet metal flashing. I'm not sure it added any benefit, and in fact I removed it the last time I had the DC apart, just to see if there was any improvement or if the neutral vane made things worse. Shape-wise, it's essentially a cylinder with one end trimmed at an angle to allow it to go up snug against the body of the DC. I started with a template made of poster board and kept trimming it until it fit. The pop rivets are only holding the neutral vane into its shape. The vane is not actually attached to the DC. It's just held in place with friction.

I hope this helps.

Steve, I know I'm way late chiming in, but congrats on the DC upgrade. The baffle works amazingly well, doesn't it?

[Apologies in advance if I previously told this tale, but it's another "don't do this" teaching moment.  ;D]

I cut the crosshairs out of my Harbor Freight DC inlet as one of the first mods. My Thien separator is built into the DC between the plastic bag and the Wynn filter. I while back I noticed a drop in suction, so I figured the filter was finally getting clogged with fines after months of not having to clean it (courtesy the Thien baffle, BTW). To remove the filter, I have to remove the baffle. Here's what I found:



Turns out the filter had a lot of junk in it, but I'm sure that was due to the interrupted airflow the foam mat edge was causing. It had gotten hung up on one of the wood dowel standoffs that holds the baffle in place. The foam survived the trip through the impeller just fine. I had no idea I was missing it. But I've become more observant when I'm using the DC hose to clean the floor around the lathe. I've also sucked up paper towels accidentally and had them get hung on the edge of the cut-out part of the baffle. In all those cases I was able to see it, so I just removed the bag enough to reach in and pull the paper towel out.

About 5 months ago I added a Thien baffle to my Harbor Freight DC. (Here's that story.) So far I've been really pleased with the addition of the baffle. I was getting very little buildup of fines on the pleated filter. Instead of removing and cleaning my filter every 3 weeks or so, I'd not seen the need at all since adding the baffle. I just whacked the sides of the filter from time to time, and gave it a shot of compressed air once every few weeks.Then, a couple or three weeks ago I noticed that the DC wasn't sucking the way it should. Sanding sessions at the lathe were dustier than normal, because the dust hood wasn't pulling in as much dust as it used to. I suspected the filter was getting clogged.

Last Saturday I finally had a chance to take it apart and see what was happening. Before I removed the plastic bag from the bottom of the DC, I whacked and blew on the filter more thoroughly than normal, and was amazed with the volume of very fine dust that fell out of the filter. (A good 6" to 8" deep in a new layer in the lower bag.) When I shook the filter (the whole DC, actually), even more stuff fell into the bag, falling off the top of the baffle through the slot around the outside edge. Something was up. This was dirtier than before adding the baffle.

To remove my filter, it's necessary to first remove the baffle...an overhead job if I want to avoid completely dismantling the DC to turn it upside down. I undid the three screws holding the baffle in place, and lowered it carefully to avoid dumping sanding dust all over myself. Here's what I found:



I guess that's what I get for using the 4" hose to clean up the mess after a turning session. You don't suppose that piece of edging for my foam floor mats might have caused the filter packing do you?   I was laughing so hard I had to take it inside and show my wife. I did check the impeller, and it seemed no worse for the experience. (I've sucked up a few solid chunks of wood or bark that alarmed me enough to open up the DC and have a look at the impeller.) No big surprise, but my DC is sucking mightily once again.

Congrats on the new get, John. I think you'll be real happy with that combination. I know I am.

Quote from: bennybmn on May 19, 2009, 06:24:48 PM
I used one of those adjustable circle cutters and my portable drill. It got interesting at times... But it eventually worked :D

Yeah, those things can be a real two-handed rodeo in a portable drill.  ;D

Same here. That would be a handy size.

Kudos f6 on the separator and the cart. Nice job.

Quote from: sailfl on April 24, 2009, 11:52:31 AM
...I do have a question about the baffle.  It is difficult to tell from the pictures and I am not sure I picked it up from the write up.  The 120 degree strip should start on the left side of the intake opening of the dust collector collar so that the air is blown across the remaing part of the 120 degree strip or to the right of the opening?  I think it should be to the left.

Thanks for the help.

Left and right can be a bit confusing, since it can be viewed from the top or the bottom. I have my baffle arranged so the flow is going across most of the solid part before it comes to the gap in around the edge. Here's a picture of mine, with the DC funnel turned upside down...



I hope this helps -

I haven't looked at my filter since adding the Thien baffle to my Harbor Freight DC, and it had been used for over a year without one, so it already had been caked and cleaned a few times. That said, before I had the baffle, 2 gallons of chips and dust would have put enough in the canister to where I could hit the sides after turning it off and see stuff falling into the lower bag. It sounds like you only had a light dusting inside the canister, so I'm betting you're getting results similar to the rest of us. Even without the baffle, your lungs will be thanking you for the switch to the Wynn filter instead of 30 micron bags.  ;) With the baffle, you won't need to clean the filter NEARLY as often. (At least that's been my experience.)

For Sonotube, you might check your local area for concrete supply houses. I haven't really looked for online sources, but found a few somewhat near to me in the Los Angeles area.

Quote from: bennybmn on April 03, 2009, 04:54:58 PM
...I really want to make a stand...

Doh! Mental vapor lock. Sorry about that.

I think the double neck sounds like a fun project, Especially if it's making something cool out of a couple cheapies. Some of the older cheap guitars have surprisingly good necks. I used to teach guitar lessons on an old Harmony guitar. (Made at the time Harmony was also making Sears guitars. My teacher used essentially the same guitar with a Silvertone label on it.) It had cheap electronics but it played like a champ. I used it to prove to the kids that you don't have to have a brand-new Strat or Les Paul to be able to play Led Zepplin and Rush. (And my teacher was in the next studio on his Sears guitar, playing Larry Carlton and Chet Atkins stuff.)  ;)

After the wooden sax case, howsabout making a wooden sax?

http://saxwood.net/index.php

I'm a guitarist, and although I've made a lap steel and some solid electric bodies, I still want to build an acoustic guitar one of these days.

Speaking of cases, did you happen to see my pool cue case?

Quote from: dbhost on April 02, 2009, 07:49:14 AM
I've Considered repainting mine, but I bought the extended warranty for mine, and am concerned they might fuss if I take a Ford Jalapeno Green, or maybe Hugger Orange dust collector in to them...

BTW. Do you have a formal background in art or are you self taught?

Ah, c'mon, go for it. ;D If anything breaks under warranty, it'll be the switch or the motor. Just don't paint those parts.  ;)

No real training in the arts (aside from music), but I've been dabbling with artsy things all my life. I think the DC paint job had more to do with humor than art, though. It's not nearly as artful as Benny's faux leather paneled R2D2 shop vac.  ;D