# Making a dust collector cone separator



## Dave Paine

I have a Jet Cannister dust collector. I like the unit, except for the periodic messy, dusty, dirty cleaning of the cannister. This is so awful, Jet recently came out with a new model which contains a core separator to retain the dust in the lower plastic bag.

The Jet model is called the "Vortex" and from what I have read it works.

Some months ago I read posts on the site about retrofitting a vortex. These posts used a pre-made cone. One from a chimney top, and one from a wok.

This weekend I decided it was time to empty the plastic bag on the dust collector, and the mess from the cannister was sufficient incentive to get my act in gear and try making a fix.

I thought I would start from first principals and make my own. I have only got to the point of getting ready to cut out the cone, but thought I would start the tutorial thread.

First a shout out to Woodnthings for his post which was my inspiration. This person used a chimney cap. :thumbsup:

http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f32/jet-vortex-dust-collector-dc1100-27121/

Fine Woodworking had an article where the person used a wok.

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/tools/shop-made-vortex-dust-collector-woks-on

Since I wanted to make my own cone, I had to refresh my old high school geometry on the "development of a cone" which means how to determine the flat shape which represents the cone.

A quick search for "how to calculate the development of a cone" came up with a very good diagram and the simple formula.

http://leonjane.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Develop-a-Cone

Saving in case my computer or browser crashes. I have lost too many long posts.

Edit adding initial pictures. As I feared, my browser hung when I first tried to attach pictures.

Using the cone development link, I made some simple calculations to determine the "D2" and the angle for my first pass at the D1 cone diameter and cone height.









I prefer to layout designs like this on paper full scale. I keep the paper from inside packaging. Wide, long, useful to protect during finishing, and now for testing my calculations.

I do not have a large compass. I happen to have a rather crude circle/oval tool. Crude but effective. The only problem is I cannot mark the centre, so I had to mark the 4 corners so I could then draw the centre. The pencil was set to approx 8.6in for the "D2" radius.









Tool removed, I then drew in lines between the corners to mark the centre and then scribed the 293 deg mark.

Doing this "after the fact" so my blue masking tape is still on from my first actual steps.









The paper is very easy to curve into the cone and connect the sides with a couple of pieces of masking tape. This allows me to eyeball whether the cone diameter and height are "close enough" since I do not have measurements of the Jet design









I decide to increase the diameter of the cone by 1in and reduce the height by 1in.

New measurements for the next layout, which will be on a piece of aluminium coil stock.









Thanks for looking. Stay tuned for the next steps.


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## Marv

Looking good so far Dave and looking forward to the results!


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## toolguy1000

a thien baffle will do what the cone does, only better. and i used a discarded 16" frying pan as a baffle and couldn't believe the dramatic improvement in the performance of my delta 50-850. almost no dust goes into the canister. and with the discarded frying pan, the entire modification took between one and two hours and cost $6 for the metal strap used to mount it.

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/40189

and here is a brief video of the performance of the DC with the baffle:






but i'm eagerly watching this thread as i always enjoyed geometry. BTW, wouldn't it be faster to just purchase the cone from jet?


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## Dave Paine

toolguy1000 said:


> BTW, wouldn't it be faster to just purchase the cone from jet?


The cone is a type of baffle. Thanks for the link. An old frying pan may be plan "B" if this does not work.

It would be faster to purchase the cone from Jet - but they refuse to sell the part. They want people to purchase a new dust collector.


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## woodnthings

*consider a Wok also*



Dave Paine said:


> The cone is a type of baffle. Thanks for the link. An old frying pan may be plan "B" if this does not work.
> 
> It would be faster to purchase the cone from Jet - but they refuse to sell the part. They want people to purchase a new dust collector.


A wok is more conical in shape than the frying pan...if that matters. BTW I have tried various buckets, cut into different lengths with no success.

I am going to try this:

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/royal-wingreg%3B-two-way-squirrel-baffle


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## Dave Paine

woodnthings said:


> A wok is more conical in shape than the frying pan...if that matters. BTW I have tried various buckets, cut into different lengths with no success.
> 
> I am going to try the bird feeder pole cover here or the cone:
> 
> http://www.tractorsupply.com/royal-wing-reg-two-way-squirrel-baffle-6840076
> 
> http://tsc.tractorsupply.com/nav/cat3/petcare_wildbirdspetbirds_birdfeedersfeedingaccessories/0


I had been looking for an inexpensive wok, but so far I had not seen one which was cheap enough.

Thanks for the TSC links. I am glad I started the thread. :thumbsup:

I may take a drive to my local TSC today. I had not thought about squirrel baffles for bird feeders. $10 is worth trying out.

I have the aluminium piece ready to be cut, but if the $10 feeder baffle is strong enough, this will allow me to get this up and running faster.


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## Marv

Thrift stores are great sources for an old wok or frying pan (I see them for about 5 bucks around here). I have the Thein baffle inside my Delta 50-850 and it does a good job keeping the filter clean however I plan to try the wok for comparison as soon as I find time to do some experimenting.


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## toolguy1000

Marv said:


> Thrift stores are great sources for an old wok or frying pan (I see them for about 5 bucks around here). I have the Thein baffle inside my Delta 50-850 and it does a good job keeping the filter clean however I plan to try the wok for comparison as soon as I find time to do some experimenting.


you might want to reconsider that. phil looked at my application and admitted it would work, but that his baffle plate, being flat and letting material drop into the collection are through just 2/3rds of a circle (woks, pans and cones all allow for drops around the entire baffle) make his design more effective at reducing churning of the captured sawdust as the collection bag fills. i may, when i have nothing to do, try fabricating a thien baffle and replace the frying pan. when i have nothing to do.


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## Dave Paine

*Plan "B"*



Marv said:


> Thrift stores are great sources for an old wok or frying pan (I see them for about 5 bucks around here). I have the Thein baffle inside my Delta 50-850 and it does a good job keeping the filter clean however I plan to try the wok for comparison as soon as I find time to do some experimenting.


Thanks for the reminder about the thrift stores.

For the moment I am trying Woodnthings idea of the squirrel baffle. It is a decent thickness of plastic.

I happened to have a piece of walnut which was a cut off from an earlier turning project. This was almost the correct size for the baffle. I little extra turning and it fit well. I had to glue in a piece of 1/2in dowel so I could use a smaller diameter bolt.

I measured the angle of the dust collector pan and cut a piece of wood to fit.

These are the present components of the baffle. I am using a carriage bolt so I only have to use a single wrench to tighten from above.









This is a picture of the baffle as a dry test fit. I held the piece while turning on the dust collector. The baffle will hold up, but there is a decent amount of force which results in vibration. I am not sure if a single bolt on either end of the piece of wood will be sufficient to minimize the vibration. I do not want this puppy coming loose over time.

I am considering additional attachments to the baffle close to the lower edge.









A Thien baffle may work better, but for the moment this is what I will be trying to get to work to avoid the mess in the cannister. I promised myself when I cleaned out the cannister I would attempt to minimize the mess for the future.


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## toolguy1000

what vibration?


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## Dave Paine

*The best laid schemes o' mice and men*

Gang aft agley. Robbie Burns.

The Plan "B" was not working out as desired. I was concerned about the squirrel baffle shaking loose based on my dry fit test.

I thought about adding a piece of plywood on the bottom as a poor-man's Thien baffle, but the squirrel baffle was too deep.

So time for Plan "C" my attempt at a Thien baffle.

I had a piece of 1/4in plywood which was just the right size. The inner diameter is 1 1/2in less than the outer, just a bit more than the Thien recommended 1 1/4in, but close enough for me.

I glued on some pieces of plywood for the screws to install the baffle.









Drilled some holes in the dust collector shroud and viola, the baffle she is installed.









I cleaned out the cannister, but did not bother taking a picture.

I will see how this works out after a few months of use.

Thanks for looking.


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## toolguy1000

nice install, david. looks like you used that groove within the drum to mount the baffle. does it interfere at all with the retainer that holds the collection bag in place?


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## Dave Paine

toolguy1000 said:


> nice install, david. looks like you used that groove within the drum to mount the baffle. does it interfere at all with the retainer that holds the collection bag in place?


Thanks. Glad you asked. This was a detail I had to consider. The plywood is only 1/4in thick. The groove is something like 1 3/4in. The retaining ring is about 1in.

The "dead zone" part of the baffle is at the top of the groove. I mounted the plywood blocks for the screws on the top of the plywood so that they are above the groove. In the first picture you can see they are set back about 1/8in from the edge.

I wanted to avoid interference with the retaining ring. It can be difficult at times to get that puppy out.


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## Shop Dad

Nice work Dave, looks great. Be sure to let us know how it performs. 

I understand IKEA has cheap woks if anyone is looking.


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## RetiredLE

Shop Dad said:


> I understand IKEA has cheap woks if anyone is looking.


Not sure how much the Ikea units are but your local hardware store might carry one of these at a reasonable price:

Plus, you already have the attached brackets which can be modified to attach it to your dust collector.


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## Dave Paine

RetiredLE said:


> Not sure how much the Ikea units are but your local hardware store might carry one of these at a reasonable price:
> 
> Plus, you already have the attached brackets which can be modified to attach it to your dust collector.


I looked locally for a nice shaped chimney cap but I did not find. This is why I started to consider making my own cone.

After doing my project, I feel the Thien baffle is easier to make and install. I do notice the dust in the lower bag is no longer swirling around so I am optimistic the baffle is working as well for me as it does for others.


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## RetiredLE

Dave Paine said:


> I looked locally for a nice shaped chimney cap but I did not find. This is why I started to consider making my own cone.
> 
> After doing my project, I feel the Thien baffle is easier to make and install. I do notice the dust in the lower bag is no longer swirling around so I am optimistic the baffle is working as well for me as it does for others.


As long as it does the job all is good. :thumbsup:


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## ryan50hrl

Anyone tried the frying pan modification? Results?


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## Marv

ryan50hrl said:


> Anyone tried the frying pan modification? Results?


I planned to do the mod to compare with the Thein I now have in my 50-850a but I got a wild hair yesterday and bought an Oneida Cyclone so I'm not sure I'll do it (I'll post results if I find time to do it before I get rid of the 50-850a). This guy however has done the mod and looks like he had good results...
http://www.popularwoodworking.com/tools/shop-made-vortex-dust-collector-woks-on


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## ryan50hrl

Well mines in. Well see how it works.


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## Dave Paine

*Update on my Thien baffle*

Just for grins I decided to take a look inside my dust collector.

I unscrewed the lock screws, tilted it back intending to remove the cannister and looked at the inside. Clean as the day I installed it. No dust on the metal or the Thien baffle, not even around the small pieces of plywood used for support. 

I reached under the cannister to wipe my fingers on the filter, again no sign of dust. No need to remove the cannister, re-tightened the screws.

I am declaring this a big success. :thumbsup:

Without the Thien baffle, the cannister would have been clogged with dust.


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