J. Phil Thien's Projects

Check out my post of Aug 15 regarding Plexus  M310 adhesive for plastics. Go to the Jamestown Distributors site for more info.
John T

Ah yes. I see what you mean. It makes sense to have the slot extend as far around as possible so the air/debris has a chance to slow down and drop before flowing past the inlet again. Thanks for the input.

I'm probably missing something in the blogs but I have not seen anything definitive on the relationship of the start of the baffle slot to the inlet port; e.g. "the slot should start X degrees past the mouth of the inlet and continue around for 240 degrees". It's the X here that I wonder about. Thanks for any light which you can shed on this.

I recently saw that Jamestown Distributors offers a number of high performance adhesives in their catalog. I've used West system, System Three and 3M 5200, all with great success on various projects. They have a new one, Plexus 310, which is supposed to adhere plastics. Possibly useful for those of you forming the walls of your 'top hats' with plexiglass or lexan. With this adhesive you may not need screws.
John

Thanks for all your great information. I removed the cones today w/o much difficulty. Since the inner surface of the rings is not perfectly smooth, I'm going to line it with sheet metal. Judging from these posts, smooth is very important. The 5x5 inlet is about 1.5" from one open end and about 4" from the other open end. Any thoughts on which end the baffle should go? I can mount them either end up. I will try to take some pics of this remodel and post them. Thanks again for your help.

Thanks for the responses. The rings are 11" deep and made of some pretty heavy gage steel. The cones are force fit and could be removed by popping their spot welds where the sheet metal is joined. I'm gonna remove them. The 5x5 inlet is about 1.5" from one open end and about 4" from the other open end. Which end should the baffle go on? I can mount them either end up.
I'm assuming a 6" dia. outlet into the filter area is sufficient since it about matches the size of the inlet, yes?
Lastly, I have a 2 branch, 6" piping system. My DC has bags for collection. They fill up very fast and are difficult to empty. My Jointer and planer are on one branch. I'm thinking of adding another Thien separator with a big barrel to that branch to ease the collecting/emptying problem. From this separator the flow would go directly to the DC with no tools in between. Any opinions on if this will work or would I so reduce the airflow that it would be unworkable? Thanks again for your help.

I have a 1980's four bag, 3hp DC similar to the 1030 model now being offered. I upgraded it with felt dust bags on the top and plastic collection bags on the bottom. Now I'd like to add Wynn filters and thien baffles as described in a 2012 article in FWW.  However the 19.5" diameter rings which hold the bags don't seem to lend themselves to the modifications described in the article. Mine each have a 5x5 inch inlet from the fan which open just above a downward sloping cone in each ring. These cones have about a 12" hole in the middle. If I install baffles just below the inlets and above the cones there would only be about a 1/2" clearance between the baffle slot and cones. Not good. I could drill out the spot welds holding these cones which would give me two nice clean 10" or so deep rings to convert to thien separators. Has anyone ever done this? Will it ruin the function of my DC (can't afford a new one and the SWMBO wouldn't let me buy one anyway)? What is the purpose of these cones? Thanks for any advice you can give.
John