Phil Thien Dust Separator integrated into a 16 Gallon Shop-Vac.

[KC7CN]

It's time to share!  And more importantly, to say Thank You to Phil for the great design of his dust separator.

As you can see by the photo, I was able to integrate the Thien separator into my 16 Gallon shop vac.  Also note that I used a Lowe's bucket to mount the shop vac to the separator.  To my surprise, the Shopvac lid locks with this bucket.



Follow the link to view the photo album this project.  Please note, I do not have plans or drawings and dimensions to share, however, the captions under each photograph illustrate how the separator was constructed.

https://picasaweb.google.com/104032558344910866540/ShopVacDustSeparator?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPKIrsSQ4POhWQ&feat=directlink

Last, but not least, this was not a project for advanced, intermediate, or amateur woodworkers!  For this project, you simply must be persistent  ;D

-Don

[RonS]

Don, Wow A TopHat separator for a Shop-Vac., what a great design. I can see lots of duplication with this setup.
Good luck and success with your Thien-Vac.

Ron

[allemande]

Don, nice build!  I'm going to check whether my 6-gallon ShopVac mates with a Lowes (or other) bucket.  One question -- other than the friction (or gravity?) fit between the groove in the bottom interface ring and the top rim of the 16-gallon canister, is there any other attachment (clamp, tab, hold-down) at that point?

John, San Francisco

[Tacuabe]

You may want to have a look at my solution which works very well for me. Here's a link to the original post:

http://www.jpthien.com/smf/index.php?topic=740.msg4266#msg4266

Note that I have extended the concept of the Thien separator to my shop-built table saw with great success:

http://www.jpthien.com/smf/index.php?topic=1192.msg6975#msg6975

The compactness of the separator gives birth to many unusual applications. Your imagination is the limit!

[phil (admin)]

Super-nice work, Don, great execution all around.

[NCTinkerer]

Don,

I did pretty much the same thing with my shop vac.  Since my shop vac had a cylindrical reservoir, I placed it directly on top of the Thien separator where you have your bucket then put a can under the separator.  You should now consider upgrading your Shop Vac filter.  See my post here, at the end is the filter info. http://www.jpthien.com/smf/index.php?topic=1201.0