J. Phil Thien's Projects

Quote from: phil (admin) on January 28, 2014, 07:30:14 AM

Quote from: shawn_s on January 28, 2014, 03:27:42 AM

Quote from: phil (admin) on January 27, 2014, 02:06:37 PM
In my testing with both my separator and a cyclone, drywall dust was a challenge.  Even more of a challenge was the dust I got when grinding my basement (concrete) floor before painting it.  In fact, I decided that it just wasn't worth it when grinding the floor and installed a drywall bag in the vacuum and didn't use any type of separator, and was astonished at how much rock dust made it through the bag!

Some of the drywall and rock dust seems to behave almost like smoke particles.

Yeah Phil, drywall dust can be unbelievably stubborn, especially when given a chance to "pack" on.  I had thought about the cleaning issue, and had wondered if  a removable top or bottom might work. Just would have to make sure it had a good seal.

Thanks Phil. From your tests, do you remember if one (separator or cyclone) performed better than the other?

"like smoke particles" is a very neat way of describing it. I can say I do know what you mean though.

I didn't test enough to draw comparisons.  I will say that cleaning the cyclone was a giant PITA though because the drywall dust stuck to the thick and got up to about 1/32" thick and reaching up through the bottom with a towel wrapped on a dowel didn't work that well to remove it, just shove it around.

I had tried putting chips through it while it was running, the drywall compound dust was like glue.

Quote from: Bulldog8 on January 27, 2014, 04:55:19 PM
Last year I remodeled our laundry room. I put new sheet rock on the walls and ceiling. (8x10 room) When I was getting ready to clean up the dust, I used a shopvac and my 5 gallon side inlet separator. It did better than I expecting. I was able to clean the room without clogging the filter, but in my experience it wouldn't do for all day work as you would have to clean the filter several times to keep the vac working.

Steve

Steve, your findings are encouraging. It is pretty rare that I am doing a large enough drywall job that I'd be sanding all day. I do still expect to have to clean the filter. I just would like to have to do it less than I do know.

I'm thinking I might still go ahead with making one. If for nothing else it'll be a good "practice" unit for when I do my larger one. Plus it'll still be handy to have for regular clean ups.

Quote from: phil (admin) on January 27, 2014, 02:06:37 PM
In my testing with both my separator and a cyclone, drywall dust was a challenge.  Even more of a challenge was the dust I got when grinding my basement (concrete) floor before painting it.  In fact, I decided that it just wasn't worth it when grinding the floor and installed a drywall bag in the vacuum and didn't use any type of separator, and was astonished at how much rock dust made it through the bag!

Some of the drywall and rock dust seems to behave almost like smoke particles.

Thanks Phil. From your tests, do you remember if one (separator or cyclone) performed better than the other?

"like smoke particles" is a very neat way of describing it. I can say I do know what you mean though.

I've been reading/lurking for close to a year now. Lots of great designs and interpretations have been produced. I'm planning of building a tophat unit for my DC in my shop, I will try to avoid a questions thread when I get to that. There is loads of amazing information already here and a lot of it has been answered in the last year.

I am also considering a smaller one for my shopvac, probably to place on a 5gal. bucket.  The primary use of my shopvac is sucking up drywall dust as I'm sanding. I'm not always fortunate enough to be renoing a place where the dust can just "fly".

So does anyone have any experience with this set up and drywall dust? What are some thoughts....would it work, a bit, not at all...? I'm not looking for perfection, just longer work times before the filter needs to be banged out. I'm thinking the slot in the bottom of the top hat probably could be reduced to 3/4" wide. Or would it be better to keep it wider, like in the 1" range?

Any advice/help/ideas are welcome.

Hey, I'm Shawn. Well now I know where my old account went.  :P Been working for years with minimal to no DC setup. Going to change that soon, and am going to be building a tophat to go with my DC that I have purchased. Been reading about the many interpretations of the design and find everyone's thoughts and willingness to share awesome.