Anyone using Thein Separator Lid with a DC?

[SawSucker]

Phil,
Your design is not proven scalable. It is suggested, but not proven. As I said, the Thein baffle is a concept that has out lived its usefulness. There are better solutions today that fit well with budgets, convenience and overall efficiency. The whole exercise is to get workshop health and safety beyond satisfactory. Don

Don, you don't know what your talking about, Mr Thien's baffle is proven and is about as economical as you can get, I'll vouch for it, and so will many of his members in his website who have Dust Collector's. Also your insinuation that there is a perfect dust collection system, including duct work and dust hoods that will completely contain all dust from every machine is just plain ignorant and misleading to others. In my opinion I think that both you and Randy should take the time to do some reading in Mr Thien's website, and actually trying his baffle design before you go shooting your uneducated mouths off. Mr Thien desrves better.

[Randy in Calgary]

Don, you don't know what your talking about, Mr Thien's baffle is proven and is about as economical as you can get, I'll vouch for it, and so will many of his members in his website who have Dust Collector's. Also your insinuation that there is a perfect dust collection system, including duct work and dust hoods that will completely contain all dust from every machine is just plain ignorant and misleading to others. In my opinion I think that both you and Randy should take the time to do some reading in Mr Thien's website, and actually trying his baffle design before you go shooting your uneducated mouths off. Mr Thien desrves better.

errr, maybe you misinterpretted my remarks. I wasn't shooting my mouth off at anyone, nor was I questioning the efficacy of the device for separating the dust. I am eager to build one and give it a try. I have seen lots of videos and testimonials praising the design. I haven't heard or read anyone comment on loss of suction, however, which was why I posted my original question.

[SawSucker]

My original question was whether the thien separator reduced the suction substantially or marginally. My 2 HP cannister has loads of suction right now, so much so that I have to choke a blast gate. I don't want to go to the trouble off making a thien separator if it will result in anemic suction as the saw.

If your DC has more CFM then your useing, what would be the problem with adding a Separator that eats up a little CFM ? I would think that you'd be just fine if you pipe everything in efficiently.

[SawSucker]

Remember Phil, "belief without evidence" is rampant in the world, and it's cousin "denial in spite of evidence" is running a close second.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that statement just seemed a little cocky to me.

[Randy in Calgary]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that statement just seemed a little cocky to me.

It wasn't directed at Phil. Just a comment reflecting that these days people seem too ready to accept things as true (or not) without doing proper research. With the Net like it is, there is tons of misinformation out there, and a lot of people seem eager to accept some things as fact just because it sounds good. My favorite is the vitamin and health food industry. Exorbitant claims, little evidence, yet legions of followers because "wouldn't it be wonderful if it was true". Dust collection seems like a hot button issue in woodworking. Most people seem to believe that a big cyclone is the only way to go because bigger has to be better. I'm not convinced that is necessary in a one man single tool at a time shop. How good is good enough?

regarding the "cocky" part, it is a character flaw that I struggle with, not always successfully.

[SawSucker]

Well then Randy, I apologize to you. I'm kind of in the same situation as Mr Thien in trying to convince people that my ideas work also, but occassionally keep running into people like Don that from what I can tell think that Bill Pentz is the last word in dust collection.

[Randy in Calgary]

Well then Randy, I apologize to you.

Thanks.

Sorry to hear of your tribulations. Whenever I'm going through a rough spot I try hard to put things in perspective with respect to the big picture and think of the old chinese saying "this too shall pass".

[Mark_R]

To expand on my comments earlier in this thread - there is probably (?) a little less suction in my system now, but it basically never drops appreciably after significant use, whereas before the separator it most definitely did. And I suspect I would use it for a long time with it's capacity diminished before I happened to notice the issue. To my mind, the separator is a net improvement. I cannot and did not quantify these numbers, so I don't think I'll be putting this in any scientific journals any time soon.

[Mike Brazeau]

Any users out there? Did you make one that fits into the bucket or as a top hat on top of the bucket? How well did it work as compared to just using the inlet/outlet piping? How much do you think it cuts down on suction?

Thanks

It is four years since I built my system. Prior to adding the Thein separator it was just as you call it an in and out system that I had been using for 6 or 7 years. I am super happy. I do mostly turning so it is fine sanding dust and I have almost nothing in the dust collector bag. Also do quite a bit of bandsaw cutting bowl blanks and ripping spindle blanks. I think I last emptied it over two years ago and there is almost nothing in it now. In terms of loss of suction, I don't think it was any worse than what I started with, but I added the LV larger bag to my 1 HP DC to compensate. Would like to have more pull but it serves my needs. My adaptation is at http://forum.canadianwoodworking.com...ighlight=thien