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View Full Version : repco Wet & Dry vac as a third vac?p



jack620
24th November 2011, 09:32 AM
I originally posted this in the Dust Extraction forum, but most of the guys over there seem to be woodies, so I didn't get much feedback. Thought I'd try my luck here.

I think I need a dedicated vac for sucking up the swarf from my lathe. I have a Festool CT33 dust extractor for my woodwork tools, but the hose has a small diameter and the dust bags cost a fortune. I'd like to use this vac only for sawdust.

Repco currently have on sale for $99 a 30L stainless steel wet and dry vac with a 1400W motor ("supervac" brand). Does anyone have one of these who can comment on the quality? I know it isn't going to be great quality for that price, but as long as it isn't junk I might get one.

Chris

Edit: Sorry for the confusing title. My other "vac" is a large dust extractor, hence the Repco would make it my third vac. You can't edit thread titles. :-

Bryan
24th November 2011, 12:14 PM
I have a cheap vac and it chokes on swarf. It has edges at both ends of the hose that catch stuff, as well as prominent ribbing in the hose itself. I think maybe you need a very smooth passage for swarf.

jack620
24th November 2011, 01:16 PM
OK, I might have to stick with my current method of brushing the lathe down with a paint brush and scooping the swarf up with my hands.

Anorak Bob
24th November 2011, 04:25 PM
I have a 30 litre Shop Vac, US made, noisy as buggery, that I have used for about 3 years for sucking up swarf. A lot of dry cast iron and a lot of oily 4140. Dragged it into the lounge room on Monday to suck up a bucket of sand and lime I had raked out of the cracks in the 80 year old wall which it did effortlessly.

I think it cost about 140 dollars when Bunnings sold them. In typical Bunnings fashion, they have been replaced by a lesser Chinese product.

With a soft rubber Nilfisk nozzle fitted it can suck swarf out of chucks and other relatively inaccessible places.

Worth having.

BT

Jekyll and Hyde
24th November 2011, 07:49 PM
I use a $90 20L (i think) Ozito vac from Bunnings for workshop cleanup - for the price, and the 3 year warranty (a year more than the cheapest Ryobi!), I'm not too fussed if it dies. Long bits of swarf do tend to get stuck in the hose though, so I grab all the longer bits by hand, drop them in the bin, then vac up what remains (anything under about an inch and a half long). Also used it to vac all the sludge out of the bottom of my mill coolant tank (in the base), but I won't be doing that again - it was dripping oily crud everywhere for weeks (out of the hose). Also meant that all the chips of metal I vacuumed up later stuck to the sludge inside the hose... :doh:

All things considered, pretty darn useful. Heavy to pick up when its 3/4 full of cast iron chips though!

jack620
24th November 2011, 10:09 PM
Thanks fellas

Pete F
25th November 2011, 09:06 AM
I have a 30 litre Shop Vac, US made, noisy as buggery, that I have used for about 3 years for sucking up swarf.
BT

Yeah what is it with American tools, why do they always seem to be SO loud? Especially vacs, there's no good reason they should be loud.

Anyway, around here I have a few little domestic vacs I normally use, but they're dry only so will get another wet/dry vac. The one that gets used like Bob's though is a little POS home vac that was left behind when we bought the place. The vendors couldn't be bothered packing it. I seriously can't kill that thing, no matter how much I try. Like Bob's, oils swarf is its food of choice and it eats it by the bucket load! Occasionally I even remember to empty the dust bag.

The moral of the story is I think anything will do. If you want to get real fancy do a search of DIY cyclonic separators. I have a Triton one I use on my compound mitre saw, but there's nothing fancy about them. They can easily be made up with some form of container and a few plumbing fittings.

Pete

jack620
25th November 2011, 11:53 AM
Thanks Pete,
I'm going to buy a Dust Deputy cyclonic separator from carbatec next week for my Festool vac, but I would like to keep the wood & metal waste products separate.

For those interested you can now get the Dust Deputy on its own for $69:

http://www.carbatec.com.au/dust-deputy-diy-kit_c21945

Fit your own dust container and you're away.

Pete F
25th November 2011, 01:05 PM
Chris, from what I've seen you can get some pretty decent results just by getting a large bucket and making up a plywood top. Use a hole saw to cut a hole right in the centre to connect to your vac, and another hole on the perimeter connected to the hose to the machine. Get some suitable sized plumbing fittings to accept your hose sizes and away you go. Some say to put an elbow on the inside to angle the airflow into the bucket. It wouldn't do any harm, and if/when I make another I will probably do that. However the Triton version doesn't have that, and the air will naturally spin by itself anyway. You could probably make up several of these for different areas for the price of the commercial "dust deputy", and then just share your Festool. Nice vac BTW, I have a Kapex and their rail saw system, once you've had Festool it's hard to look at other power tools the same. Sigh, as always you get what you pay for.

Anyway, that's the grand plan around here. Make up a couple more of these cyclonic buckets, and leave one attached to the grinder set up as a permanent dust extraction system (that one I'll probably make all metal though), at least one more as a floater, just share the vacuum one shop vac. That's if I can get my existing ones to die! I used to have the Triton bucket on wheels, but these days I just leave it attached to the Kapex.

Pete

jack620
3rd December 2011, 06:10 PM
Pete,
thanks for the advice, but being time poor I decided to just buy the Dust Deputy. I've got to say it's fantastic. As you can see in the photo the Festool hoses fit snugly over the ports in the DD. I mounted it on a 350x350x350 box made of 16mm MDF. The lid is currently sealed with masking tape, but I'll fit some adhesive backed foam tape and a couple of clips later. Four large surplus castors mean the thing just follows me around the workshop. I only have to move the Festool vac once to cover the whole workshop.

One thing I have discovered is that if you want to vacuum up swarf you need a big diameter hose. The small Festool one clogs very easily.

I can now vacuum my shop floor without fear of going broke buying Festool vac bags. I reckon I still need a cheap wet & dry vac with a 2" hose for the lathe tho.

Regards,
Chris

Pete F
3rd December 2011, 07:14 PM
I like the Festool stripe and castors Chris :) Regarding the Festool hoses, I need to get some more. Am I correct in recalling the Festool ones are smooth bored on the inside, with the corrugations just on the outside?

Pete

jack620
3rd December 2011, 07:47 PM
Yeh, the castors were a lucky salvage off an old computer desk. Not a bad match. The automotive masking tape was the first roll of tape that came to hand (honest!). I think the hoses are smooth internally. Probably why they're so damned expensive.

eskimo
5th December 2011, 10:47 AM
One thing I have discovered is that if you want to vacuum up swarf you need a big diameter hose. The small Festool one clogs very easily.



Ahh yes, but going to larger dia hose you loose velocity..needed to keep the debri flowing within the exhaust stream (pipe/tube or what ever, before it reaches the collection bag/bucket/box)

you need pressure drop and velocity ..its a combination of both to suit the diameter of pipe/hose, and type of debri..eg wood shavings could get away with lower velocities as compared to same size steel shavings...then you can add in a whole lot of other factors.....it just gets too hard...

it can be done .... that is design a unit which will generally do what you want..but eventually you'll block it up....the bigger the better, but it comes at a cost!!...so to will be be the necessary labour (yours) to clear it when it blocks up.....

my advice (not that it means much) ....stick with what works best for you