Introduce yourself...

[WDwonder]

My name is John. Just joined today. I have plenty of dust in my shop that needs to be corralled.  I plan on building the Thein baffle soon!

[bikefoolery]

Thanks for the resource here.  I'm building a top hat style baffle for my small garage shop.

cheers,
-Josh

[bbrown]

  I'm William Brown from Forest, VA.  I make 18th century reproduction furniture in my basement.... LineAndBerry.com

   My lungs are begging for a dust collector.

     --Bill

[MadMac]

Howdy!  I'm Mac and I hang out in South Central Texas.  I am gathering up what I need to build the separator to help me keep the sawdust and metal chips in my small shop cleaned up.  I thank you all for the research you have done and shared!!

Regards--Mac

[jmgallag]

Hi,

My name is Jim, I live in Orange County, California. Very interested in building a tophat separator for my home shop: Grizzly contractor style 10" table saw, Delta 14" bandsaw, Red Star 14" RAS (under restoration), Dayton 12" disc/6" belt combo sander.

Does my account need some sort of vetting before I can post a new topic? I don't see an option to create a new topic when I view the forums.

Thanks,
Jim

[Ken]

Hi,
I am a newbie to woodworking. My shop is a small part of a double garage and is populated by low price equipment. Hence my interest in DIY Dust Separators. The forum seems to offer a variety of experiences and knowledge. Thanks in advance to all the contributors.

[chocdog]

Hello all.
I have been wanting to get into woodworking for such a long time and finally started to take the plunge.  I have been lurking around this site and it has SO much information it is kinda overwhelming. :o  I have recently purchased a HF DC and I am planning on building either the lid baffle of the top hat.  I am looking forward to tapping into the wealth of knowledge that is here. 
Thanks for the site and thanks in advance for the forthcoming advice and help.
Happy New Year!

[mrlysle]

Hello all. Brand new here. Discovered Mr. Thien's baffle through of all places, YouTube! lol I've been an avid woodworker for 40 plus years, but had quite a spell where I just didn't have the time to do anything. I'm getting a shop back together now, upgrading/modifying some of my tools, building jigs, etc, etc. Just like so many others. I will post a help question in the next day or so, and hope you experienced folks can help me. Before I discovered the "Thien baffle" and all the separators built on it's design, I found a dust collector build on YouTube that looked appealing to me, and from the video I watched, it looked like it worked well also. So I ordered a fiber drum, and built it! Made a couple boo boos, corrected them, and finally thought I was done. Let me add also, that I don't own a DC, but rather use a 16 gal, 6.5 peak horsepower shop vac for my workshop cleanup tasks. I just didn't know any better! I can't really afford a DC right now anyway. OK, having said that, the vac works fairly well for what it is, and I get nice airflow through my new fiber drum collector/separator. But what I'm finding now, is the shop vac is "scavenging" some dust/planer shavings/debris, from the bottom of the drum, even when the hose is just laying on a clean floor, and not actually being used to suck up stuff. It's not extreme, by any means, but it's more than I think it should be. So I'll post some pics of my build, and ask for y'all to help me,and give me guidance/suggestions. Like any other subject with which we are unfamiliar, I'm learning so much, and have become fascinated by this whole "dust collection" subject. I appreciate all the hard work and experimentation you all have put into this, and hope to be able to contribute myself someday, to help others. Ok, enough introduction. Thanks for having this discussion group!  :) Oh, and I totally messed up, and put this intro in the "Here's the Plans" section. My apologies.

[Jeff1207]

Hello.  My name is Jeff and I have been putting together a small woodworking shop for several years.  Like many others I have the HF 2HP dust collector.  I have known for a while that I wanted/needed to add a separator and have been aware of the Thien baffle for some time.  However, I was not aware of the wealth of information available on this forum until just about a week ago.  I have done a fair amount of reading on the site since (when I should have been sleeping) and it is a little overwhelming but very impressive.  My current plan is to build an extra tall top hat design with PTEG plastic sides.  I have gained many ideas from Retired2 and Rudy81 to name just a few.  It will probably be a few months yet before I start my build, so I have some time for more research before I start.

Phil, I want to thank you for your original design, your prototyping and testing, your continued insight, and providing and managing this website for the benefit of the woodworking community.  I also want to thank all of the other contributors on this site that have provided an unbelievable number of ideas and testing results so that we can all benefit.  Who knew, I think this internet thing might just catch on.  ;)

[bbenston]

Hi,  I'm a wood carver and do some woodworking.  Have harbor freight dc and planning to convert to 2 stage.

[Mainebarn]

Hello,

My name is Brian.  I'm a scientist by trade, but a lifelong woodworker--mainly home remodeling projects.  Lately, I've gotten into "timber framing" and just built an old fashion barn exclusively from hand tools--turning this into a workshop.  Just bought a DC and quickly saw a "Thien cyclone" would be a great addition.  Looking forward to make one.

[vietnamvet2]

I am a passionate woodworker but never had a shop class in school or any other training.  My skills, such as they are, were gained through much trial and error with some ideas from some good woodworking magazines, WOOD and WOOD SMITH.  I have a mechanical background and desire and that's about it, and I've been at this for over 25 years.  I have a 26 x 30 shop that I never dreamed I'd have and it is filled with all the machinery to make mountains of sawdust so a means of collecting is a necessity.  Years ago I built a cyclone collector from a plan in WOOD or maybe SHOP NOTES.  It has served me well but I chintzed on the blower and bought something that is really too small to serve more than one tool, not something you could run ducting to and service multiple machines.  Recently I upgraded to a Harbor Freight dust collector but I don't want to give up my separator.  I'm going to explore using the larger blower on the current cyclone but if I can't find a way to make it work, will build another but use the ideas Phil presents on this forum. 

[manoverboard]

Hello,To All those trying to breath easy in their shop. I'm new to Phil's site and have been researching the amazing Thein Baffle to use on the dust collection journey I am embarking upon. Let me just say thank you Phil for open resourcing your invention.
Just got a new house (well new to me )and have to redo my shop ,its a chore but its a chance to make all the improvements that was needed in my old shop.Outlets every 4ft and in the ceiling, more lighting,insulated and heated ,well away from the house so wifey don't bother me much And a dust collection to keep everything tidy to name a few.

[wolsing]

Hi There

My name is Chris and I'm from Denmark.

I've build my first cyclone/baffle for a normal vacuum cleaner out of a 10L bucket, which actually was quite effective. My second build is on its way, and i wanted to share the process.

[Jerry Pepera]

Hi,

My name is Jerry.  Long time woodworker always hampered by space and sharing it with the family. I'm a "young" empty nester now and can finally use my woodshop as it was intended (< 400 sq ft). I intend to make a small portable dust collector using a Thein separator. Looking forward to discussions with the group.

Thanks,

Jerry