# Filter sheet in Thien Baffle lid



## Bdobs13 (Sep 1, 2016)

I'm looking to make my first dust separator for a shop vac system and was leaning toward the Thien Baffle lid for a 7 gal bucket. Regardless of which ones I found online it seemed like some saw dust would always make it through to the shop vac. I also found many people saying a trifecta type system would be best…dust separator, drywall bag for shop vac and then a HEPA filter. My issue is my Rigid shop vac can't take a drywall bag due to the design of intake being in the head of the vac. So I'm thinking of ways of incorporating the filter ability of the drywall bag in the Thien Baffle bucket. More specifically covering the air outlet (going to the shop vac) with a cut up piece of drywall bag and maybe hose clamping that to the PVC pipe. Will this be effective at all or simply clog up quickly and not allow air flow to the vac? Could this cause a drop in suction power? There must be a reason I cant find anything like this online but it seems like a good idea….

I have a simple garage hobby shop where the shop vac is only on for short bursts or a few minutes max. Its a "5.5 HP" 12 gal shop vac. Hopefully somebody has some insight or personal experience.

Thanks for the help in advance.
Cheers


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## Bill7255 (Feb 23, 2012)

For a shop vac system I wouldn't use a Thien baffle system. Get the small dust deputy. I have one on my system used mainly for my sander. Very little dust gets by the cyclone. I do have the drywall bag and HEPA filter, but with the Dust a Deputy it is still almost empty after more than a years use of my sander. I have emptied the 10 gal bin twice.


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## Bdobs13 (Sep 1, 2016)

Thanks for the reply Bill, I would love to get the dust deputy but cost is the issue where I can build the diy dust separator for basically free. The dust deputy would be super convenient and easy to install so it is tempting…


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## clin (Sep 3, 2015)

You can't replace a bag with a small patch of bag material and expect it to work very long. The bags have probably several hundred times more surface area. The way I see it, if you have enough dust that you need the filter, a filter the size of the hose (small area) will simply clog up very quickly.

I happen to be one of those with the Dust Deputy, bag filter and HEPA filter. It works very well.

In your case, I think you either get the Dust Deputy, no bag and still use the HEPA filter. I get very little material in my bag, so it likely is not critical to have one.

The other choice, is get a new shop vac that will accept a bag, and keep the Thien baffle you have.

I think the Dust Deputy is the better choice since you really won't need to change out the bag. One less thing to have to mess with, and no added cost replacing bags.

I think you can get a bare bones Dust Deputy and mount it to your own container and save a few dollars.

The Dust Deputies really work amazingly well.


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## MT_Stringer (Jul 21, 2009)

+1 on the Dust Deputy. It works great. I've had one for several years. Forgot to check the 5 gal bucket and discovered it completely full. The Rigid shop vac was empty and no dust on the filter, or in the bag. Guess I lucked out this time.

I have a manifold to hook up to my miter saw, bench top belt sander, ROS sander via hose, Kreg pocket hole jig (via hose) and router table (via hose).

Under $50 for an excellent working dust collector.
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/149952/Molded-Plastic-DIY-Dust-Deputy.aspx?gclid=Cj0KEQjwo5--BRCS8ceLjv-XppUBEiQAGp15EHzqrQewWUOdie_NJu5AJuAIK_89wnQDbizFVsurMfkaAmrS8P8HAQ

Here is a picture of my original set up with a Shop Vac from Lowe's.


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## Bdobs13 (Sep 1, 2016)

Thanks for the advice Clin and MT_Stringer. MT, that setup you have a picture of is the $100 dust deputy which would be nice and the stand alone with just the "cone" is $50 which would then need another $20 or so to be complete but again it has the issue of price. I had the option of this or a real respirator and chose the respirator with quality filters. I was really hoping to find someone that may have tried the dust bag stopper on the outlet of a diy dust separator. End of the day I might need to save money to pony up with the dust deputy but was really hoping someone had tried this experiment. Again thank you all for the comments.


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