J. Phil Thien's Projects

Cool idea!  I used to have a simple one, not as good as the Kestrel, but maybe good enough for relative readings.  I'll have to see if it's still here somewhere. :)

That was an interesting thread.  Is there a 'poor man's' cfm gauge?  I would like to test cfm strength + residual dust in the upper bag vs the width of the wall of my coffee can.

New dirt smells different.  ;D ;D

What I was doing (probably also dumb) was hooking everything up except the top bag.  Then I'd turn it on, and if I saw any dust blowing out the top of the funnel it told me that everything wasn't going into the bottom bag.  I think I'm expecting too much.  I can't imagine that every bit would stay in the bottom.  What should my test results be?

Thanks!  I'll let you know if it works.  I put everything back together last night, added a flap over the blower inlet, put the lower bag on and turned on the DC.  It's still pushing some dust upwards, but I guess I should expect some of that.  I think I'm going to vacuum out my upper bag and then see how much stuff really collects there.

Decaf keeps the DC from vibrating. ;D ;D

I could cut it down to 1 1/2", and then to 1" to see if it still works, and make a new one if it doesn't, but I was hoping to not spend this much time on the project.  :D  I don't know a good way to gauge how much airflow I'm restricting with it at 3".  I'll have to play with it.

Thank you!  This can is 6 1/16" in outside diameter.  I cut the can down with my jigsaw - it went like butter.  I used a circle cutter to put the hole in the ply.  I sealed/glued the can to the ring with Silicone II, and stapled it from the inside with my airgun stapler at work.  I plan on shellacing it, and shellacing the separator, and will then bolt the donut to the funnel in three places to give it a good seal - then more Silicone II around the donut/funnel joint.  Seems like it should work. :)

Thanks, Phil!  I'll give it a try.  I did put together the coffee can last night, and I'm very close to success, if not completely there.  I need to seal between the donut and the funnel because that's where the dust comes out now.  I have more work to do, but should get it finished this weekend.  Here's a photo of my coffee can.  I have 3" of coffee can baffle, and 3" of open space between the bottom of the can and the surface of the separator.  Is there any reason I should trim the coffee can down to 1"?  I'd like to save myself some trial and error, but the 3" can seems to do the trick.

Phil, I took these photos this morning.  Do they help?  I didn't have time to work on the donut/coffee can, but will try to get to it this weekend.  Am I positioning the baffle correctly relative to the fan opening?

I guess I'm not sure where the optimal location would be for the 120 degree section.  I made mine based on yours.  :-[  I don't know how critical the position is.  I guess I have to think this through a little more.  I don't fully understand the principles at work here.  It seems to me we're trying to get air only to go up, and chips and dust to go down.  The space between the baffle and the sidewall allows the chips and dust to drop into the bag, while the center circle of the baffle keeps the air flow from stirring up what's already in the bag.  I guess I have to work out how to enable the air to go up without all the dust.  From other posts I've read, I'm going to try making a donut which would seal off the cylinder above the funnel, cut a 6" hole in the center, and put a 3# coffee can through that hole extending about 1" below the funnel and nailing it to the donut.  This would only allow the air in the center, presumably dustless, to rise.  The funnel could be removed, but it's probably not critical.  That's where I'm headed, anyway.  More tomorrow!  :D

Thanks for the replies, bennybmn.  I like the DC inverted anyway because now the hose doesn't have to make a 180 degree bend at the top, and, I, too, don't want to remove the ring.  I think it would give the unit structural strength, but it probably isn't necessary.

Hi Phil,

Thank you for the response.  I'll send any photos you want.  So, I should put the camera between the funnel and the baffle, aimed at the blower?  I'll take the photos tonight when I get home and post them tomorrow.  :)

Expo - I'm working through this, too, and am now thinking about putting a donut over the funnel with a cylinder 6" in diameter extending through the funnel by 1".  I'm thinking that a 3# coffee can (now 39 oz) would work.  It's already 6" in diameter and could be sized to any depth you need.  Nail it to the inside of the donut and you're done.  I'm going to try it tonight or tomorrow, but if anyone else gets there first, please let me know.  :)

Thanks, DB.  I saw that post which is why I turned my DC upside down.  I think I have my baffle positioned the same way he does, so I'm not sure why I'm getting so much dust in the top bag.  I think the physics for my application may be different from those in a seperator, but I just don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Jet 650 DC - I made a baffle with about 1 1/2" drop zone, installed it to the funnel with with 5" standoffs, turned on the DC (no bags) and the dust went UP.  I built a base and turned the DC upside down, turned on the DC (no bags), the dust still went UP.  I made a new baffle with a drop zone of 1 1/8", taking into consideration the cylinder is not exactly round - the drop zone is darned close to 1 1/8" consistently around the 240 degrees.  This time I screwed the baffle to the cylinder so that I had almost 1" between it and the airway, and used a 1 1/8" standoff for one of the screws around the perimeter.  Put the bags on, turned on the DC, dust still goes UP!  You can see from my photos that there is a lot of dust collected on top of the funnel.  Every time I turn on the DC I get a cloud of dust.  Do I need to do the donut/flashing I just read about?  If so, what should the inner diameter be for the Jet 650?  Or, am I doing something else wrong?  Thank you!  I'm having fun regardless of the outcome, but I'm hopeful that I'l be able to put a better filter on top and end up with a better DC.  BTW, ignore the 1/4" hole in the baffle - I used old 3/4" birch ply that I had laying around.  I'll close the hole, sand the surfaces, and shellac it if it looks like it's going to work.  Another question - would it make any sense to round the edges of the baffle in the drop zone?

I'm trying to do the same thing, but I must be missing some critical information.  Why did you turn the DC upside down?  (I think I know the answer, but I don't know why. ???  I made a baffle, attached it to the bottom plate with 5" standoffs, turned on the DC and all my dust blew UP!  I thought the baffle would cause the dust to stay down under it, and the excess wind would go up into the top.  Do I need to invert mine?  Or remove the funnel baffle in the JET?  Or both???  Why would the dust blow upwards?