# Thien Top Hat Dust Separator



## <*(((>< (Feb 24, 2010)

Just thought I would post my Thien top hat build that I've been working on in the evenings. Kuddos to J.P. Thien, with all his work that he has generously provided information for all us woodworkers, I appreciate people of his expertise and willingness to share.

It is made with 3/4" baltic birch plywood, 1/4" hardboard (for the baffle, reinforced with 3/4" ply) and 1/8" polycarbonate. I ended up buying a whole sheet of 1/8" polycarbonate, it cost me $100, the 18" strip that I needed was going to cost $60, so I figured the material is always handy to have around for projects. The polycarbonate is 18" tall and it will have 6" ducting in and out. The dust collector is a 2HP Shop Fox, that claims to generate 1555 cfm (although those claims are always in a perfect world, and most get half of those claims it seems).

There were a couple of oops on this project, such as setting my router circle jig up on the inside of the cutting line rather than the outside, to cut the polycarbonate top, but it's close enough where I can fill in the gaps with hot glue, which I was going to do for added strength and air seal. Another oops was routing the polycarbonate dado on the wrong side of the top, as you can see in the 1st picture around the spokes. Also, I marked out one of the spokes wrong, the spoke closest to you in the 1st picture, and had to cut a piece to glue back in. Other than all of that it was pretty straight forward but quite a few steps that took some time.

It seems like most people were building 12-14" tall thien top hats and said they think they would like to try taller. I thought I would go big, and see what type of separation I get with it. Hopefully the taller the top hat the greater reduction of velocity to get the separation. 

I have not even ran the dust collector yet, I cut right to the chase with making the top hat, figured why not, it seems its always the next logical step so I thought I wouldn't waste my time with setting up the dust collector with the factory cart and what not. I will post a picture when the top hat is finished and hooked up to the dust collector, I still have to finish the dust collector cart that I'm building to house all of the pieces as well.

I built a nice circle cutting jig for my makita palm router, that I will post a picture of as well, it came in handy for this project and is built with good adjustability.


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## xmas (Nov 24, 2013)

That's a good lookin top hat! I just found a place in town that sells steel barrels & I've been thinking of looking into making another separator since my steel garbage can one works so good it fills up quick on a big project, also my baffle is inside not top side so I've lost a little volume. And my garbage can also collapses if I don't brace the inside, figure a barrel should be a little more robust. Thanks for the inspiration, haven't seen a good top hat post in a while! Let me know how the taller design works out for ya.


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## <*(((>< (Feb 24, 2010)

Thanks for the comment, I was going to just build the lid thien separator, but like you didn't like the reduced capacity. My Top Hat will just use the Rubbermade Brute 32 gallon trash can that everyone seems to use, I haven't heard of anyone's collapsing, hopefully my mileage is the same. We'll see how it works I'll come back and post any progress, it will be a little slow as I don't get too much time to work on it. Be sure to post your build when you do it, I would like to see how yours comes out.


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## Travico (Dec 25, 2012)

WOW!! This looks SLICK!!!!! I am glad I am not the only one making mistakes!!!


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## <*(((>< (Feb 24, 2010)

Yeah the mistakes are what happens when I'm trying to go faster than I should on projects. Just got the top hat finished tonight with the intake and exhaust ducting mounted and any cracks or gaps air sealed. Now I'm working on the cabinet it will all go into. I'll post pictures of the progress later.


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## xmas (Nov 24, 2013)

Will do, it's one of a hand full of small projects I've got lined up, but since my air hose reel just arrived the separators going on hold for a second.  already picked up a barrel though, 55g steel w a nice clamping lid for $20?! Used of course but in good shape & my sawdust won't mind. Working out a few fixes to reduce wasted space & efficiency. I think a lid unit will provide enough space for my needs in this configuration & still leave it light enough to empty lol


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