Thread: Which Dust Extractor would you buy?

Originally Posted by P.W.H.

For interests' sake I downloaded a sound meter on to my phone and ran the Bosch shop vac.
With the wide nozzle facing down on the floor the noise was ~71dB, with the nozzle pointing up so no
obstruction was creating extra noise, it ran at 67-69 dB.

So it's no different from the others, despite my initial impression that it was fairly noisy.

At what distance and what height above the floor?

Originally Posted by BobL

At what distance and what height above the floor?

I tested it between 800mm and 1m off the floor and just under 1m to about 1.5m away from the vacuum, moving it around to watch for changes.

As I said, having the wide tool sitting on the floor created a lot of hissing that brought the noise level up to 71db, turning the tool up so there was no constriction dropped the noise to 67-68 for the most part, with the odd blip into 66 or 69 when I was waving the phone around. I didn't really note a lot of difference in the final readings inside those bounds.

When it's hooked up to the sander it obviously also creates a lot of hissy noises - so I'd say the 71 is probably a decent 'real live value' under operating conditions. It was subjectively quieter when hooked up to the idle Makita bisquit jointer (less constricted airflow?).

Managed to find an old model Dustex 25 for the price of the Karcher.

Not sure if they are any good. There seems to be a mixed review on this product.

Some have actually returned it, because it was such an inferior product with a high price tag.

Any personal experience here?

Originally Posted by wwf9984

Managed to find an old model Dustex 25 for the price of the Karcher.

Not sure if they are any good. There seems to be a mixed review on this product.

Some have actually returned it, because it was such an inferior product with a high price tag.

Any personal experience here?

Why not read the earlier posts?!

Regards from Cornwall

Derek

How do you know I haven't!? Stop being rude mate! Close thread please.

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Why not read the earlier posts?!

Regards from Cornwall

Derek

You ask a question. You receive many answers. You do not thank anyone for their time. You just keep asking questions for which others have already answered. Who is the rude one? Grow up.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by wwf9984

Managed to find an old model Dustex 25 for the price of the Karcher.

Not sure if they are any good. There seems to be a mixed review on this product.

Some have actually returned it, because it was such an inferior product with a high price tag.

Any personal experience here?

Hi wwf9984

I haven't seen any reviews disparaging the Fein. Care to share?

I've looked at the Karcher's specs and it seems a particularly good (for the price) wet & dry vac. But I don't think I'd be buying one to hook up to a sander or router -- the hose is too short. But it would be just the thing to clean the crap off the floor of my current garage.

To date I think I've used 3 different models of the Festo vac, and looked very seriously at a 4th. What i really like is the anti-static hose, and the integrated hose/power cord -- for Festo tools.

in a month or so, I'll be in the market for a dust extractor, at this stage a Festool is at the top of my list.

If I really wanted to save $$, I'd put a cheapie shop vac in a baffled enclosure and then run plumbing around the shed -- much like what is done for whole house vacuum systems.

Originally Posted by ian

If I really wanted to save $$, I'd put a cheapie shop vac in a baffled enclosure and then run plumbing around the shed -- much like what is done for whole house vacuum systems.

While you are at it put the enclosure outside the shed and you'd have less noise and less fine dust left behind in the shed air as well.

Hi Bob

I think the OP's "problem" is minimising the noise impact on his family and neighbours. I gather he is working inside his garage and his neighbours are relatively close.

I'm very happy with my Dustex 25 L (current squarish model). It's a great vac.

As far as vacs go, it is quiet. Most shop vacs are very uncomfortable to be anywhere near, the Fein is fine. I still wear ear protection if using for long, but I do that with all tools - I need my hearing, and a comfortable set of ear muffs means it's easy to protect my hearing.

All very interesting but where is the square head thicknesser I used as an apprentice.
The two stroke dirt bikes and go karts.
To say nothing about the concrete cutting the neighbour did which had the missus all but being physically sick on a Sunday morning. His family of course was in church.
[QUOTE)

For comparison, this web site Noise Level Chart: dB Levels of Common Sounds provides these noise levels

dBA	Example	Home & Yard Appliances	Workshop & Construction
0	healthy hearing threshold
10	a pin dropping
20	rustling leaves
30	whisper
40	babbling brook	computer
50	light traffic	refrigerator
60	conversational speech	air conditioner
70	shower	dishwasher
75	toilet flushing	vacuum cleaner
80	alarm clock	garbage disposal
85	passing diesel truck	snow blower
90	squeeze toy	lawn mower	arc welder
95	inside subway car	food processor	belt sander
100	motorcycle (riding)		handheld drill
105	sporting event		table saw
110	rock band		jackhammer
115	emergency vehicle siren		riveter
120	thunderclap		oxygen torch
125	balloon popping
130	peak stadium crowd noise
135	air raid siren
140	jet engine at takeoff

Originally Posted by clear out

dBA	Example	Home & Yard Appliances	Workshop & Construction
0	healthy hearing threshold
10	a pin dropping
20	rustling leaves
30	whisper
40	babbling brook	computer
50	light traffic	refrigerator
60	conversational speech	air conditioner
70	shower	dishwasher
75	toilet flushing	vacuum cleaner
80	alarm clock	garbage disposal
85	passing diesel truck	snow blower
90	squeeze toy	lawn mower	arc welder
95	inside subway car	food processor	belt sander
100	motorcycle (riding)		handheld drill
105	sporting event		table saw
110	rock band		jackhammer
115	emergency vehicle siren		riveter
120	thunderclap		oxygen torch
125	balloon popping
130	peak stadium crowd noise
135	air raid siren
140	jet engine at takeoff

I wouldn't rely on a chart like this as noise levels vary widely even for the same sort of appliance/machine.
The 75dB is probably for older small domestic vacuum cleaners.
Newer high speed vacuum cleaners make a bit more noise
For comparison, our Panasonic generates 82db at 1m distance while the Rhoomba generates ~70 bB.
Tin can shop vacs make a racket, My Ryobi generates 92bB.
I have measured dust extractors to be between 80 and 98 dB which is quite a big range

In some ways more irritating than the volume is the frequency output of some electric motors.
Angle grinders really get under my teeth.

The best thing is not to rely on your ears alone but download one of those free Apps that measure sound pressure levels. They are reasonably accurate

I have the Kratcher and I often reach for the broom rather than the Kratcher. I have my machines hooked up to a 2hp Carbatec DC so I'm not using it for the main dust and chip collection; only for cleanup and I do find that it really only removes shavings and dirt. The dust just gets blown out the back of the unit and into the air again. For the job I use it for, it is great but I wouldn't consider connecting it to my tablesaw.

Originally Posted by ian

For comparison, this web site Noise Level Chart: dB Levels of Common Sounds provides these noise levels

dBA	Example	Home & Yard Appliances	Workshop & Construction
0	healthy hearing threshold
10	a pin dropping
20	rustling leaves
30	whisper
40	babbling brook	computer
50	light traffic	refrigerator
60	conversational speech	air conditioner
70	shower	dishwasher
75	toilet flushing	vacuum cleaner
80	alarm clock	garbage disposal
85	passing diesel truck	snow blower
90	squeeze toy	lawn mower	arc welder
95	inside subway car	food processor	belt sander
100	motorcycle (riding)		handheld drill
105	sporting event		table saw
110	rock band		jackhammer
115	emergency vehicle siren		riveter
120	thunderclap		oxygen torch
125	balloon popping
130	peak stadium crowd noise
135	air raid siren
140	jet engine at takeoff

Originally Posted by BobL

I wouldn't rely on a chart like this as noise levels vary widely even for the same sort of appliance/machine.

The best thing is not to rely on your ears alone but download one of those free Apps that measure sound pressure levels. They are reasonably accurate

Bob

the point with charts like the one above is to provide some comparison of noise levels with "everyday" sources of noise.
to a lay person, 70db is largely meaningless until it is coupled with a comparison.

Using the chart I'd estimate that the noise from the dishwasher at home is considerably less than 60db because when it's running it's quite easy to carry on a conversation without the people involved needing to raise their voices. Moving up the scale, I find it impossible to conduct any thing other than a shouted conversation when SWMBO is using her vacuum cleaner, while a loud voice can be heard above the garbage disposal unit. So my estimate of SWMBO's vacuum's noise level would be above 80db but less than a lawn mower.

In terms of the OP's question, the noise levels of the three units he was looking at would seem to be around that of a running shower, whereas his current shop vac is roughly equivalent to a lawn mower.


I'm not sure where the OP is with his question.
At post #21 he seems to have picked up his bat and ball and gone home.