My HF DC w/ Different Version of Thien Baffle

[Jason Strauss]

First, let me say that this is not my design. It's clearly a take off on the Phil Thien's baffle, but it's not exactly like Phil's either. After much internal debate and external search, I settled on a design that I saw this on a youtube video. I'm not sure who the guy was, but he did a very nice 5 part video documenting his build. I adapted my baffle from his design. So, thanks to Phil and the guy from the video...whoever you are!

The MDF top fits over a heavy duty Rubbermaid trashcan with the help of a grove that was cut with a router and circle cutting jig. The two MDF pieces for the top and bottom of the baffle were cut together at one time on the band saw.

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This next piece is made of some cheap plywood that I had laying around - ripped to 6" wide. I then made kref cuts every inch at a dept of about 5/8" to allow it to bend around the desired radius. This piece is held in place with glue and pocket screws.

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I then glued in some formica around the inside radius for a nice smooth surface. I had to use two pieces of formica, but didn't feel like it would affect performance too much. I laid out and then cut the baffle slot with my jig saw. I then glued and screwed the "cover plate" into place and cut out the properly sized hole with the jig saw.

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The top is afixed with screws only for later access. The intake and outlet points are 4" PVC closet flanges - these accept the 5" hose beautifully. The flanges are screwed into place and caulked for an air-tight seal. I used a mating 22.5 degree elbow to allow for quick access through the top in case of a clog.

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Here's the finish product. While I do note a marked decrease in sucking power while attached to my TS or other tool, it is sufficient to get the job done. I only have about an 8' run from the inlet of the baffle to the TS connection. That run gets extended by about 4' if I'm using my planer or jointer. Overall, I'm very please with the results. One note: you have to keep an eye on how full the container gets. In my excitement to put my new DC rig to the test, I filled up the trash can pretty quickly with pine chips from the planer. The overflow is what you see in the DC bag. Otherwise, everything seems to stay in the can...just like Phil designed!

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[Jay Maiers]

Nice work Jason.
Have you considered placing the motor on top of the baffle and running a straight pipe to the dust collector? While that would make the top a bit heavier and complicate the clean-out process, I'd think that you would get better performance by eliminating those bends and the corrugated hoses.

[Jason Strauss]

Jay,

Thanks. Mounting the motor differently is probably the next step. I considered it while building this rig - even unbolted the motor from the base - but didn't feel like I had put enough thought into how exactly to accomplish it. You're right, though, eliminating some of the bends and runs of corrugated should help sucking power.

[Steve Hepditch]

Here is the link with the original author credit I believe you're looking for. Excellent tutorial and finished product - was the blueprint for my own design until I decided to go with a motor-on-top version and ended up recycling the original DC inlet body as the separator (simply adding a top and bottom with snap-lock pipe to the blower motor , vented outside). Much more efficient setup if you have the ability to vent outside and eliminate filters after the blower. The separator works so well that you get a *tiny* amount of fines blown outside...

http://www.cgallery.com/smf/index.php?topic=429.0

Steve

[Joe A Faulkner]

Jason, I more or less did the same build, but incorporated some ideas from a "portable" version I saw here a few months back.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ions&p=1607637

I lined the top hat with a single sheet of 1/8" masonite, then ran aluminium flashing on the inside as well. I also cut my inlet pipe at an angel. My next step is to build a plenum with several blast gates. I'm going to cluster the tools around the DC, and keep my runs fairly short. I'll try to post some pics in the next few days. Congrats on your build.