# Thien Cyclone



## BassBlaster (Nov 21, 2010)

So now that I have a jointer and planer, I'm making tons more dust than I was with just my couple saws. I dont have the extra space for a full blown dust collection system so I'm making a small portable unit that I can move around from tool to tool. First step was to make a Thien Cyclone. (I'm aware that this technically isnt a cyclone) Based on everything I found on the Thien site and other sights this is as good and sometimes better than the seperators available to purchase. I'll be hooking it up to a brand new Ridgid 1250 shop vac. I know a true dust collection system would be superior but this will be a huge improvement over having nothing. I siliconed everything to get a nice air tight seal so I cant try it out till tomorrow but I'll post pics and my results after I try it out.

For now here is the pic of the cyclone just completed and drying...


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## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

Looks nice, shiny, and sturdy! I think you'll be very pleased with how much is in the bottom of your can after a few runs.

How did you get the 45 DC connection on top of the 90 deg PVC fitting? Did you just cut the PVC flush with the lid?


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## thegrgyle (Jan 11, 2011)

*Don't forget about the lid*

Great job! Just make sure to seal the lid to the can you are putting it on. :thumbsup:

This is the way I started, and then came across a heck of a deal on a real dust collector, and built another for that one.:yes:


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## BassBlaster (Nov 21, 2010)

beelzerob said:


> Looks nice, shiny, and sturdy! I think you'll be very pleased with how much is in the bottom of your can after a few runs.
> 
> How did you get the 45 DC connection on top of the 90 deg PVC fitting? Did you just cut the PVC flush with the lid?


 I put several coats of poly on it thinking that would help with air flow, thats why its shiny!!

You are correct, the pvc street elbow is just glued in flush with the top and the DC fitting just sits flush on top of it. Its all sealed up with silicone to make an air tight connection.


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## BassBlaster (Nov 21, 2010)

thegrgyle said:


> Great job! Just make sure to seal the lid to the can you are putting it on. :thumbsup:
> 
> This is the way I started, and then came across a heck of a deal on a real dust collector, and built another for that one.:yes:


 I have some weather stripping to seal it up but my router did such a nice job cutting the rabbet that I dont think I'll need it. I can put the seperator on top of the can and then lift it up and the can comes up with it. I'm gonna try it without and if needed I'll add the weather stripping. I have read that if you get this thing too air tight it will callapse the can it is on. Guess I'll find out.


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## BassBlaster (Nov 21, 2010)

So my silicone all dried up nice and I got to try this thing out today.

Here it is all hooked up...










This is just to show, this stuff is all brand new, nothing has ever been through it. Perfectly clean...










And as you can see, the seperaotor collected 99% plus of the debris. Not a single chip made it to the vac. just some very light dust and only enough of it to dirty the sides of the vac...










As far as real cyclones go, I didnt research them so I dont know how much they cost. This one cost me about 30 bucks to build and that includes the can it sits on. As far as how effective a real store bought cyclone is, I dont know that either. I really cant see how it could be more effective than this. I am truely impressed with this thing. I expected a small percentage of debris to get through but absolutely nothing made it through but the finest of fines. I have a spare mobile base here that my jointer came on. I plan to make a base for it and mount this vac and seperator to it so I have kinda a contained mobile dust extraction system. I'm really excited to be able to use my tools now without blowing dust all over the place. The wife was starting to get POed at me for tracking dust up the steps and all through the house!!


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## thegrgyle (Jan 11, 2011)

*One little addition you may consider......*

Great job again!:thumbup:

When I built my first one for my shop vac, I also invested in the Hepa filter for the shop vac. The Hepa filter made sure that it filtered out the very fine dust (that is actually very dangerous to your lungs). There isn't a cyclone out there that will get rid of all the ultra fine dust.... that is why they all have an air filter on the exhaust to filter that out.:thumbup1:

FYI.......As far as collapsing the can, I have a 1.5 hp dust collector that is hooked up to my current Thein collector, and my can is SEALED to the thein, and it hasn't collapsed it yet, even when I have to cut the airflow down alot. :yes:


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## BassBlaster (Nov 21, 2010)

thegrgyle said:


> Great job again!:thumbup:
> 
> When I built my first one for my shop vac, I also invested in the Hepa filter for the shop vac. The Hepa filter made sure that it filtered out the very fine dust (that is actually very dangerous to your lungs). There isn't a cyclone out there that will get rid of all the ultra fine dust.... that is why they all have an air filter on the exhaust to filter that out.:thumbup1:
> 
> FYI.......As far as collapsing the can, I have a 1.5 hp dust collector that is hooked up to my current Thein collector, and my can is SEALED to the thein, and it hasn't collapsed it yet, even when I have to cut the airflow down alot. :yes:


Thanks for the pointers!! I noticed after running this thing that it must be putting some of the very fines into the air. Nothing I can see floating around so it must be super fine but I could feel it in my nose. The filter that came with the vac is the cheapest one available. I'm gonna upgrade to the best filter they sell. I noticed at Home Depot they also sell a little exaust filter for the vacs. Its a little muufler type deal. I dont know how much filtration it will do but I'm gonna go ahead and pick one of those up as well.

I am also gonna go ahead and take your advice and seal up the top. It works incredibly well but I have lost quite a bit of suction over just the vac. I know I'll never get it all back but sealing that top has got to help. After I hooked it up for the first time, I put my hand over the end of the hose to see how much suction there was and the can callapsed imediately. That tells me as long as there is air flow through the hose it will be fine but if the hose ever plugs up, my can is toast.

I'm still impressed with how well this thing works!! Now I need to run up to Woodcraft one day and get the various adapters to hook it to all my tools. Most of the tools I currently have, this thing will plug right into but the new table saw I'm getting has a 4" port and my miter saw and belt sander both have 1 1/2" ports.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Filters vs mufflers*

You said: 
Thanks for the pointers!! I noticed after running this thing that it must be putting some of the very fines into the air. Nothing I can see floating around so it must be super fine but I could feel it in my nose. The filter that came with the vac is the cheapest one available. I'm gonna upgrade to the best filter they sell. I *noticed at Home Depot they also sell a little exhaust filter for the vacs. Its a little muffler type deal. I don't know how much filtration it will do but I'm gonna go ahead and pick one of those up as well.*

I got a couple of those myself, but as far as I can tell it restricts the outflow a bit and does reduce the noise a bit as as well. I took them off after a few weeks. They do collect some pretty fine dust and are washable, so I'm 50/50 for and against I guess. :blink: bill


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## BassBlaster (Nov 21, 2010)

Thanks woodnthings. Maybe I'll just upgrade the filter for now and see how that does. The noise is the least of my worries. This vac is pretty quite to begin with and I'll only be using it hooked up to various tools so I'll probably never hear it run.

The filters for this vac are numbered. 1 being the best. I believe it came with either a 3 or a 5 so I think upgradeing the filter will get the little bit that its currently releaseing.

Edit...Nope, I'm wrong. just went to look at the box. It came with a 1. The number 5 is the HEPA filter.


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## TheLt (Feb 14, 2009)

*PhotoBucket*

Your photos do not load. It says you must update your account to enable third party hosting. I don't know if that means me, you or Woodworkingtalk.com.


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## WesTex (Jan 5, 2014)

This thread is six years old. Photobucket has changed policies. For this reason the photos no longer link. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## TomCT2 (May 16, 2014)

FYI, it appears Photobucket blocks access to user's pix based on what website is trying to link to the pix - not the pix poster's "profile." 

popular websites that frequently link to pix on Photobucket get "blocked"
I see this on my own personal Photobucket account - on some (less popular) sites the links work, other sites the links do not work - to the same pix in the same account using a character for character identical link.

there's a fix for Firefox and Chrome (may be other browsers...) that will make this problem go away - individuals must install the 'add on' - it's not some the user who uploaded pix to Photobucket can do.
more info:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/photobucket-fix/


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