Vacuum for Removing Sanding Dust

[Evan Ryan]

Any recommendations for home center handheld vacuums (Dustbusters) that can remove sanding dust?

I do a lot of hand sanding, I don't have a shop vac or any dust collection system and my household vacuum does a poor job of removing sanding dust.

feel free to let me know that only a shop vac can handle this job.

I vacuumed plywood panels that I'd sanded with 220 grit then wiped them with denatured alcohol on a shop rag and there is still a ton of sanding dust.

[Prashun Patel]

<fill in your favorite brand> Shopvac + dust deputy.

Sanding dust will clog a filter quickly, so you really want to preseparate it out.

[Andrew Helman]

I use the same vacuum I use for cleaning ash from my wood-burning stove; it is an ash vacuum. http://www.amazon.com/PowerSmith-PAVC101-Amp-Ash-Vacuum/dp/B0060EUA32/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438799344&sr=8-1&keywords=ash+vacuum It's got a really fine filter on it, and I've also put on the floor (not rug) attachment from my other vac so it has soft bristles instead of rubbing hard plastic on the wood. You might have plenty of luck with something smaller and portable. This is just what I had on had. It was about $80 and doubles as my shop vac. Many shop vacs, however, aren't air tight; this one is pretty good on that and does not spit dust back out, which I liked when vacuuming up some epoxy over pour I scraped and sanded back.

Best of luck,
Andrew

[John TenEyck]

Those things are inadequate; worse than your household vacuum cleaner. You need the suck of a real shop vac, but even they won't remove all the sanding dust from raw wood. When I really want to get the dust out of the pores I blow it out with compressed air. Of course, that puts dust in the air, some of which will settle on the workpiece again. But it's easily vacuumed off at that point. After that's done I wipe the wood with a microfiber cloth prior to beginning finishing, unless it's something like oak that will grab the MF cloth and pull off little pieces of it. That makes more of a mess than it solves, so I vacuum only.

No dust deputy on my shopvac. I just empty it out and bang the filter clean before a good wood cleaning session. It's been doing the job for 25 years on only it's second filter.

John

[Mark Stutz]

Rather than a dust deputy, I use the filter bags that go inside the canister. Much easier to empty.

[Prashun Patel]

"I just empty it out and bang the filter clean before a good wood cleaning session."

Dust Deputy saves the frequency of filter cleanings or bag changes. I do dislike having a second wheelie device in the shop, but it performs very well.

[Matt Geraci]

I made a home made small cyclone collector with a shop vac and it worked well for a while. I bit the bullet after a large contract job and purchased a Pulse-Bac dust collector. http://www.cdclarue.com/500-series It has 2 filters and does a momentary reverse blast into each filter every 30 seconds or so and keeps the filter elements clear. I use a big sandblaster for engraving and use this combined with a dust deputy, to separate heavier sand to reuse, and the pulse bac keeps my filters relatively clear with great constant suction that doesn't drop off over time. Beats the shop vac I was using. Tell 'em Matt sent you if you get one and I'll get a free set of filters. I splurged and got the HEPA filter on the air outlet as well. They're expensive, but I'm pleased with my purchase. Watch their you-tube videos.

Matt

[Kent A Bathurst]

The Fein Turbos have the options of an internal disposable bag, and a HEPA filter. I assume others of the green-ish persuasion do also. Perfect for fine sanding dust - I have that setup stuck into the butt of my ROS; virtually 100% pickup. YOu could easily hold the wand in one hand while you sand with the other, and pretty much avoid much dust escaping.

I'm with J-10 on the DUstbuster-style thing. LOML has always had one, and I have found them to be worthless - - maybe worse than that, since it requires effort to accomplish nothing. I can accomplish nothing with zero effort.

[Steve Kinnaird]

In the end a TACK CLOTH will do better that a shop rag with denatured alcohol for cleaning off the stubborn dust that remains.

[Evan Ryan]

Thank you for your recommendations, I decided to go big and get 3 packs of tack cloths from home deeps. ;)
srsly, thank you for your responses. For my budget and space I'm gonna look at shop vacs, and possibly the dust deputy after market upgrade.
I didn't mention budget or space initially because I really wanted a magic 40$ DustBuster to exist that could handle the job.

[Kent A Bathurst]

....I really wanted a magic 40$ DustBuster to exist that could handle the job.

Check in with Santa or the Easter Bunny - - those 2 are the only sources.

On the tack rags..besure to unfold one, and just loosely crunch it into a wad in your hand - brush lightly, unbunch, rebunch, etc. You are not using hand pressure - that transfers tack goop to wood surface.

Last stage is squirt DNA on the surface and wipe with a clean dry rag.

[Phil Stone]

Last stage is squirt DNA on the surface and wipe with a clean dry rag.


Hmmm.......OH! Denatured Alcohol! That makes much more sense!