Adding a Thien Baffle to a Harbor Freight DC

[Vaughn]

For the price I paid, I've been very pleased with my Harbor Freight dust collector. From the get-go I added a 0.5 micron pleated filter and a neutral vane to improve the performance. Here's the story on that part. However, every time I emptied the lower bag I had to remove the filter to clean all the embedded chips and sawdust from between the pleats of the filter. The solids were not staying in the lower bag like they were supposed to.

I'd read good things about Phil's baffle, so I decided to adapt it for my Harbor Freight DC. I wanted to see if it'd help my DC without a detached separator unit.

Here's the separator, removed from the DC and turned upside down...



The inside diameter of the separator is 19", so I needed to draw a 19" circle on the masonite. I don't have a compass that big, but I do have a nail, a pencil, and some scrap wood...





Then I needed another circle, 1 1/2" inside the first one. Same approach, just a different hole for the pencil...



Then I laid out the 120º part of the circle...



And got busy with the jigsaw...



Next, I needed some standoffs to hold the baffle in place. I used some 1 1/4" (as I recall) dowel material I picked up at the Borg. I had to play around a bit to figure out the angle to cut the ends to match the slope of the separator. I have no idea what the actual number ended up being, but it worked. I also drilled the holes in the end before cutting the angle...



Then I attached them with screws at roughly equal points around the separator...



And attached the baffle to the tops of the standoffs. (Actually, it's the bottom once the separator is turned right-side up.)



And a shot of the finished installation after putting the filter back on (but before attaching the lower bag). This is looking straight up into the bottom of the separator. I had to attach the filter before installing the baffle, since with the baffle in place, I could not reach the turnbuckles that hold the filter in place...



Before I added the separator, I could walk by my DC at any time, bang the sides of the filter, and see clouds of sawdust fall off the filter and into the lower bag. I have now been through two fillings of the lower bag since I added the baffle, and although I've not removed the baffle to check the condition of the filter, I get absolutely no dust falling now when I bang the sides of the filter. My DC seems to perform better, since the filter's not getting clogged, and emptying the lower bag (and cleaning the filter) is no longer the nasty chore it used to be. It will be a bit more work to remove the filter now, because I'll have to remove the baffle first, but based on what I'm seeing so far, I won't be needing to remove the filter any time soon.

I'm very impressed with how condensed the debris stream is when it drops into the lower bag. Previously, I could see the material swirl around the bag, but with the baffle, the spiraling stream of dust and chips looks like it's being shot out of a hose. I've also nearly filled the lower bag (12" to 18" from the top of the bag) with chips from my planer, and still saw no signs of chips going into the filter.

I'll give the Thien Baffle two thumbs up. 

Thanks much, Phil.

[dbhost]

I'm not sure about this, but I think the general consensus is that if you have Phil's baffle installed, you don't need the neutral vane, and quite possibly that neutral vane could be doing more harm than good... I am NOT sure though... I just seem to recall a post here about this...

I am curious. Either my eyes are fooling me, or your inlet ring is black... Is that shop done / custom or is that some older model HF DC?

For what it's worth, I am considering this modification myself. I have nearly finished a trash can separator, but floor space in my shop is screaming at me since I have BOTH a DC and a shop vac with a Thien trash can cyclone...

[Vaughn]

Thanks for the comments. I think I've also seen something here saying the neutral vane is not necessary, but I figured I'd give it a try before removing it, since I used pop rivets to install it. So far it doesn't seem to be hampering anything, but I'm open to suggestions for things to look for to see if it is.

Like for you, floor space is scarce in my shop. That's why I decided to try this approach instead of building a free-standing separator. I figured for the cost of a 2' x 2' piece of Masonite, it was worth experimenting. (And indeed it has been.)

The inside of my inlet ring is sort of a gunmetal gray...that's how it came from China. The outside is Rustoleum purple metal flake...I wanted to have the only purple DC on the block.  The 'Hoover' logo on magnetic sign material just seemed necessary, somehow. 

[dbhost]

Hmmm.... A purple DC huh?

Not a horrid idea. I hate the funky green color that Harbor Freight uses...

Of course if you are going to go with purple...



Sorry, I always loved Plum Crazy 'Cudas...

I have a mess of hardboard in the stack in the corner of my shop. I haven't seen a better approach to adding  a baffle to the HF DC than the one you used... I think I am going to give that a try... I have just GOT to save some space...

[Vaughn]

Well, I guess I'd better post a pic of my compressor...



The Powermatic lathe will remain mustard colored, though. 

[dbhost]

Okay I gotta ask...

"Hey, does that thing got a Hemi?"

[dbhost]

You really ought to show that thing off... That is one wild looking paint job on that DC...

I browsed your site. Nice turning work for a "newbie".

Heck, I don't even have a lathe yet...

[Vaughn]

Thanks for the compliments, DB. Like you, I really didn't like the HF green, so I figured for the cost of a couple rattlecans I could have some fun. 

[dbhost]

I've Considered repainting mine, but I bought the extended warranty for mine, and am concerned they might fuss if I take a Ford Jalapeno Green, or maybe Hugger Orange dust collector in to them...

BTW. Do you have a formal background in art or are you self taught?

[bennybmn]

Thanks for the compliments, DB. Like you, I really didn't like the HF green, so I figured for the cost of a couple rattlecans I could have some fun. 

Good spraying practice too.

[Vaughn]

I've Considered repainting mine, but I bought the extended warranty for mine, and am concerned they might fuss if I take a Ford Jalapeno Green, or maybe Hugger Orange dust collector in to them...

BTW. Do you have a formal background in art or are you self taught?

Ah, c'mon, go for it. If anything breaks under warranty, it'll be the switch or the motor. Just don't paint those parts. 

No real training in the arts (aside from music), but I've been dabbling with artsy things all my life. I think the DC paint job had more to do with humor than art, though. It's not nearly as artful as Benny's faux leather paneled R2D2 shop vac. 

[bennybmn]

Haha!! Thanks man Hey, ya never know what awesome material will be on clearance!!

I'm a musician too, bari sax. My next big WWing project is going to be a wooden sax stand for it. Should make plenty of chips and dust making it!

[Vaughn]

After the wooden sax case, howsabout making a wooden sax?

http://saxwood.net/index.php

I'm a guitarist, and although I've made a lap steel and some solid electric bodies, I still want to build an acoustic guitar one of these days.

Speaking of cases, did you happen to see my pool cue case?

[bennybmn]

Nice case! I really want to make a stand... The metal one I have isn't as stable as I'd like. It's a heavy horn!

A friend of mine and I are thinking of taking a cheap bass and a cheap guitar and making them into a double neck Should be interesting, if someone Spinal Tapian.

[Vaughn]

...I really want to make a stand...

Doh! Mental vapor lock. Sorry about that.

I think the double neck sounds like a fun project, Especially if it's making something cool out of a couple cheapies. Some of the older cheap guitars have surprisingly good necks. I used to teach guitar lessons on an old Harmony guitar. (Made at the time Harmony was also making Sears guitars. My teacher used essentially the same guitar with a Silvertone label on it.) It had cheap electronics but it played like a champ. I used it to prove to the kids that you don't have to have a brand-new Strat or Les Paul to be able to play Led Zepplin and Rush. (And my teacher was in the next studio on his Sears guitar, playing Larry Carlton and Chet Atkins stuff.)