Adding a Thien Baffle to a Harbor Freight DC

Vaughn McMillan

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I've been very pleased with my Harbor Freight dust collector (HFDC). 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 the baffle designed by Phil Thien, so I decided to adapt it for my Harbor Freight DC. If you're not familiar with Phil, he came up with a nifty baffle, and uses it in a trash can chip separator. I wanted to see if it'd help my DC without a detached separator unit.

The baffle is essentially a piece of 1/4" Masonite, placed between the intake of the DC and the lower bag. Here's the basic shape of the baffle...

Thien Baffle.jpg

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

Thien Baffle 01 - 800.jpg

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...

Thien Baffle 02 - 800.jpg Thien Baffle 03 - 800.jpg Thien Baffle 04 - 800.jpg Thien Baffle 05 - 800.jpg Thien Baffle 06 - 800.jpg

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

Thien Baffle 07 - 800.jpg

According to Phil, the part that's not cut away from the edge should be 120º of the circle, so I laid out that part...

Thien Baffle 08 - 800.jpg

And got busy with the jigsaw...

Thien Baffle 09 - 800.jpg

More in the next post...
 
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...

Thien Baffle 12 - 800.jpg

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

Thien Baffle 13 - 800.jpg

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

Thien Baffle 14 - 800.jpg

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...

Thien Baffle 15 - 800.jpg

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. :thumb::thumb:
 
Very cool, Vaughn!

I just did the same thing to my Jet DC1100. I did mine outta some sheet metal I had laying around so hopefully it'll hold up

I have a Wynn filter on mine and those little turnbuckles have bothered me for ages. I finally gave up on 'em and grabbed two 48" black rubber bungee cords. Drilled a few holes and now they hold the filter on from above and I ditched the turnbuckles. They just strap right over the top of the canister. I tried some borg-style fabric covered ones first and took a bungee to the head learning they don't clamp round stuff so good... who'da thunk?

Those standard flat rubber ones did the trick, they just cross in the middle up top and they really snug down on that thing. I could have probably gotten away with longer ones, too as the 48" were a wee bit of a struggle to get on, but overall not bad.

I haven't filled my bag since putting the baffle on yet, so i'm glad to hear your successful report. Hopefully I will have similar reporting :)
 
I made that mod on my HFDC a few bags worth of dust ago. It definitely keeps the filter from loading up as much (I have a pleated JDS). A lot of the fine dust collects on top of the separator, but doesn't seem to effect the opertion. Another thing that really helps is every couple of bags worth, I take the canister off and take it to the carwash and thouroughly clean it ,let it dry and reinstall. Man it really sucks after that!
 
Very Cool, Vaughn! :thumb:
I've thought about adding Phil's separator to a trash can before my DC, to reduce the hassle of changing the bag. But I never thought of putting it inside the DC, which saves floor space. (floor space is one of the main reasons I haven't built it yet...)
 
Just a though Vaughn, but what about replacing the screws with a 1/4 20 bolt with the head cut off and epoxied into an enlarged hole of the stand offs. You could then use some wing nuts to hold the baffle on. Make access a little easier I'd think
That's a good idea, Royall. I'll probably look into doing something along those lines the first time I need to remove the baffle. :thumb:
 
OK, I REALLY need DC and this is starting to get interesting to me. I won't be able to afford what I want any time soon. A Clearvue and the ductwork are probably pushing a couple of grand now. I assume these run on 4" duct?

Going to have to keep this in mind.
 
Jeff, the HFDC has a 5" intake, but it comes with a 5x4x4 'Y' connector, so I plug one side and run a single 4" flex line from machine to machine. Most of the time it's hooked up to the dust hood behind my lathe, or the bandsaw right next to it.
 
I just had a thought. If there is enough room & a person was to put a sheet metal cone point up on the top side of the separator if it would cause the fine dust to slide down & past the edge of the separator & into the bag. I wonder what problems it may cause?
 
Now you really got me thinking. Why couldn't you just skip the filter and run a large (8" or so) Duct right outside? I realize you city boys can't do that and I don't want a big pile of chips outside either. But in the rural area, dust isn't going to be an issue and a few chips can be spread around the yard by the wind and mower. Of course I assuming the modifications would keep that to a minimum too.

Assuming a big exit exit duct the air speed should be slow enough to keep the particles from suspending and virtually no resistance so better air flow. Seems like a win win to me. :dunno:
 
Now you really got me thinking. Why couldn't you just skip the filter and run a large (8" or so) Duct right outside?

You can. Steve Clardy does that, I remember seeing photos of his setup. Might still be here, or maybe it was on SMC.

Where you live, you're probably not as worried about the fact that you're blowing all your warm conditioned air out in the dead of winter. But you might worry about the fact that you're blowing all your nice Cool conditioned air out in the dog days of summer! :rofl:
 
I've often thought Dyson should make a shop vac. I used to use mine in the shop back when it was carpeted, and I still run it on the doormat that's at the shop entrance off the laundry room.
 
Dust collector

Hello everyone , Hi Vaughn although I am new to this dust collection thing, I have been doing some research as well , since I am on a very tight budget, I have looked at everything on the market and I keep seeing the 2Hp harbor freight Dc on sale for 179.00 and also monthly internet coupon for 20% off. which would make this a good buy except it comes standard with a 5 micron bag , Vaughn my question to you is how much has it cost you to do all retrofitting on hf unit??? Also I saw a oneida cyclone retrofit for any shop vac. for 59.00 . It mounts to the shop vac itself, and yes I have been breathing dust in my dungeon off and on ,,,, The cost is astornamical on some of the collectors and overhead filteration system are outrageous as well , and I've heard if you"re not at .5 microns or less you"re just blowing the dust around anyway ,as the sunlight comes through basement windows after running equipment I see the haze of dust lingering , even with dust mask or full blown mask I tend to be able to tell what kind of wood I've been working on after the fact when I blow my nose. Well some people will make a joke of this but It does make me concerned for my health, so I have slowed down on my wood working although it would help also if I could get my basement shop squared away, Also do you run the 2hp on a seperate 20 amp circuit , or what????? If so that would mean I would have do some electrical upgrades as well which I have been looking into any . well yours truly struggling to get this wood shop thing correct on minimal budget, thanks for everyone's thought's don't mean to ramble on, Just looking for good information and I think I'm on the right track, thanks to all ahead of time, later DB.
 
Hello everyone , Hi Vaughn although I am new to this dust collection thing, I have been doing some research as well , since I am on a very tight budget, I have looked at everything on the market and I keep seeing the 2Hp harbor freight Dc on sale for 179.00 and also monthly internet coupon for 20% off. which would make this a good buy except it comes standard with a 5 micron bag , Vaughn my question to you is how much has it cost you to do all retrofitting on hf unit??? Also I saw a oneida cyclone retrofit for any shop vac. for 59.00 . It mounts to the shop vac itself, and yes I have been breathing dust in my dungeon off and on ,,,, The cost is astornamical on some of the collectors and overhead filteration system are outrageous as well , and I've heard if you"re not at .5 microns or less you"re just blowing the dust around anyway ,as the sunlight comes through basement windows after running equipment I see the haze of dust lingering , even with dust mask or full blown mask I tend to be able to tell what kind of wood I've been working on after the fact when I blow my nose. Well some people will make a joke of this but It does make me concerned for my health, so I have slowed down on my wood working although it would help also if I could get my basement shop squared away, Also do you run the 2hp on a seperate 20 amp circuit , or what????? If so that would mean I would have do some electrical upgrades as well which I have been looking into any . well yours truly struggling to get this wood shop thing correct on minimal budget, thanks for everyone's thought's don't mean to ramble on, Just looking for good information and I think I'm on the right track, thanks to all ahead of time, later DB.

Doug, I also got the HFDC on sale...I think it was about $189 when I got it. The Wynn filter was about $100. I spent a bit more on some flex hose. I bought the 20' hose kit from Harbor Freight, but have since learned the flex hose from Rockler is much easier to use and move around. Your hose or piping requirement will probably differ from mine, but I get by fine with a single 20' flex hose that I move from machine to machine.

Harbor Freight's "2 hp" motor is probably closer to one real horsepower. I've run it on a 15 amp circuit with other small things running on the same circuit at the same time. I have mine on a separate 20 amp circuit now, but only because I can.

I guarantee you this will collect more dust than any shop vac you rig up. It's not a 5 hp cyclone, but it's better than a shop vac. I know, because that's what I used prior to having the DC. I still use the shop vac on my random orbital sanders with hose ports, though.
 
Hi Vaughn and all

There is one thing that has always amazed me since I started researching and buying tools and getting my shop setup for woodworking.

Its the fact that inventors like Thien and there are many of like minded people come up with what is essentially a pretty low cost design enhancement and the manufacturers never seem to adopt it.

What is wrong with these manufacturers. They have surely heard the news of this type of modification. I am pretty sure that if they approached guys like Thien in this case and offered him a small royalty for his design he would be more than happy to allow them to incorporate it into their product and they would then have a product that is streets ahead of the same type and category of product yet works like it needs to.

There are so many examples. It makes me wonder who they get their advice and designs from.

A forum and others like this make it easy to stay tapped in to what the guys using the equipment actually find deficient about the product.

Who does the design reviews. What one needs on a succesful product is sensible market feedback. Have these guys never done focus groups etc.

I really wonder how they survive. I mean a small piece of plate and three spacers and 3 long bolts and nuts and you have a huge difference in performance for what sort of dollar cost input.

It reminds me of how a German company I used to compete with on an electronic product that sold at wholesale level for $50. They took out what amounted to $1 worth of raw material to compete with a $5 reduction in price. Problem was they took out critical items like the surge protection and lightning protection which while not playing an active role has the role of ensuring long term reliability and serviceability of the device and system it was installed in. All I did was to show the customers pictures of the inside of their unit with out the components and ask them if their business reputation and product reliability was worth the $5 difference. The German company lost huge market share and credibility because in this field that was the end of perception of "German Engineering" all for $1 dollar.

Somewhere the wrong guys are running the company and merely after a one off sucker buy.

Sorry for the hijack or rant but having been a manufacturer I get frustrated when I see this side of machinery and tools.

Great modification Vaughn thanks for the post.
 
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...:

Vaughn

I don't understand why you had to play around to figure out the angles with that fancy gauge you had to measure the 120 degrees. :dunno:

Looks as if could measure anything...:thumb:

Garry
 
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