Dust Collection for Skinflint

[Steve H Graham]

I was considering getting a cyclone, but it seems like they're not that useful for the tools I use. The Shop Vac works great with my planer, the band saw and drill press won't work with anything, and the table saw doesn't seem to need dust collection (most of it goes into the cabinet, where I suck it out later). So I have not bought anything.

Now I'm using routers a lot, and they blast dust all over the place. My Dewalt 2HP router came with built-in dust collection, and I just tried it for the first time, and it's amazing. I never even saw the dust. But the Shop-Vac hose is so stiff and awkward, it falls off and causes problems.

Is there a better solution for cheap guys like me? Maybe a lighter and more flexible hose that will attach to a Shop-Vac?

[Van Huskey]

Not gonna get into the whole dust collection issue but to answer your question you can look at Mr. Nozzle brand hoses.

[Phil Thien]

I have two of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Porter-Cable-39332-Vacuum-1-Inch-Ports/dp/B0000222WV/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1294885064&sr=8-2

The cuffs just thread onto the hoses. For use on my DeWalt router, I take the larger cuff off one hose and put it on the other (so I have one hose with two larger cuffs). Fits nice and snugly on my DeWalt router. The other end needs an adapter to fit the shop vac. But when using it, I get no dust.

I didn't pay $40, BTW. I think I got two hoses for about $19 each by shopping wisely.

[Bob Landel]

Hi Steve,
I agree with Phil buy the Porter Cable offerings. All the fittings work well with most routers. I also use it on my Makita sliding compound saw. Tools Plus had a $29.00 Porter Cable sander type (which is the same with an extra part) a few months ago. Peachtree also has an offering whch is compatible.

[Bruce Page]

I have a Sears version of the PC hose. It came with a laughable "Tool Vac" that Sears sold several years ago, I trashed the vac but kept the hose. It works great with my hand held, mostly PC tools and my boss spindle sander. Don't know if Sears still sells the hose by itself but they used to get $20 bucks for it.

[Steve H Graham]

Will those skinny hoses be okay with a big Shop-Vac with a larger opening? I don't want to strain the motor.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Will those skinny hoses be okay with a big Shop-Vac with a larger opening? I don't want to strain the motor.

Yep. Paradoxically to some people, your shop vac actually does LESS work when you block the hose. It requires work to move air, so if you're not moving any air, you shop vac isn't doing any work, which doesn't require any* energy. So the more restriction you put on it, the happier your shop vac is. Probably the worst thing you could do with it is run it without any hose attached, at all - that would strain it the most.


(*except to overcome friction of the bearings in the motor, etc, etc....)

[Steve H Graham]

I love my Dewalt 611, but after seeing what a dust hose does for the bigger router, I have to make a change. The 611 shoots the chips directly back at me, in a blizzard of dust. I actually got a nice mouthful of walnut the other day. Tastes unbelievably bad.

I wish Dewalt included a dust attachment with it. I can only find one place that sells the right attachement, and the shipping is 150% of the cost of the part.

The bigger router is wonderful, but the dust thing is built into it, and it makes it a giant pain to install and center an inlay kit.

[John Piwaron]

IMO, using a shop vac is o.k. for collecting from tools, but it isn't really all that good either. I also made an attachment to try it out with the portable sanders. Magnificent! It does work. But the worst of it is that when using the shop vac that way (as a dust collector), the filter quickly clogs. It rapidly takes on the appearance of a big cake. And the airflow slows down. Collecting less and less.

About 6 months ago I got a 1hp dust collector. It's spectacular. All of the chips from the planer are captured. Everything that'd go into the saw cabinet goes to it too. The stuff on top is going to require some kind of overarm collection from the blade guard.

And I got a Festool "dust extractor" - it works very well with the sanders and doesn't clog the filter. It captures the junk in a bag and *then* exhausts the air through a pair of HEPA filters. It's so nice.

All of that can also collect from my routers - but that's where it all falls down. Even with the ones that have designed in dust collection ports, the shop vac or the Festool can't get it all. I think it's in the nature of how the router does it's cuts. On some cuts it gets amost all. On others it gets almost none. It just depends. It's better than nothing, but for the router none of those are a panacea.

[Jim Rimmer]

IMO, using a shop vac is o.k. for collecting from tools, but it isn't really all that good either. I also made an attachment to try it out with the portable sanders. Magnificent! It does work. But the worst of it is that when using the shop vac that way (as a dust collector), the filter quickly clogs. It rapidly takes on the appearance of a big cake. And the airflow slows down. Collecting less and less.

I don't have the room or the power for a full blown DC system so I use my shop vac. To avoid the problem John describes, I got the Dust Deputy and it works great. I've modified the cart in the picture a little since this pic but it's still basically the same. I had to add a brace to hold the plastic tube running from the vac to DD; it was unstable and fell off a couple of times. Just added a board with a notch cut out to hold it and put a metal strap around it to hold it in place.
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[John Piwaron]

I couldn't bring myself to buying a dust deputy for two reasons

1) At the time, I didn't believe it worked. After reading numerous reports since then, I'm sure it does. But now it's too late for me.

2) With respect to the planer, I'd overwhem a dust deputy in short order. When I was using my shop vac for collection, I'd fill the vac 2 or 3 times before completing work. No big deal really, but I just got tired of stopping, emptying, restarting. A nothing complaint I think.

When my wife and I bought a new furnace/A/C, I promised to put less dust in the air. To protect the new system and to keep wifey happy. That's when I got the Festool dust extractor and a Delta 1hp dust collector. It's not a central system. It's on rollers and I use it the same as someone would use a shop vac. I roll it to the tool being used, connect it and let 'er rip. When not being used, it's rolled away to an out of the way spot. Foot print wise it takes up no more room than a shop vac. But it's tall and reaches up to the joists above.

[Alan Schaffter]

Despite the high static pressure capability of shopvacs, the problem collecting dust from a ROS or worse from a router, is that dust isn't just generated. After it is created, it is hurled at high velocity away from the tool (this also happens on top of tablesaws) where only high CFM suction can then capture it (think of using a straw to suck up a smoke cloud.) While some routers and other tools are better shrouded than others, the suction still has a hard time stopping the high velocity chips satisfactorily, partially because most shrouds also limit take-up air, which limits suction!!. Look what happens when you set a ROS on the work- you block the holes in the pad! You really need a two-pronged approach- a well shrouded tool with shopvac suction and another barrier, like a downdraft table, that will physically stop the dust from flying and slow it down enough so it can be sucked up (with a DC). That is one reason most downdraft tables have sides on them.

[Curt Harms]

Despite the high static pressure capability of shopvacs, the problem collecting dust from a ROS or worse from a router, is that dust isn't just generated. After it is created, it is hurled at high velocity away from the tool (this also happens on top of tablesaws) where only high CFM suction can then capture it (think of using a straw to suck up a smoke cloud.) While some routers and other tools are better shrouded than others, the suction still has a hard time stopping the high velocity chips satisfactorily, partially because most shrouds also limit take-up air, which limits suction!!. Look what happens when you set a ROS on the work- you block the holes in the pad! You really need a two-pronged approach- a well shrouded tool with shopvac suction and another barrier, like a downdraft table, that will physically stop the dust from flying and slow it down enough so it can be sucked up (with a DC). That is one reason most downdraft tables have sides on them.

Alan, that's the best analogy I've seen for the difference between a shop vac and dust collector.

[John Eaton]

The thing no one has mentioned and that's perhaps the most important - it's not the dust you can see that's the most harmful to your lungs - it's the very small stuff (less than 1 micron) that stays suspended around the tool and doesn't get picked up by the shop vac. The reason central systems, especially with adequate diameter ducting, works so well - the channel is bigger (the cross section is larger at 6" diameter or more) so you get more of those minute particles. There's a difference between vacuuming and dust collecting.