Kurt....is that an old blanket as the disposeable layer?
Yes -
old blankets - I used to buy storage units & many of them (storage units) had garbage bags full of clothing & bedding so I had LOTS of blankets --- I found that blankets made out of the material electric blankets are made of work best but any old blanket will work & for that matter old sheets will work but it better if you double or triple them
Go to your local thrift store - they always have blankets (&/or sheets) that are not good enough to put out on their selves for sale which they will sell very cheap as "rag bags" (same thing with towels for the wicks)
You can reuse both the liner (blanket) & the wick (towel) multiple times with this setup - however - with reuse you will start getting "some" solids going through to the catch barrel - but very VERY little - most (if not all) of which will be settled in the bottom of the catch barrel by the time the wick is done wicking (wick stops dripping)
The most important thing to keep in mind when setting this filter up (& getting best filter results) is "packing" the "wet" towel (wick) around the dung hole to make a good "seal" around the bung hole - other wise solids that pass through the blanket liner/filter will go out the bung hole & "ride" on the surface of the wick to the catch barrel resulting in in "more" solids going to the catch barrel (still not a "lot" but more)
Ultimately - like any kind of filtering - it comes down to what is being filtered (course, fine, ultrafine solids) - or solid to liquid ratio (lots of liquid little solids - or - lots of solids little liquid) - amount being filtered (1 liter or 20 liters or more) - are you filtering leaches containing PMs or filtering solids from waste treatment - etc. etc. etc.
It all begs the question of what type/process of filtering is going to get you to your end filtering result ???
What's going to best serve your filtering needs - a colander with a couple restaurant coffee filters to remove most of the solids (because you have a "lot" of solids) & then a Charman plug to filter ultra fines that passed the coffee filters - or just a Charman plug to filter a solution with just "some' ultra fines ???
Do you want ultra clear like before precipitation - or are "some" solids acceptable like hydroxide waste treatment ???
Then there is the question of do you need to get most/all the chem out of the solids - or not ???
Then - depending on the situation - what system/method works best - gravity, wicking, vacuum, pressure ???
All questions that need to be answered when it comes to filtering as they all (systems/methods) will be employed at some point in time in the course of refining --- as I am sure you fully understand snowman
In other words - this is just a "general discussion" post about filtering
