J. Phil Thien's Projects

2 different inlet location questions:
- the original design specifies an inlet through the lid, with it trimmed to make a roughly .75" gap between it hand the side wall of the container, presumably to allow the "cyclone" to make it past the inlet.  A number of the posts on this board tell people to move their inlet over so that they're closer to the side wall of the container.  I would guess that this is a better "injection " location, but would disrupt the "cyclonic action."  Which works better/which is right?
- people have posted a number of versions with the inlet coming into the side.  What is the best (best separation performance) geometry for this configuration?

Steel is steel... whip out the welder, cut some holes with a plasma cutter, use some exhaust elbows and flanges...

If you have the tools sitting around you should be able to do it faster than with wood and it should be functional, but I would argue that a lot of people put as much pride into the shop tools/benches... that they make as whatever you like to build, and it would take some real work to make the thing look nice.  Maybe trim out the baffle edges with some rubber hose that you split lengthwise with a knife, maybe something similar for the lid to make a better seal, some paint...