Sanding station set up

[Mike Henderson]

I have my shop dust collection completed now, but wanted to use a shop vac for dust collection on my sander. I looked at shop vacs that will turn on when you turn on the sander, and which have speed control, but they were very expensive. So I made my own set up using a Ridgid shop vac that I already have. It's a "quiet" vac to begin with and I added a high filtration bag to it - so it has the bag as a filter in addition to the regular filter.

Then I added a control that turns the shop vac on when I turn the sander on - I don't remember who made this one but maybe someone will recognize it and post the manufacturer - I got it at Woodcraft. I think it was about $45. There's a less expensive one but this one allows me to turn the shop vac on with the flip of a switch.

Then, to control the amount of suction, I went with a router speed control from Harbor Freight. This was about $16 with their 20% off coupon.

Anyway, works very well and was only about $61, since I already had the shop vac.

Mike

P.S. I found that switch - it's called the i-vac and is sold in a variety of places. Here's (http://www.woodcraft.com/product/2080165/28298/ivac-automated-shop-vacuum-switch.aspx)one.

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[Phil Thien]

Great idea and excellent execution!

[Bill White]

Router speed control on the vac?
Bill

[Rick Potter]

Mike,

How well does that router speed control work on your vac? I put an old one one mine several months ago, and it does not seem to vary the speed smoothly. It is either full speed or about half speed, nothing in between.

I was wondering, because I never liked this particular (PSI) controller on a router either. If yours works smooth, I will dump mine in the trash, and get a new one. I use mine in conjunction with a dust deputy.

Rick P

[Mike Henderson]

Router speed control on the vac?
Bill
Yes. The name "Router Speed Control" is sort of a slang term. A more accurate description might be "Universal Motor Speed Control." The term "router speed control" comes from the fact that these devices were first developed to slow down the older fixed speed routers (routers use universal motors). And you often needed to slow down a router in order to turn a very large bit, such as one for making raised panels. For example, the older Porter Cable 690 routers were single speed and you could use a "router speed control" to run them at slower speeds.

A universal motor is a series wound motor with brushes to provide power to the rotor (or armature). It will work on AC or DC and that's why it's called a "universal" motor. Universal motors run at much higher speeds (in RPM) than induction motors.

Modern routers have incorporated the function of the "router speed control" into the router so you don't need an external device to slow them down.

But many other tools use universal motors, one of them being most shop vacs. So you can slow down a shop vac (that has a universal motor) with one of these devices that are called a "Router Speed Control".

Mike

[Mike Henderson]

Mike,

How well does that router speed control work on your vac? I put an old one one mine several months ago, and it does not seem to vary the speed smoothly. It is either full speed or about half speed, nothing in between.

I was wondering, because I never liked this particular (PSI) controller on a router either. If yours works smooth, I will dump mine in the trash, and get a new one. I use mine in conjunction with a dust deputy.

Rick P
This speed control works fine on my shop vac. I get continuous speed control from high speed to low speed (and everything in between). I've only been using it for a short time so I have limited experience with it but so far, so good. There's always the possibility that your shop vac is the problem and not the speed control but I kind of doubt that.

Mike

[Rick Potter]

Thanks Mike,

As I said, I was never happy with this one on a router either, but that was years ago, and it sat on a shelf till a few months ago when I put it on the vac. Obviously I have a bad one. I will toss it and get a new one for the vac.

Rick P