Best Vacuum for Dust Deputy

[Steven Wayne]

I added a Dust Deputy (the one that includes the 5 gallon buckets) to an older Craftsman shop vac several months ago. It has worked out pretty well.. Until the shop vac died the other day. Open winding in the motor. Now that I have had the Dust Deputy, I'd like to get a vacuum well suited to working with it. The shop is almost 3500 sq ft, so I want a combo that will roll around the shop well. Does anyone have a suggestion on a good solution? This is used for shop cleanup almost exclusively.

Thank you in advance!

[Ben Rivel]

Wow thats a huge shop! I use a 6.5HP Shop-Vac with mine, but honestly if I had a shop that large and was really putting the system to work I would spend a lot more and get a more "industrial/commercial" setup like the Onieda Dust Cobra Cyclonic: LINK (http://www.oneida-air.com/inventory.asp?CatId={88398A7C-ADBE-46C7-976A-AEAD1AE24147}).

[Steven Wayne]

This is literally for cleaning around the shop, not dust collection :) I have a dust collection system.

[Rick Potter]

Here is mine.

Sorry, the pics went haywire. I also have a Shopsmith vac, shown, which is pretty good for running around the shop.








336545

[Rick Potter]

Here is another pic, if I can get it to work. It shows the boom that I can use for sanding or my track saw.


336553

Obviously, I am not good at this picture thing.

[Wade Lippman]

I use a Dyson canister on my DD. I don't move mine around, but the small size would make it perfect for that.

[Jim Dwight]

I use a fairly small Rigid (about 8 amps) on a little Woodsmith based cart. The connection to the cyclone is 2 inch PVC pipe, heated when necessary with a heat gun. I use a 35mm Bosch 5 meter hose for sanders and a 2.5 inch hose on my table saw. Both fit the inlet to the cyclone fine. I also use an autostart switch but you may not need that if you are just using it for cleanup. I use my as a sort of a mini-DC too. Here's a picture.

[Dave Zellers]

Since all the dust will go to the DD, the small Fein vac would be perfect.

http://www.amazon.com/Fein-9-20-27-TURBO-Vacuum-5-8-Gallon/dp/B00K69ILFQ

I have one and it rolls effortlessly, is light, powerful and quiet.

[Charles Lent]

I use a re-purposed whole house central vacuum unit and added my Dust Deputy to it, but it quickly collapses 5 gal plastic containers if I accidentally plug the hose, even for just a few seconds. I'm using the toughest plastic pails that I can find. They are former dill pickle containers that I get from the Firehouse Sub franchise. To keep them from collapsing, I now stack 3 of the pails together. They have plastic ribs on the outside of the upper third of them, so stacking them together puts the ribs all the way down the top container, and triples the thickness of the rest of the container. No more collapsing, but my son recently found me a 30 gal metal barrel. All I need to do now is make a thick plywood lid for it and move the Dust Deputy to it and my problems should be completely over. I won't have to dump it as often either. I installed the vacuum and the Dust Deputy in the attic of my shop. It's so quiet now that I have to shut everything off to hear it running.

I also piped the vacuum exhaust to the outside, so if anything should get past the Dust Deputy and the filter in the vacuum, it will never make it back into my shop. I use this vacuum system mostly for my scroll saws and drill presses, hand held power tools, and also to vacuum the shop floor. I added an outside inlet so I can also vacuum my cars and truck with it. I let my Unisaw sawdust settle in the cabinet and shovel it out. My 735 planer always gets used outside with the accessory hose and barrel cover to collect the chips. My shop is small and there's no room for a large sawdust separator type dust collector or the duct work for it. I'm extremely happy with how well this Dust Deputy/Central Vacuum unit works, even if it isn't a full fledged woodworking shop dust collector. My shop is heated and cooled with a window style heat pump, mounted high through the North wal and. I've replaced the crappy filter in it with a high quality 12 X 20 pleated furnace type filter that fits over the coils and under the front cover perfectly, so this heat pump also serves as my whole shop air filter and it does a very good job.

My shop isn't 100% dust free, but what I have gets most of it.

Charley

[Ben Rivel]

I use a re-purposed whole house central vacuum unit and added my Dust Deputy to it, but it quickly collapses 5 gal plastic containers if I accidentally plug the hose, even for just a few seconds. I'm using the toughest plastic pails that I can find. They are former dill pickle containers that I get from the Firehouse Sub franchise. To keep them from collapsing, I now stack 3 of the pails together. They have plastic ribs on the outside of the upper third of them, so stacking them together puts the ribs all the way down the top container, and triples the thickness of the rest of the container. No more collapsing, but my son recently found me a 30 gal metal barrel. All I need to do now is make a thick plywood lid for it and move the Dust Deputy to it and my problems should be completely over. I won't have to dump it as often either. I installed the vacuum and the Dust Deputy in the attic of my shop. It's so quiet now that I have to shut everything off to hear it running. I also piped the exhaust to the outside, so if anything should get past the Dust Deputy and the filter in the vacuum, it will never make it back into my shop. I use this vacuum system mostly for my scroll saws and drill presses, hand held power tools, and also to vacuum shop floor. I added an outside inlet so I can also vacuum my cars and truck with it. I let my Unisaw sawdust settle in the cabinet and shovel it out. My 735 planer gets used outside with the accessory hose and barrel cover. My shop is small and there's no room for a large sawdust separator type dust collector or the duct work.

Charley
If it helps I was able to find an inexpensive 5 gallon steel bucket with a snap lock lid like the larger steel buckets at Home Depot (LINK (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Vestil-5-Gal-Steel-Black-Open-Head-Pail-PAIL-STL-RI/205526535) and LINK (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Vestil-5-Gal-Black-Lever-Lock-Steel-Lid-LID-STL-LL/205758153)) and cost me about $33 for the pair. I bought that setup and drilled the lid myself for use with a black Dust Deputy SD and now I have an nice looking all black mini cyclone :). You wont have any collapse with that 5 gallon bucket!

[Stan Calow]

When I hooked up my 16 gallon craftsman vac to the Deputy, I found it sucked most of the dust out of the container. I wrote Oneida and asked for guidance on what was the optimum size vac to use, but never got a useful response. I changed to a smaller vac, but would still like to know.

[Mike Chalmers]

When I hooked up my 16 gallon craftsman vac to the Deputy, I found it sucked most of the dust out of the container. I wrote Oneida and asked for guidance on what was the optimum size vac to use, but never got a useful response. I changed to a smaller vac, but would still like to know.Interesting. I have 3 DDs hooked up. One is on a small 2.5hp Shop Vac, one on a 5hp King vac, and one on a 6.5hp Ridgid vac. all work extremely well. I have used large craftsman vacs before, and I know the Ridgid is more powerful than any of those (the Ridgid collapsed the bin that I had been using with the large Craftsman). I would check the seal on your DD set up.
a

[Stan Calow]

Mike I did check seals and my set up met their instructions. But I do think that there has to be an optimal CFM for which it is designed.

[Steven Wayne]

I bought a new Ridgid at the BORG yesterday. It's a huge improvement from my 15 year old Craftsman. Looks like I might be able to mount the Dust Deputy vertically.. We shall see!

[Charles Lent]

Stan, There has to be a leak into your collection container somewhere. Either the lid seal or the seal between the Dust Deputy and the lid. Either one will cause the sawdust to build up in the cone of the Dust Deputy. A vacuum leak is very hard to see and find, but it's there DAMHIKT.

Steven, You really need to mount the Dust Deputy vertical. It won't work well lying down. Mine fell over once so I found this out through experience.

Charley

[Red OLeary]

I bought a new Ridgid at the BORG yesterday. It's a huge improvement from my 15 year old Craftsman. Looks like I might be able to mount the Dust Deputy vertically.. We shall see!
Which model did you get? I'm about to put my DD into service and I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a new vac..... mostly because I want one :) It will be replacing my 15yr old Craftsman as well.

[glenn bradley]

I have run a 6.5 HP (yeah, right) Ridgid for 13 years. Bought another to go with my second DD station. I get the model with the detachable "yard blower" feature (http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-16-Gal-Wet-Dry-Vacuum-with-Detachable-Blower-WD1680/202554974) as I lose the barrel in preference to a smaller chambered filter box.

336731

[Thomas Canfield]

Check the noise on Ridgid vacs. There is a 14 gallon model that is substantially lower noise level than the different 16 gallon models. I had to call Ridgid when I bought mine about 6 years back and it did cost a little more, but definitely worth the cost. The 14 vs 16 gallon capacity does not make any difference since all the trash is knocked out in the 5 gallon Dust Deputy container (which you could change out to larger container also).

The cyclone will not operate in a horizontal position since it relys on gravity dropping out the spinning "heavy dust particles" and clean air going to middle and up the outlet tube. Onida does have an elbow that fits on the top outlet and helps reduce/eliminate the high hose and tipping problems.

[Mike Chalmers]

Stan, There has to be a leak into your collection container somewhere. Either the lid seal or the seal between the Dust Deputy and the lid. Either one will cause the sawdust to build up in the cone of the Dust Deputy. A vacuum leak is very hard to see and find, but it's there DAMHIKT.

Steven, You really need to mount the Dust Deputy vertical. It won't work well lying down. Mine fell over once so I found this out through experience.

Charley Not only me but practically every other opinion in this thread points to a leak. The Dust Deputy is, quite simply, the best solution to an inexpensive, flexible, effective dust collection system for smaller tools. The fact that people are using it with all different size vacs with success, including me, is empirical testament to this.
Leaks can be difficult to find, and I find it is sometimes easier to simply tear down what I have already built and start over. My go to solution is lots of caulking.