Inlet ideas sought

[alan m]

i think you could add another ring all around for the seperater to sit on the trash can. then put weather stripping on that

[guy48065]

It's already a snug fit--how would sealing it up tight keep dust from being pulled from the can into the chamber?  I'm just not "getting" the cause of the reverse flow.  BTW the can is empty except for an inch of dust so there's some serious activity in there to re-animate it and move it from a low pressure zone to a high pressure zone.

[phil (admin)]

The only spot not caulked is the fit of the chamber to the drum.  It's a snug fit but I'm sure some air leaks in.

Is the top hat just pushed down into the garbage can?  That has to be perfectly sealed.

[alan m]

when i was sealing up my latest seperater i used armaflex pipe insulation tape. it is soft like draught seal but sticks to everything.

i went all around in short lengths (because it is hard to work with because it sticks to everything amazingly well)
one small section about 3 "  long got stuck to the bench and pulled off when i lifted the seperater.
i didnt spot it at first.
i put the seperater on top of my half full can  adn fliped the switch
you could see where the air had rushed in  throught the  small gap. it 'cut' a slot into the chips  and send them up into the seperater and out to the dc.
the dc was not vented out side at that point. it was like  i had tipped the barrle from the roof top. there was dust everywhere. so much so that i had to evacuate the shop and wait for it to seetle then vac the whole shop up

[guy48065]

The only spot not caulked is the fit of the chamber to the drum.  It's a snug fit but I'm sure some air leaks in.

Is the top hat just pushed down into the garbage can?  That has to be perfectly sealed.

The top pushes down into the can.  It's sized to be snug but not a force fit so I'm sure there's some slight leakage.  I assumed leakage here would be of no consequence other than the minimal reduction in CFM.  I've also read older posts about leaky tophats where there were no complaints of negative efficiency (more dust going to filter than taken in at inlet).  I guess I drew the wrong conclusions from this.

Adding a 1/2" ring + weatherstrip under the inlet pipe should still leave me with enough wall down inside the can.  The hope is that I can do this and not have to start over with a new build.

I'm sure getting a lot of unexpected use from the circle-cutter jig I built for my bandsaw :)