DIY 55 Gallon Thien Baffle Dust Collection Cyclone Separator

[@takeniteasyfriend]

Design of your Thien baffle looks clean and thoughtful. The view port windows for example and the reinforced lid. You’re a plywood cutting master with an engineering mindset. Thanks for sharing your innovation!! 👍

[@GlennFrazeeYT]

Thanks Robert!

[@georgedennison3338]

You wrestling w/ your vac assy reminded of hanging a squirrel cage exhaust fan, 1 hp motor & 16" W x 30" L x 20" H plenum chamber in the attic above an in house grow room I built 20+ yrs ago. I didn't want to crack the cove ceiling dining room, (w/ bullnosed room wide arches at each end), in which I had 150 hrs of mud finishing invested. So, my solution was to hang it from 3/16" shock cord. I made half-dozen bundles of 20-30 cords & attached then to a piece of plywood the exhaust system was mounted on. All the while in a 4 ft ridge height attic, up to my shins in fiberglass insulation. Fortunately, it was winter; it woulda been hell any other time. The whole thing hangs 4-5 above the ceiling joists, doesn't sway nor vibrate. It's been hanging for 20 yrs on the original shock cords; none have broke. Once I got it hung, I either moved a bundle of strands, changed # of strands or length of bundles to approach level. What I did was based on location & available options, (had sloped rafters & horizontal cross ties as attachment points to deal w/) I did have to glue down a few ballast & balancing chunks of scrap granite countertop, but that was fine tuning more than anything. It was w/i 1" of level level before the stone scraps; for fine tuning, it was easier to use granite chunks than move/modify shock cord bundles, (but I do have a wet saw to cut them.) It worked out much better than I imagined. While initially wrestling w/ it, my brain was trying to think of an alternative method. I originally thought to share the story for comic relief, but when you talked about shaking the floor, shock cord bundles might be an easier solution than relocating your vac. If you do, keep the chains on it as safety chains, in case of attachment or shock cord failure. I was able to get quality shock cord from a sky diving supply house for a good price; now, only cheap-o quality cord may be available at a reasonable price. After you change out the squirrel cage fan, get some tape on tire/wheel weights & improve the balance on the rotating assy. Use 2-3 different color Sharpies & mark a consistent point where the fan & motor stops spinning. Top, (0⁰), is best; bttm, (180⁰), would be heavy point, if it consistently stops w/ mark @ 0⁰. Add weight to top mark until the fan stops at different locations. Warm up motor, (bearings), to reduce drag influence. It's not as tedious as it sounds. I learned this balancing technique 40+ yrs ago from an old HVAC guy I worked for when I was young. Hope this helps... your vid has helped me w/ my about to build a vac sys project. GeoD

[@GlennFrazeeYT]

Great information, thanks George!

[@georgedennison3338]

@@GlennFrazeeYT hope it helps, now or in the future.

[@mmgross144]

One question: How do you empty it when you have permanently mounted your intake/baffle to your catch barrel? Perhaps a two stage using a cut off portion of a second barrel would have served better?

[@GlennFrazeeYT]

I have a flexible rubber coupling that I can unscrew on the inlet, and the outlet is flexible enough to move the lid off.

[@richpalmisano1740]

Pop rivetswould have been a good choice...

[@GlennFrazeeYT]

Maybe. You get better clamping with bolts.

[@YiHogyun]

if you suck up any scrap of steel (nails, screws, washers, bolts) - into that metal Thien baffle, as it spins at 4000 ft/min, it will spark against not only the metal piping, but on those screw heads inside that barrel and with all that dust tinder collected - you're asking for an explosive and rapid-burn fire that will burn down your shop in an eyeblink. I'd take those screws out immediately.

[@GlennFrazeeYT]

You'd hear about a lot more shop fires if this was a possibility

[@chuckbratcher9866]

I have a dust collection system very near to yours. My question is, when your 55 gallon drum gets full, what do you do with the sawdust?

[@GlennFrazeeYT]

Either throw it away or add it to the mulch in the back flower bed. If it's got any black walnut in there I toss it out since walnut leaches chemicals that other plants don't like.

[@silverbackag9790]

@@GlennFrazeeYTthere’s quite a few plants that have juglone resistance. Might compost the walnut for them. Or if you have “hot” compost, I suspect the juglone will break down.

[@kaieteurcanada]

A 55 gal drum full of sawdust that is attached to a monster 6" pipe that I dont see no way of disconnecting has got to be a pain in de azz to empty.

[@GlennFrazeeYT]

The top of the drum unclips and the lid lifts right off. No real difficulty.

[@karimbaker9482]

I'm not an engineer, can you put your comment about the motor at 14:30 in laymen terms

[@gs8148]

Too slow

[@GlennFrazeeYT]

🐢

[@diegohperez6434]

Well to be honest size is good but the tin from the cardboard don’t think so shut have industrial strong plastic barrel with round wood in side to stop the barrel to crush thanks

[@GlennFrazeeYT]

The fiber drum works great