Shop Made Thien Dust/Chip Separator

I’ve made one myself and love the unit, its been a real help in keeping up with dust collection. I really like how you incorporated the trash can lid into the design. I made my own lid out of plywood which took time to make, your way would of been a lot simpler for sure. Great work and plenty of money saved for sure, this only means more tool in the near future…lol

Joe, Thanks for the detail. This is high on my list but not until I get moved to new digs, hopefully with more floor area.

Very nice work Joe, thanks for sharing :)

-- I am not so rich to buy cheap tools.

Joe,

Stellar job on the dust/ chip seperator… It should work great for you. I’ll bet the build was half the fun of making it. Since I have full d.c. to all my major tools, and also most sanders, I’ve never really needed one, but , who knows, I might just build one someday to work in conjunction with my shop vac…...Thanks for posting, and hope it woks for you the way you want it to…......

-- " Don't ever wrestle a pig in a mudhole....he'll be having more fun than you..!!

@Rick
I actually made this about a year and a half ago, but never got around to posting it. There has been some recent activity by others on dust collection, so I went ahead and put it on.

It has proven to be one of the most worthy things I’ve done for the shop. I think that I only have to clean the filter on the shop vac. about once for every 10 garbage can fills. More often if there is a lot of dust in the shop due to sanding.

I also added a “cart” which is basically a piece (approximately 2’x4’) of plywood bordered with 2×4’s and some casters which holds the trash can and the shop vac. so I can maneuver it around the shop.

I’m glad I didn’t make it larger, because it would be pretty unwieldy manhandling a 55 gallon drum full of sawdust when it comes time to empty. I live next to a forest with a big dropoff behind the house so I just dump it over the side of the hill. One time the can got away from me and rolled down the hill. That would have been a major whoops had it been a 55 gallon drum, LOL.

-- Joe

*Joe,

Yea… I see where you’re coming from on the size. A 55 gallon drum would be more than this fat man could handle…..lol. Actually…..the one you built would kill me, too….Watch out for them hills and hollors..they can be tricky, and don’t fall down one. We’re getting too old to be chasing things down a hiiside. That’s why I don’t hunt…...lol. I stay on flat ground where it’s safe (?). Like you though, I have woods all around and on my property, so I dump all of my sawdust there….I’ve even seen deer bedding down on the chips…...OOHHH, that’s soft…..:)

-- " Don't ever wrestle a pig in a mudhole....he'll be having more fun than you..!!

Rick if you keep dumping wood chips for the Deer to lay on, you might be able to Invite one of them to Dinner someday. :)

Clever idea Joe. With a few modifications you can make that one a go’er.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

Joe—So you use the same chip and dust “disposal” system that I do! We have a ravine behind the garden shed … at the rate I’m going now, I’ll have it filled up by the time I’m 153.

Seriously, I like the execution on this. I need a separator to keep from filling up the bag on my Jet DC-650A (bought it for $50 off CL!).

—Gerry

-- Gerry -- "I don't plan to ever really grow up ... I'm just going to learn how to act in public!"

Hey Richard,

That sounds like an enticing idea, but I don’t like the taste of deer meat, or deer venson…. It’s too wild tasting for me. Now deer sausage to use for chili….....yum yummy….!!!

Sorry Joe…...didn’t mean to hi-jack your post….back to the subject at hand…..!!!

-- " Don't ever wrestle a pig in a mudhole....he'll be having more fun than you..!!

LOL, Rick, subjects evolve.

Like I just thought of a justification for dumping saw dust in the woods. Maybe it will attract termites and they will like it because it is pre-chewed and they will eat it instead of messing with your house!

And – they will get fat and lazy and get heart trouble and die.

-- Joe

I like the post and I am going make one

-- Robert Laddusaw and no I am not smarter then a fifth grader ( and no I canot spell so if it is a problem don't read it ))

Joe-
This post is a few months old, however, I was wondering if you may have tried your upgraded dc system with ‘free’ discharge. That is to say, no bag…hose or pipe to atmosphere. I have tried this without the THEIN separator and it scrubs my 30 gal can clean. I was wondering if the baffle would allow free discharge of exhaust and retain 90% ? of the sawdust.
One footnote… Prior to my quick experiment I have tried using a drum liner garbage bag in the 30 gal. can. After one flop, bag will suck up into exit port, I had some vinyl coated wire fence material that I cut and fit to the interior. Insert bag, drop in wiremesh and use as normal. (bag gets pulled around outside of can) When time to empty, pull out wiremesh and remove bag.
Just thought I would share that.

-- "The greatest pleasure in life is doing what others say you cannot do."-Walter Bagehot

Glad to see that this really sucks Joe LOL

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

John: Not sure I understand your question, but I let it discharge into the air when using the DW625 planer, since the planer is providing the blower. Don’t have a way of measuring % accurately, but I’d say it collects 99%. However – the 1% that goes through is microscopic in size and floats in the air. NOT A GOOD thing, so I wear a respirator when using the planer and for several hours after until the dust settles.

I have yet to get a real dust collector with a bag that will filter the fines. Maybe this year, since I turn 70.5 and Uncle Sam says cash in some savings or he will do it for me.

-- Joe