# Thien Cyclone / Dust Separator: Wrote up my el cheapo build



## jspadaro (Mar 20, 2015)

I saw the prices on the Dust Deputy and decided that wasn't happening. I ended up building my own dust separator based on Phil Thien's design, and building my own design on the cheap. I think I have maybe $25 worth of parts in it, tops.

The goal with these things is to have something inline between your hose and the shop vac or dust collector. The big stuff can fall into a bucket where it is easily, cheaply, and unceremoniously dumped out into the trash rather than clogging up expensive filters prematurely; the filters get saved for the fine dust that hurts your lungs.










Not going to win any beauty pageants, but it sure works!


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## tvman44 (Dec 8, 2011)

Love my Thien style separators. I have built 3 of them.


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## jspadaro (Mar 20, 2015)

Me too, cheap and they work great.


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## PhilBa (Jun 30, 2014)

Yeah, a separator is a great thing to have. 

Your set up looks a bit top heavy. Here's a picture of mine. The handle makes it really easy to roll around and by elevating the shop vac, the connection is really short. Having the inlet at about the center of gravity keeps it pretty stable. Plus, you don't really need a big capacity vac because the vast majority of the dust drops into the separator. The space under the vac is for attachment storage. The height is such that I can park it under a counter with just the handle sticking out. I've since added a hose hanger in the back to coil up the hose.

Also, I'm using an iVac switch so you just plug your tool into the iVac and the shopvac turns on when you start the tool.


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## jspadaro (Mar 20, 2015)

It's not top heavy at all, actually. The shop vac weighs way more than a plastic bucket with some sawdust in it.

I like the shorter hose, but my shop is small and floor space is at a premium, I wouldn't want to make my dust collection wider like that, it'd be too hard to maneuver around the shop.



PhilBa said:


> Yeah, a separator is a great thing to have.
> 
> Your set up looks a bit top heavy. Here's a picture of mine. The handle makes it really easy to roll around and by elevating the shop vac, the connection is really short. Having the inlet at about the center of gravity keeps it pretty stable. Plus, you don't really need a big capacity vac because the vast majority of the dust drops into the separator. The space under the vac is for attachment storage. The height is such that I can park it under a counter with just the handle sticking out. I've since added a hose hanger in the back to coil up the hose.
> 
> Also, I'm using an iVac switch so you just plug your tool into the iVac and the shopvac turns on when you start the tool.


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## PhilBa (Jun 30, 2014)

I think you meant longer? 'cause it sure looks like mine is narrower than yours.


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## JIMMIEM (Oct 12, 2014)

*Separator*



jspadaro said:


> I saw the prices on the Dust Deputy and decided that wasn't happening. I ended up building my own dust separator based on Phil Thien's design, and building my own design on the cheap. I think I have maybe $25 worth of parts in it, tops.
> 
> The goal with these things is to have something inline between your hose and the shop vac or dust collector. The big stuff can fall into a bucket where it is easily, cheaply, and unceremoniously dumped out into the trash rather than clogging up expensive filters prematurely; the filters get saved for the fine dust that hurts your lungs.
> 
> ...


Do you notice much of a loss in suction? What model shop vac is that?


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## jspadaro (Mar 20, 2015)

JIMMIEM said:


> Do you notice much of a loss in suction? What model shop vac is that?


It's rigid's 12-gallon from the orange box store.

I was surprised at how little suction loss there is. Honestly, I think it's actually improved overall - my filters clog up so much slower.

What I mean is, I'm sure the suction pressure head-to-head when clean loses a bit with the baffle (but not much), but as I actually use it, I can definitely tell that it takes much, much longer to lose suction due to clogging, since the filters only have to deal with finer dust.


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