5 Gallon Paint Can Separator

[hueypilot69]

I didn't want to invest too much when trying this design, just in case tolerances, etc. were beyone my skill level. So I built a prototype out of a 5 gallon plastic paint container and, get this, an old piece of cardboard for the baffle. It took me all of about 15 minutes because I just used a utility knife to cut out the baffle and attached it to the plastic cover with a couple of long bolts. The duct parts were placed in over-sized holes and held in place with a yard of duct tape. It looked like a complete disaster - the baffle wasn't really parallel to the top, the edges of the cardboard were a little raggedy, etc. But hey, it took just a few minutes.

Then I hooked it up to my ShopVac and gave it a whirl (pardon the pun). It worked flawlessly! I mean absolutely flawlessly. Nothing went into the ShopVac - except clean air. Phil's got a real winner here.

So for any of you hesitating to give this most excellent design a try, have at it! Even with inferior materials and just eyeballing the dimensions, I achieved great results.

Of course, now I'm making one a proper one with a 30 gallon container and all the proper trimmings and materials for my 4" system - but with a lot more confidence in the final outcome... Thanks Phil - you da Man!