Jet Vortex DC collector

[johncbrownmd]

An obvious copy of your idea - I have used the original version in my Jet DC for over a year and it works great.  I think it is time for you to produce a retrofit version for the various dust collectors out there and get a patent.  It is inconceivable to me that Jet is not offering a retrofit cone baffle but wants you to buy the entire unit. 

Good luck and thanks for a great design.

JB

[AlanWS]

Jet  has come out with a DC equipped with something like the Thien baffle.  But presumably to avoid Phil's patent, they based it on an  earlier design.

[AlanWS]

I think that Jet's design is actually much closer to Phil's than I thought at first glance. Depending on what gets covered, it seems quite plausible his patent would cover Jet's device, even with Cole's prior art.

Cole uses a cone shaped baffle, but draws air from the middle of the baffle. Thien uses a flat baffle, taking air off above. Jet uses a cone shaped baffle, but draws air above.

I can't tell whether Jet's has what I would consider a defining feature of the Thien baffle that I have never encountered anywhere else: a narrow way for the dust to fall below the baffle that is not an even width all the way around the DC, but blocked near the air entry.

[AlanWS]

Cole is the guy who made a cone-shaped baffle years before Thien's.  See my link to the earlier design above.  I don't know if Cole's works as well, but I suspect his is the reason Jet made theirs conical.

[johncbrownmd]

I agree that the cone was obviously added and not part of the original design, which I suspect is exactly the same prior to the baffle conversion.  It is annoying that they are not offering an upgrade but used the baffle to create a new line of old machines. 

I think we would have

[Woodcarver]

Has anyone on this forum built a Thein baffle and installed it into the dust collector unit in the same way that Jet has installed their Vortex?
I have a unit very similar in design and would like to know if the Thein design would work well inside the DC unit.

[Woodcarver]

What is you take on this approach?  Would it work as well as the baffle on top of a separate barrel?

[phil (admin)]

What is you take on this approach?  Would it work as well as the baffle on top of a separate barrel?

Over half of the baffles in use are in the ring of the DC.  If your goal is to keep your filter clean, it works great.  Better, IMHO, than that Jet nonsense.  Seriously, they ran those DC's for 20 minutes without generating any additional (new) dust, and the filter was still getting a lot of fines sent to it.

I find it ironic that they (Jet and other manufacturers) have done little to improve the basic design of single stage DC's for decades.  I come along and within months of my patent application being printed, they have their new "cone," which is an attempt to side-step my claims (which, again, IMO it doesn't), and it doesn't work nearly as well as my published design.

Been there, done that.  I've built countless prototypes and I played with cones.  Cones are fantastic for conventional cyclones.  Use one as a baffle as they have, and it reduces separation rates.

The video on youtube doesn't show them using it attached to any machines, does it?  It is just a demonstration that attempts to show how it prevents scrubbing.  And on that, I'm afraid it falls down.

[phil (admin)]

Phil, I can only imagine how you feel, on one hand it's kind of a compliment to see that a large company wants to use the idea, but on the other hand they could of atleast had a little class about it and included you in on it. It kind of leaves me with bad impressions of JET. I own a JET 14" bandsaw, now I wish it was a different brand.

The guy behind this new invention at Jet is apparently the same guy that invented the Jet sharpener.  You know, the one that looks just like the Tormek.



I knew it was only a matter of time before something like this happened.

Oh well.

[pitbull]

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/tools/jets-vortex-dust-collector

[pitbull]

what i found interesting was the comments on how the quick change bag ...was not quick change at all.