Stacked vac and can

[dbhost]

Cool...

Just wondered that's all...

I know my Shop Vac brand vac check ball plugs up if the powerhead is even at a fairly slight angle. The Ridgid puts up with more abuse... Then again, it's a MUCH bigger vac too...

[bennybmn]

The powerhead on my Ridgid shopvac can be detached as a blower so it doesn't have a check valve .... but even if it did ... given that there isn't any back pressure against the valve, the blower should / might be able to push the ball out of the way?

In the end, just an idea and something for the OP and others to test first.

Easy to test... Just tip it over while it's running! :D

The engineer in me thinks that anything you guys can do to reduce the twists and turns will help your pressure.  When I was designing hydraulics, we would often use hoses instead of piping because we could do a nice gentle bend, but those hoses were not ribbed. PVC is great and cheap, but maybe look into some larger radius DC elbows?

[dp]

I found this stacked option interesting and thought about it for a bit. It seems logical to eliminate the external hose and elbows entirely and simply penetrate the bottom of the tank of the vacuum and feed it directly from the output port of the Thien lid. There's no reason the existing inlet port on the vacuum must be used as the entire tank runs at a reduced pressure. This design requires capping the vacuum's existing inlet. This allows the vacuum to remain upright, provides a short sealed path from the lid below, and a strong structure.

In addition, rather than the lid having the inlet port built in it is possible to attach the inlet hose tangentially to the side of the lower chamber such that the inlet is located between the lid and the separator disk. This eliminates the inlet elbow from inside the lid and should also make a clean vortex.

The connecting hose between the lid and the vacuum tank should continue up into the tank such that the opening is above the expected soil level - a flex hose inside the tank with a relaxed curve to allow a horizontal outflow is easily accomplished.

I've most of the bits to try this with my own setup. With the tangential inlet, cleaning the collection tank should be no different than existing builds except the vacuum comes off with the lid as the inlet host does not project into the collector tank. Forgive the noise if this has already been tried.

[dp]

Bad form to reply to yourself! but, I've just constructed a stacked vacuum and Thien Lid and it works great. Here's a set of images that hopefully explain my version. Particle separation is beyond belief.

http://thevirtualbarandgrill.com/machinery/ThienLid/

[dbhost]

I have also just finished with my Thien Cyclone stacker. No mine isn't with the pickup tube right through the bottom of the vac (interesting idea for sure!) but I did bob the hoses short using some tool hoses that were honestly WAY too long, and some spare fittings from the extra Ridgid vac hose packaging...

The plywood, AND 2x4s that were used in this project was debris that was blown into my yard by Hurricane Ike. I figure that gives it a bit of history!