Ungloat

[jackellis]

I was about to pull the trigger on a pair of Wynn filters for my well used 3 hp DC when I discovered a small problem:



This particular unit comes with two pairs of filter bags. The rings are actually designed to be installed with the cone pointed down, which complicates installation of a Wynn filter and pretty much rules out installing a Thien baffle. I don't have space for a stand alone separator. The bags it came with are pretty worthless for minimizing fine dust and I'm tired of cleaning shop vac filters all the time. Guess it's gonna have to be modded a bit.

The 33 1/2 inch poles that came with this are perfect if the rings are installed cone down. For cone up, I need a pole that's 43 inches long but don't have any way to fabricate one from metal (assuming I had enough talent in the first place). So, I'm thinking I can use an angle bracket of some kind at the bottom to support a shop-made wood pole that will bolt onto the ring and help hold it up. Not sure I want to trust the plenum to support the weight of the ring, the filter, and whatever is in the bag. I could buy two poles from one of the other manufacturers if I knew they would be the right length, but that's probably not likely.

Before I start fabricating new parts, I'd be interested in other ideas.

[Bill in Buena Park]

Jack,
What's the chance you can work with the thin-walled rigid electrical conduit? From what I could make out in the picture, it appears you might be able to cut that to length with a hack saw or recip saw, use a vise to flatten the ends into which you'd drill bolt holes, that kind of thing.

[crokett]

Metal electrical conduit is my suggestion as well.

[LarryG]

Looking at the photo, I can't tell exactly how the brackets on the bottom of the poles attach to the unit's base plate. I see two thru-bolts, and a flange extending vertically down the side, but can't tell if the latter wraps underneath the base plate.

If it doesn't ... or maybe even if it does ... what about drilling some new holes near the bottom of the inlet ring, and then fabricating some short spacer blocks to go under the bottom brackets and make up the difference, using longer bolts? It looks like you'd only need a couple inches of thickness.

[Tom Miller]

When you say "cone pointed down", do you mean the orientation shown in the photo? Are you 100% sure that that's the correct orientation? Is it possible you have the two rings swapped? It seems like the ring shown should be flipped over to the other side, in which case the cone would point in the direction that gravity can do its thing, and the current supports would (probably) meet up with the connection points on the rings.

Regards,
Tom
Edit: OK, my confusion has shifted a little upon re-reading. I'm now assuming you've had the rings installed correctly up 'til now, but now you want them upside down as shown in the picture. So, now the only part I'm not clear on is why you want them upside down? Is that a requirement for the Thien baffle?

Is there an award for least helpful post?

[LCHIEN]

the ring in the picture is upside down, if right side up the bolts would be towards the bottom and hold the ring higher with the supplied rods.

I'm not sure i uderstand what the real issue is?
If you have plastic catch bags and filter cansiters on top then make sure you have a good neutral vane in each ring and then why do you need a separator of any kind, the rings and neutral vane will do that for you and make sure only finest of the fines get up into the filters. All the bigger stuff will be in the bottom bags, you need some way to beat the filters and make the fines fall into the the bottom every once in a while.

[jackellis]

Thanks for all the replies. Sure beats talking to myself about what might and might not work.

I was trying to minimize the number of parts I'd have to fabricate in order to adapt my DC to canister filters so I could get the thing installed and running quickly once we move.

The ring is intentionally installed upside down in the photo because if the canister filter seats against the cone, I can avoid fabricating a donut. I'd seen reference to a neutral vane but no examples so I was pretty well set on a baffle to keep junk out of the canister.

Loring, I tracked down the photos for your neutral vane implementation and it is certainly an alternative to Phil Thien's baffle idea. The plenums on my DC are square and in some respects, that simplifies fabrication. It also has an advantage in that I can put some kind of screen across the opening to prefent larger pieces of debris from puncturing the filter. I'll start off with the neutral vane idea and see how it works out.

[cgallery]

It would help to see inside pics of the ring from the top, and the bottom. Some measurements of the I.D. and O.D. of the ring would help, too. Were you going to have to make donuts for the filters? Or is there a ledge to support the filters?

If necessary, the support arm can be lengthened by cutting it in half, then finding something to connect the two pieces and provide some extension. Conduit, threaded rod, etc., can be employed for this purpose.

Don't give up yet. Post pics of the rings.

[LarryG]

The ring is intentionally installed upside down in the photo because if the canister filter seats against the cone, I can avoid fabricating a donut.

Which Wynn filter are you looking at, and what's the diameter of your inlet rings? On my HF 2HP DC unit, the Wynn 35A filter slips right into the inlet ring and sits on the (normally-oriented) cone and attaches with three turnbuckles -- no donut required.

The diameter of the 35A series filters is given as 17.5". On my HF collector, there's roughly 3/4" of clearance all around.

[cgallery]

Thanks for all the replies. Sure beats talking to myself about what might and might not work.

I was trying to minimize the number of parts I'd have to fabricate in order to adapt my DC to canister filters so I could get the thing installed and running quickly once we move.

The ring is intentionally installed upside down in the photo because if the canister filter seats against the cone, I can avoid fabricating a donut. I'd seen reference to a neutral vane but no examples so I was pretty well set on a baffle to keep junk out of the canister.

Loring, I tracked down the photos for your neutral vane implementation and it is certainly an alternative to Phil Thien's baffle idea. The plenums on my DC are square and in some respects, that simplifies fabrication. It also has an advantage in that I can put some kind of screen across the opening to prefent larger pieces of debris from puncturing the filter. I'll start off with the neutral vane idea and see how it works out.

The NV won't keep nearly as much dust out of your filters, though.

If it were me, I'd probably bust the funnel out (if spot welded). I'd add a donut to the top to hold the filter and have a 6-8" outlet tube sticking 2" down from the bottom. Then I'd add a baffle to the bottom of the ring.

If you don't want to or can't (continuous weld, for example) bust the funnel out, you can point the funnel up (as in your pic), and make a donut that fits the funnel for the O.D., and has an I.D. suitable for a large can of coffee. Now drink the coffee, remove the bottom of the can, and use the can as an outlet tube. Add a baffle and you'd have a kick-butt DC.

[pierhogunn]

why not just cut the pole in half, and add some dowel to it, slim down the edges enough to fit, then add 2 small brass wood screws to the top and bottom of the joint?