I completed the build of the Top Hat a have to give all the credit to Phil and to Retired2's pictures and narrative. I don't think I would have ever come up with the design without Retired2's good work. I suppose it took me 4 half days to get it all done. There are just so many steps and I guess my old "measure twice" or more and then think about it slowed me down.
Anyway, I took Retired2's advise and built the walls out of a roll of 6" aluminum used for gutter flashing I had laying around. I predrilled the holes for pan head screws in the aluminum and then glued it on to the wall rings, and then screwed it down tight. I then ran a bead of silicone around the outside of the wall. I built it all out of a scrap piece of MDF I had, and the baffle was made from a scrap piece of 1/4" Melamine. I did not take any pictures, because all my parts look just like Retired2's pictures with one exception. Retired2 built his inlet out of metal, and mine is all wood. The top and bottom pieces of my build, all have a wing on them similar to the attached modified picture, which I "borrowed" from Retired2. In that picture I added a wing (black line) to the top and bottom for the inlet. It is about 8 inched long and 4"x6". I framed in the sides with regular wood. When I cut the baffle I was surprised at what I thought was the possibility that it might vibrate in the wind, so I installed a 1/8" rod for stability like Retired2 did. However, I think that others might consider the red line in the picture, which could be a part of the bottom jetting out from the side to support the baffle. Like the wing for the inlet, this could be a part that was not cut out when making the inside of the ring for the bottom. It would provide the needed baffle support and might not interfere with the performance, but someone else with more experience, would have to judge that.
As for the performance of the Top Hat, about all I can say is that it works great. I emptied the bag on the D/C into a trash bag and then began gently vacuuming small amounts of debris. At first I was very careful about the amount being vacuumed, but as time went on, I finally buried the hose into the bag and was surprised to see that nothing was getting by the separator. One nice thing about the separator, is that it keeps the large chips from going on to the D/C. Before I could hear the chips hitting the fan blades, so I suspect that the separator will add to the longevity of the D/C.
The next part of this project is to install metal duct work from the D/C to the separator, which will be moved to the center of the floor and attached to a machine (planner, saw, router cabinet, sander, etc.) via the current 4" hose. The D/C has a 4 7/8" inlet, so it would be nice to have a swivel on the pipe that could swing out to the separator. I looked at Rockler and they want $23.00 for a 5 foot section. Home Depot charges $8.00, but probably not just the correct size. There must be a way to use heating duct work. The other alternative is to buy another 10' section of 4" flex hose, and run it to the separator, but I believe that it would degrade the performance of the collection system if I use too much flex hose. Any thoughts on this matter would be appreciated.
Thanks again Phil and Retired2
Anyway, I took Retired2's advise and built the walls out of a roll of 6" aluminum used for gutter flashing I had laying around. I predrilled the holes for pan head screws in the aluminum and then glued it on to the wall rings, and then screwed it down tight. I then ran a bead of silicone around the outside of the wall. I built it all out of a scrap piece of MDF I had, and the baffle was made from a scrap piece of 1/4" Melamine. I did not take any pictures, because all my parts look just like Retired2's pictures with one exception. Retired2 built his inlet out of metal, and mine is all wood. The top and bottom pieces of my build, all have a wing on them similar to the attached modified picture, which I "borrowed" from Retired2. In that picture I added a wing (black line) to the top and bottom for the inlet. It is about 8 inched long and 4"x6". I framed in the sides with regular wood. When I cut the baffle I was surprised at what I thought was the possibility that it might vibrate in the wind, so I installed a 1/8" rod for stability like Retired2 did. However, I think that others might consider the red line in the picture, which could be a part of the bottom jetting out from the side to support the baffle. Like the wing for the inlet, this could be a part that was not cut out when making the inside of the ring for the bottom. It would provide the needed baffle support and might not interfere with the performance, but someone else with more experience, would have to judge that.
As for the performance of the Top Hat, about all I can say is that it works great. I emptied the bag on the D/C into a trash bag and then began gently vacuuming small amounts of debris. At first I was very careful about the amount being vacuumed, but as time went on, I finally buried the hose into the bag and was surprised to see that nothing was getting by the separator. One nice thing about the separator, is that it keeps the large chips from going on to the D/C. Before I could hear the chips hitting the fan blades, so I suspect that the separator will add to the longevity of the D/C.
The next part of this project is to install metal duct work from the D/C to the separator, which will be moved to the center of the floor and attached to a machine (planner, saw, router cabinet, sander, etc.) via the current 4" hose. The D/C has a 4 7/8" inlet, so it would be nice to have a swivel on the pipe that could swing out to the separator. I looked at Rockler and they want $23.00 for a 5 foot section. Home Depot charges $8.00, but probably not just the correct size. There must be a way to use heating duct work. The other alternative is to buy another 10' section of 4" flex hose, and run it to the separator, but I believe that it would degrade the performance of the collection system if I use too much flex hose. Any thoughts on this matter would be appreciated.
Thanks again Phil and Retired2