# Doubled up Thein style separator



## Alchymist (Jan 2, 2011)

Built a trial Thein style separator a week or so ago, just to see how the modified design would work. Posted pics here:

http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f15/whadja-do-today-42893/index12/#post606850

Was not sure how much fine dust was being separated out, but I knew some was getting through, so, another design. Here it is in pictures:

1- plywood baffles, and plastic pipe. Big piece is section of 6" PVC, smaller one is a 3" PVC coupling with the stop on the inside removed.

2- closeup of the baffle.

3- 30 gallon or so plastic barrel for body

4- plywood top cut to fit barrel.


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## Alchymist (Jan 2, 2011)

5- bottom view of baffles glued together.

6- inlet elbow being lowered onto baffles.

7- baffle assembly glued together.

8- foam weatherstripping applied to top of barrel.


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## Alchymist (Jan 2, 2011)

9- A cut off plastic bucket is glued over the plywood disk that the baffles are glued to, and the larger plywood top is glued to that disk. The whole assembly is then inverted and placed in the barrel.

10- Set up and running.

Surprisingly, no loss of vacuum. Works as at least as well as the previous version. How much better will have to wait until I pick up some new cloth filters for the shop vac to tell exactly how much fine dust is getting through. Two major changes - 1) the air path makes two revolutions in the separator instead of 1, and - the barrel is bigger! :yes:


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## Alchymist (Jan 2, 2011)

OK, finally got a new filter for the shop vac. Went over the shop floor where there was a lot of fine dust as well as chips/sawdust. The dual separator design works just about like the old one - all the stuff except the very fine (like flour) winds up in the separator barrel, the really fine stuff is on the shop vac filter, so not much improvement.

Will build one more based on a single thein style like before, but with another mod I've been thinking about. Probably won't make any difference, but hey, gotta try.

All in all, it's still an improvement over just the shop vac on the saws and sanders.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*I appreciate your efforts*

I've been moding my Jet 1000 DC with various internal deflectors, cyclones, Theins, buckets, cones etc. trying to find a solution to the internal separator which won't take up additional floor space. I'm still workin' on it....


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## Alchymist (Jan 2, 2011)

*Success and Failure.....*

Finally got around to modeling my next attempt at reducing the fine dust that gets through the Thein setup. Good news - almost no dust gets through this one. Bad news - suction drop is too much - doesn't have enough flow to avoid clogging the hose. 

Larger hoses might help, but at this point I'm not going out and spending $$$ for larger hoses.

1st pic - 1st stage separator. Plywood disk seals this off, with 4" pipe projecting. 

2nd pic - 2nd stage - this (flipped over), closes off the 2nd chamber and the funnel protrudes partway into the 4 inch pipe. May someday build a larger version to see if it helps with the flow. I think opening up the passages might help.

3rd pic - assembled - intake on bottom, exit at top.


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## difalkner (Nov 27, 2011)

I'm eager to see where you end up with this. 

I added a Thien baffle to my Laguna 16 gallon cyclone and it made all the difference in the world as far as the solids. Matter of fact, I've now been using it about six weeks and the Shop Vac is still empty but I've had to clean the filter a dozen times. I have two filters and keep one clean and ready but I still wish they would stay usable longer. The wood flour gets right past the baffle, as can be expected, really. 

I've thought of several ways to improve this but have too many other pressing projects right now but it's frequently on my mind.


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## Alchymist (Jan 2, 2011)

Played some more with dimensions on the top part. Came to the conclusion that anything that will trap the fine stuff will also restrict airflow. Seems like a no-win situation. Will keep thinking about it, but right now it becomes a back-burner problem. :huh:


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