Shop Vacuum

[John Brennaman]

Anybody have recommendations for a good shop vac? I would like one with good suction that I could possibly hook up to my random orbital sander as well as clean up the shop. I wish I had room for a dust collection system but, I do not.

I am willing to spend a little more to get one that works well and will last.

Thanks, John

[Prashun Patel]

There are compact dc's....even portable ones if yr only concern is space.

However, I use my shopvac for ROS dc; it CAN be done.

If you have the $$, you can get a Fein Turbo. They're nice and quiet.

But, for 1/3 the price, you can get a conventional 16gal BORGish ShopVac, and make or buy a cyclonic preseparator, which will keep your filter clean and will separate 99%of the dust into a convenient 5gal bucket.

Oneida makes the Dust Deputy.
Clearvue Cyclones makes a preseparator too for shopvacs. Either will cost between $100 and $150.

You can also make a "Phil Thien Separator" for about $20 that is reported to work outstandingly. Google it and you'll see how to make one.

[David Parker]

There are the high end vacs such as the Festool and Fein. I've heard these are great but are pricey. I have the Ridgid WD1851 (http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/WD1851-16G-Vac/EN/index.htm) and love it. I think it's the best of the "lower tier" shop vacs. Home Depot normally sells it for $159 but through May 6th you can get $25 off during their Ultimate Power Deal. This vacuum is significantly quieter than the other shop vacs I've used and has great suction. You can also get a 0.3 micron HEPA filter for it.

Dave

Edit: I also have the Craftsman Auto Switch (http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00924031000P?keyword=power+switch) for $20. Works great at turning the vac on when you run a power tool. It also will run for several seconds after you turn off the tool to clear the hose.

[Brian Smith3]

I agree with David above. I have a Ridgid 1450 and it works great. After replacing a few (3-4) Shop Vac's I think the Ridgid line is the best right now in this category. If I wanted to spend more I would definitely go high end with a Fein or Festool, but I just don't use the shop vac that much.

[Mark Vedder]

If you are planning to use the vac for dust collection for sanders and such, I recommend you look for a vac that has an auto start feature. You plug your sander into the vac. When you turn on your sander, the vac senses the power flow and turns on. Then turns off when you power down the tool. A very nice feature that prevents you from having to reach down or over to the vac each time. A good number of brands and models out there have the feature.

The Festool ones are amazing, albeit a bit pricey. I have the CT33. Works very well as both a shop vac and a dust extractor for tools. Very quiet as well. (It has auto start.)

On the Festool ones, the filter is located at the top of the vac as a flat piece rather than a cylinder in the dust-collection tank. It makes cleanup easier. But more importantly, it prevents the vac from losing suction power as it fills. A few other brands have that feature as well.

The Festool CT's also come with anti-static hoses so you don't get the "clinging" of dust to the outside of the hose.

[John Brennaman]

Thanks for all the input. After looking around a little further I found that the Rigid 1450 is pretty well recommended. The auto start feature of some of the other vacs would be nice but, I’m not sure I can justify the added cost.

I checked out the “Phil Thien Separator" web site. Interesting! Might have to spend a Saturday putting one of those together.

[Bill Huber]

I have the Ridgid WD1851, it is a great vac and does a great job.

I have a 12x16 shop and very little room to spare so I like you just have not found a place for a real DC. What I have done is to pipe my shop with plastic pipe to the table saw, sander and a port for the band saw and general clean up. I also use this port for my hand sander.

I do have a Mini Clearvue Cyclones and it works really well in fact I took the filter out of the vac, wrapped the filter mount with screen wire and exhaust it out the back of the shop. I see very little dust on the ground in the back of the shop.

These are not current pictures, I have replace the table saw, the router table and added a band saw but you can see the piping going around the shop.
http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/image/81915321

http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/image/82955323

In this one you can see the Mini Cyclones, that gets 99% of the dust. It sets behind the drill press and is out of the way.
http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/image/82955322

I have reducers to take the hose down for my hand sander and use it all the time when I am sanding, paper last longer and cuts better. There is just to much suck for the little sander so I just open one of the other gates part way.

The only thing I can not use it with is the planer, it just puts out more then the Mini can handle and for that I just let it go to the floor and then put it in bags.

I don't have an auto switch on it because I am always close to the main switch, its just not that far away in a 12x16 shop. I know this is not the best DC system in the world for for my little shop it works very well.

[John Brennaman]

Bill,

I just got back from Home Depot where I looked at the 1851. Just thought I would come back home and do a little more research before making my final decision. Your input helps.

Thanks, John

[Keith Outten]

I agree with David above. I have a Ridgid 1450 and it works great. After replacing a few (3-4) Shop Vac's I think the Ridgid line is the best right now in this category. If I wanted to spend more I would definitely go high end with a Fein or Festool, but I just don't use the shop vac that much.

I think that the Oneida Dust Cobra is worthy of being in the high performance vac category. I would bet that it out performs both the Fein and the Festool and has a built-in cyclone.
.

[glenn bradley]

I have run a 16 gallon ($100 on sale) Ridgid hard for the last several years. I bought a 25' 2-1/2" hose and velcro an extension cord to it. The vac and extension cord plug into an iSocket. The cord is no bother when using it as a vac for the floor. A smaller hose hooks to the long hose to adapt it to my ROS, routers, jigsaw, etc.

I use a $25 seperator lid for a 5 gallon bucket that I empty over 12 times before having to think about the vac. I have Clean Stream filters so when they need cleaning, I just toss them on the grass and hit them with the hose. This setup has been working great since 2004. Total cost, about $170 (or $30 a year so far with no sign of slowing down).

There are definitly more compact, smarter, quieter vacs for two to three times more. I spent that on wood ;-)

[Bruce Wrenn]

Bill,

I just got back from Home Depot where I looked at the 1851. Just thought I would come back home and do a little more research before making my final decision. Your input helps.

Thanks, JohnSwing by the post office and get a "moving kit." In there is a 10% off coupon from Lowes, which most HD's will readily take. I have a 1984 Sears (Emerson, now know as Ridgid) that has been evey thing I could ask of it. Remember to fill out the lifetime warranty regristration in the first 90 days, and you are set for life. When you mail it get a certification of mailing, or a delivery receipt, just in case they develope amnesia.

[Randal Stevenson]

I have and love my Fein Turbo II, but I know a lot of people aren't wanting to spend that kind of money. The larger Ridgids have SNR (serial noise reduction), and are a lower pitch then some of the older Craftsman and Shop-vac brands (what I have experience with). Good for when we are not wearing hearing protection (we always do, right guys :rolleyes:) You have been told about the various separators, and can buy or build them for your now and future collectors, I would also look at other hoses in the future as well. Since you talked about Ridgid at Home Depot, look at the orange hoses they have. They cost, but I have found them to last dramatically longer, in severe environments (for me, hot ash that collapses the regular hose).

One more thing, as people have talked about autostart (which Fein has), I would recommend looking at the Craftsman autoswitch (24031), which is around $20.

[John Brennaman]

Thanks for all the input. Just got back from HD with a Rigid 1851. They had an instant $25 rebate. Took about 10 minutes to assemble and is much quieter than my 2 previous vacs. It seems to have as much power as my garage shop will ever need. I will definitely be looking for a longer hose and some sort of separator.

[David Hostetler]

You can do a decent (not great, but decent) job with a good shop vacum, and that Ridgid you picked up is a good one. You will want to add the Ridgid or similar HEPA filter for it, and a Thien or similar cyclone. I have one on a 20 gallon steel trash can that works great!

Shop Vac offers a plastic plumbing kit called the "Sawdust Collection System" similar to what Ridgid used to offer as the "Clean Shop Network". Nice clear tubing and fittings, quality on the fittings leaves a lot to be desired though. If I had to do it over again, I would grab the 2.5" self cleaning blast gates from Lee Valley, and some SCH 40 PVC pipe and fittings, reduced where I had to to fit the blast gates...

If you are going to take the vac / separator from machine to machine, build a stacking rolling cart for the setup... It will make your life so much easier...

[Cory Hoehn]

Something else to consider is that small wall mounted dust collector from Rockler. I think it's called the dust right system. It's got an expandable hose and handles. It could hook up to just about any tool with adapters and take care of general clean up. It'll cost more than a standard shop vac, but it's worth a look, anyway.

I'm not affiliated with Rockler, by the way. :)

[David Hostetler]

Something else to consider is that small wall mounted dust collector from Rockler. I think it's called the dust right system. It's got an expandable hose and handles. It could hook up to just about any tool with adapters and take care of general clean up. It'll cost more than a standard shop vac, but it's worth a look, anyway.

I'm not affiliated with Rockler, by the way. :)

With the OE bag, those things are dust pumps. Does anyone make a decent filter bag for that machine?

[glenn bradley]

With the OE bag, those things are dust pumps. Does anyone make a decent filter bag for that machine?

American Fabric Filter (http://www.americanfabricfilter.com), of course :).

[Roger Jensen]

I have posted this before, but you may want to pair up your shop vac with something like the dust gorrila from oneida. If you are going to use it for sanding it pre-filters out the fine dust so you aren't clogging up your shop vac filter with dust. I built a cart and fastened them to it. I purchased an autoswitch from Woodcraft so it comes on when I turn on my sander - a very handy feature built into the higher end vacs.

Roger


http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=113906&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1237869695