6" Top hat

[UpstateNydude]

So me and a friend from work have been talking about building a top hat thien for awhile and we finally did.

Now for clarity I have 2hp Grizz DC and I am using 6" pipe everywhere up until the machine 4" ports, now we just went off the typical design of what everyone else has done using 4" pipe for the inlet and return.

The problem is it's not separating well I'd say maybe 70% of the chips make it into the barrel the other 30-40% are in the bag I've tried adjusting the height of the return pipe up and down with minimal effect. I will get some pics up in a few minutes but off the top of your heads is there something we did wrong?

Does the top hat have to be taller for 6" pipe or a wider slot...I'm at a loss.

[alan m]

i dont see any seal between the seperater and the barrel.
the slot looks very wide
the diameter of the seperater looks very small. my 6" is in the 20-22" range i think. i think mine is pushing it a bit


looks good thow

[Bulldog8]

I have a similar system, 2 HP Griz, 6" mains and 4" drops, I get great separation, but see some differences between your baffle and mine.

1. The opening in your barrel is smaller, therefore a tighter diameter in the tophat. (I don't think that is significant, but that is a guess)

2. You have a lip between the outer edge of the drop slot and the outer wall. That will effect separation.

3. The baffle is very thick, that doesn't help the separation of fines.

4. Drop slot is very wide. Should be as narrow as possible. I've built two tophats for my main DC. The original had a wide drop slot due to the shavings I got from my planer. The second was 7/8" as I had upgraded my planer to a Byrd head and get small chips instead of shavings when planing.

5. Could add another ring to the bottom of the tophat to allow a seal of weatherstripping to go in the groove where the tophat meets the barrel.

6. Hard piping from the tophat to the DC is better than flex, but people have done it both ways.

7. If you tested your baffle by dumping handfuls of saw dust into the inlet you will likely find that you get better separation when connected to a machine and dumping a lower volume of dust into the separator.

Bottom line is that I think the greatest concern is the lip when the wall meets the baffle and the width of the drop slot.

Steve

[phil (admin)]

Bottom line is that I think the greatest concern is the lip when the wall meets the baffle and the width of the drop slot.

Steve

Yep, the lip is a road block, can't have an obstructions there.

[UpstateNydude]

But looking at it does it look like theoretically everything else should be alright other then narrowing the slot and getting rid of the lip?  Is the baffle to thick I've read some places using 3/4 plywood is bad and you want to use 1/4 stuff but everyone always has their own opinion.

[phil (admin)]

It also looks like the inlet is awfully close to the outlet tube.  Some debris will enter rotation, some will bypass to the outlet tube.

It is real hard to tell by the pictures, though.

[alan m]

sorry didnt spot the step.
thats one of the problems.
it will be hard to remove without  weakening the seperater.
how is it constucted, plastic in a slot
you could add a thin baffel over the other baffel  with a narrower slot

i would also add a rectangular transition to the inlet so that the dust is forced to the outside edge  and along the wall of the seperater