Introduce yourself...

[RobHannon]

Hello,

Amature woodworker and longtime guest lurker on the forum. I am trying to expand my hobby into hopefully a post retirement business. Currently redesigning my shop for better efficiency and space for a real dust collection system. 

Looking forward to plagerizing everyones good ideas for the benefit of my lungs.

[mikeskustomshop]

Hello everyone, Im new to the forum. Im a electronics guru during the day and closet case woodworker at night. Keep up all the great work everyone.

[Paul Schaefer]

I'm Paul Schaefer and I'm doing the groundwork for a DC upgrade.  I'm currently operating a HF DC with a Thien baffle in the collector ring which does a great job of keeping chips out of the filter.  I want to get some more airflow for better collection and am trying to decide whether to go incrementally larger with either another baffle or tophat separator, or just make the jump to a ClearVue.

[Lappa]

Hi,
My name is Lappa. I've modified a 2hp 5" FM300 extractor which now has 6" inlet, 6" outlet and a 6" inlet to the dust separator. I blocked off the old 5" inlet to the separator. I have now found I have too much airflow for the pleated filter (rise in back pressure) so I have opened the 5" inlet and fitted a Thein separator in a 200 drum, in parallel with the main filter.
Works great. Airflow in my main workshop Duct has increased nearly 100 CFM.
I'd post some pictures but not sure how to do it. Thanks for any help.

[d_hutton]

Greeting to all , just signed up today 9-26-2917 and want to thank J Phil Thien and his brilliant design for chip separator for a shop vac dust collection. Just completed mine and followed Phil's instructions to the tee and was supper surprised how fantastic this separator works. Thanks agin.

David

Ps woodworking off and on for the last 45 years and now I am retired will have more time for what I enjoy the most making tons of sawdust and sucking it all up with the Thien Seperator, thanks Phil.

[Aarwhy]

Hi,  I am retired, part time inverter of a few things.
I have designed, built, programmed CNC'c  to cut instruments.  Violin, Guitar, Ukulele
My latest machine  has a 4.5 kw spindle motor, soon turns a garage of wood into sawdust. Which produces very fine dust.  hence my post:
I have small area, required small efficient  dust collector.

I firstly say thanks for your idea, which I bounced off. Redesigned it  to be the world's most efficient Wood/Dust collector.
Can I make that claim?  Easy,  nothing in the world comes close!
NO FILTERS WHATEVER and 4 micron collection

COMPLETE compact unit, is only 250mm H X 500mm X 500mm  with 125mm duct in.out
Acts as multi Stage
Full Flow
Single Drop Box
Large chips to 4 micron   (fine white flour)
Even at full duct choke load, collects large chips, down to 4 micron in single drop
Queensland University  witnessed, verified, Electron microscope tested. 

Only Additional Equipment:
2hp with 400mm blower X125 duct, a 600mm X 600mm X 900mm high dropbox
The  very small amount less than 4micron   exiting externally. 

Thank you

[Alan H]

Hi, I'm Alan.   ;)

I have been looking to step up my DC setup.  I recently bought the HF 2HP separator,  but haven't set it up yet.  I have the small Dust Deputy hooked up to my shopvac and it works OK, but I want a more permanent solution for the several machines I use with DC.  Especially as I'm building a router based CNC and that will create lots of sawdust.

I want to build a Thein separator and will probably have a few questions, so here I am!

[will1983]

Hi, new member here rom the UK.

I'm Will a hobby woodworker in Cheshire in North west England.

I usually make items of cabinetry for myself and family. My largest being a dressing table and a number of wardrobes for our main bedroom. Painted MDF cabinetry with solid wood beech doors and dressing table top.

I joined this forum as I have been looking into upgrading my current dust extraction set up and have settled on a Thien type top hat design.

I will be posting a new thread with a few questions which I hope someone will be able to answer shortly.

[militarybrat]

HI I'm just a brat that is building my first seporator. Looked around stumbled onto this site and would rather build one than buy one. Love the simplicity of design along with the effectiveness. I'm a one man shop who does his research no more huffin dust for me. Wearing resporator while working is over. Working as an electrician has disabled me with T.O.S. so I am getting back to woodworking.

[Buck]

I found this website by searching for cyclone building plans, It's a very interesting site. My name is Buck, I fell in love with woodworking in 7th grade and have been at it for over 40 years. After my stint in the service I went to work in a friends machine shop and became a tool-maker. Now being a tool make and a woodworker causes a couple of problems. At work we routinely worked with tolerances as low as .00005 of an inch, that's 50 millionth's of an inch so I had become a perfectionist. There's not a chance that you do that with wood, so I have a huge scrap bin of pcs I consider out of tolerance from what i wanted when more than likely they would've been just fine. I have a basement shop with I have made into 3 areas. There is a wood storage area with homemade lumber racks on a wall, the scrap bin on wheels, my 12" sliding miter saw on a table I made with its own lumber racks above for what I'm working on, planer and jointer. 2nd area is where I do all the work to make things, I have my tablesaw setup permanently with out feed table, in corner are 2 drill presses. Router table, band saw, wood lathe, mortise mach, spindle sander are all on wheels. Some shelves with supplies, library, hand tools and other items. I have a cover I made for the table saw when I need an area to glue up, sand and assemble. 3rd area is just for finishing so its more or less my clean room. So that's me in a nut shell

[AndySH]

Hi Andy here from the UK.

been watching many YT video on the Thien baffle its great to have found the creator, Great work Phil

[OCJoeR]

Evening all, I'm Joe, a new member of the forum. I've just moved from a 3 car oversized garage in which I installed 240/120 wiring, a modified Harbor Freight DC with a Thien baffle with some additional modifications and piping to all my tools, to a barely 2 car garage house where I'm still trying to figure out how to get my '46 Chevy 3/4 ton stakebed into the garage next to mama's suv. Anyway, I've come up with a folding workbench and rolling stands for most of the tools and am back looking to build a dust collection system. I came across a You Tube video showing the baffle inside a 55 gallon drum, which, given the lack of space in this garage looked like a space saving idea. As it happens there was an ad on good old Craig's List from a company giving away as many 55 gallon drums as you'd like. I picked up 2.

I've been reading lots of posts regarding the benefits/downsides of the internal style baffle as opposed to the "top hat" version. From what I'm seeing it's a 50/50 proposition. I only use one tool at a time so all the suction will be going only to that tool so I'm thinking I can do the internal method with the 2 hp DC.

I couldn't find anything regarding the direction of the input port and its position in relation to the beginning point of the hole in the baffle. The photos on Phil's siet seem to show the inlet about midway along the uncut portion of the circle. I was going to use 6" ducting cut right into the side of the 55 gal. drum. Would I place this port in the same location?

I'm not sure if I should be asking all this in the intro section. If not please advise.

thank you
Joe

[woodvice]

Hello,

My name is John. I generate sawdust in a small shop north of Seattle. This is my mandatory post to keep my account alive.

I plan to build a compact "top hat" style dust collector system that uses an old Cincinnati DC blower that I have had for years. I have long thought about building a DC system with a cyclone but I cannot justify using so much space in my already too crowded shop. The Thien style separator should allow me to create a system that will work well and still not take up too much precious space.

[NewCreationWoodworks]

Greetings from New Creation Woodworks in Ruckersville, Virginia!

First, I am by no means a skilled or professional wood worker. Everything I do is because I love to CREATE.

My shop is a 12x24 semi-insulated garage in Central VA. I've purchased several low-end (but still good quality) tools and machines to help me to turn ideas into reality. Usually this involves wood, but I've also done many projects using metal, plastic, foam, and cardboard. Here are some of the main tools I am currently using:

• Rockwell Tools 15A 10" Contractor Table Saw
• Wen Products 14" Drill Press
• Rockler Router Table with Porter Cable Router
• Harbor Freight Tools 12" Double Bevel Sliding Miter Saw
• Harbor Freight Tools 12" Thickness Planer
• Harbor Freight Tools 2HP Dust Collector (modified)

I'm also somewhat of an inventor, and have come up with a remarkable tool of my own which I call "The Spacing Jig". I'll share more about that later.

Warm Regards,
Tony Gardner
New Creation Woodworks
Ruckersville, Virginia USA

[Wrightw2118]

Hi, my name is Bill Wright.  I am a retiree living in Columbus MS.  I have a little shop/man cave that I spend a lot of time in.  Recently got a single stage dust collector.  While researching installtion videos on youtube I ran across the Thien baffle.  Going to make one for DC.  Thanks Phil