J. Phil Thien's Projects

My build is coming along nicely, but i switched horses in the middle of the stream. I was going to make the sides of the cylinder out of 1/8" polycarbonate and cut all the pieces accordingly. Then i switched to sheet metal instead. I can adjust everything but my slot in the 1/8" hardboard would have to be widened to about an inch and a quarter.

I have a full sheet of hardboard and it would not be too hard to build a new baffle piece, or mount the one i have cut and flush trim it to the sheet metal diameter. What do you guys say?

The only reason i ask is that i am using a small 580 CFM blower in a 16 inch diameter, 10 inch tall tophat with 6" intake and exhaust. With these parameters is the slot width critical?

Still a little confused with the outlet height too. How far from the baffle should outtake pipe be?

Thanks
Paul

Right now i think he just has it programmed for my blower. He did do diligent research with sawdust particle size that got factored in as well as other parameters that i have no clue of. I will talk to him and see if he can make it applicable for any unit and then ask Phil about posting it. He is an environmental engineer, so it was right up his alley. I am getting the blower from his father, so that didn't hurt either.

Paul

A young engineering friend put together a spreadsheet for me to help calculate my cyclone build. I think most of his data came from commercial cyclone units, but i have found it to be very helpful.

I have a small 3/4 horse blower rated at 580 cfm and a 7" Static Pressure. I thought with a smaller blower i could just downsize everything for a Tophat build. Smaller diameter, 4 inch pipe, etc, etc. Turns out to be just the opposite. Bigger everything to keep the CFM from completely disappearing.

Probably old hat to you guys, but it opened my eyes. I can play with different parameters and watch what happens to my pressure drops.

Paul

Just ordered one of these for the bellmouth outlet

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=268-377

Nice job.

Paul

Thanks for the replies guys. I was able to pick up a 5 foot long, 12 inch wide, piece of 1/8 inch thick polycarbonate for free, so the materials are in place. I can make a tall and fat tophat now ;D

I routed the slot in the bottom piece of mdf to fit on the drum yesterday. Chamfered the edges ala Retired 2 for ease of locating the unit on the drum, Great idea- thanks.

Any other suggestions on sizing the unit and vent sizes appreciated.
Still planning on direct venting to the outside to keep the cfm of this small unit to a maximum.

Paul

Stepping stone is a good way of putting it Guy.

Found a couple of half sheets of mdf in the plywood rack tonite, so that is covered. I can use the drum that comes with the unit, so that is covered. I was thinking of using some snatch type latches to hold the TH to the drum. Put the motor/vacuum unit on a shelf above this and connect with a pipe or flex hose. Does this sound right?

Now for some technical questions on the TH build. I like Galerdudes square design with carriage bolts and Retireds inlet.

1)Does the size(diameter/ height) of the Tophat have to be matched to the power of your vacuum?
2)How important is  the size of the intake and outlet?
3)Can you increase or decrease your vacuums performance with the variables in the first two questions?
All leading to:
4) The intake to the vacuum is 6" and i plan on using 4" to all the machines, so should i reduce the intake down? and if so, to how much?

Am i overthinking all of this?
Has anyone used Formica to line a tophat?

More reading
Thanks guys

Paul

Thanks for the reply. After reading it i took the dog for her morning walk around the hill where i do my best thinking.

Our shop is in my uncles garage and our dust collection started with a Lee Valley first generation cyclone lid with a 16 gallon shop vac to power it. We collapsed the lid so many times it cracked, so we have just been hooking the shop vac directly to the planer and jointer. So anything is better than that at this point.

After more reading and thinking prompted by your post here, this is what i have come up with. Build a Tophat and mount it to the wall with the exhaust vented to the outside. Our small shop is all mobilized, so i could roll the machines close so i could use short runs of pipe to hook up.Mostly the jointer and planer. This seller also has a dust deputy that i thought i could hook up to the sander and router while doing those operations.

We are just hobbyists who are not in the shop much. If we grow, i could use the Tophat with a big dust collector.

Sorry if i am too wordy

Paul

I was test driving an older Delta portable collector to see if I wanted to purchase it. While searching for info on the model all I found was one reference. Someone had made a baffle for it and it led me here to the site.

He made a baffle in the original 21 inch drum and built a 4"side mount inlet for it. His exhaust is directly outside. He uses the long flexible Rockler hose for the intake.

All sounded good until I started looking around here on the site. It is a small unit and looks like it would be undergunned for a Thien cyclone, let alone with that long of flexible hose added.

It is a Delta DC50-179. It is a ¾ hp with 580 cfm and  7" static pressure. Apparently it was built by Cincinnati Fan and they still sell that model.

Do you think a top hat design would work with this collector?

If I read right in one of the threads here, a smaller diameter would give you more suction. If the original modification of the baffle in the 21 inch drum that I read about worked would a smaller 16 " Tophat  work better?

LOTS of other questions in my head but I will keep reading :) and wait for replies.

Thank you in advance

Paul