Thread: Best quality/value for money Shop Vac for dust extraction

Shop vacs on machinery is a bad idea not because of the fine dust, but because they can't physically move enough air. The biggest Festool vac moves about 137cfm, the biggest Makita does 127cfm, the basic 2hp unit does about 10 times that

The recommended flow for a 6" jointer it about 350cfm and a 12" thicknesser is about 500cfm, so if you get 4 big shop vacs you should be good to go...

The best recommendation is to be bothered to use the one you have.

P.S. Yes Bob, I know those numbers aren't what you actually get after all the losses along the way, but they illustrate the point.

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

The best recommendation is to be bothered to use the one you have.

Nailed it!

This OP reminds me of a man trying to bail a leaking boat.
He has a bucket but can't bothered to dig it out so he elects to use a nearby cup.

I love an easy half assed answer. Sounds like u need a 10meter length of 4" flexi. I connect my router table to the dust system with a 5 meter length, easy peasy. Just remember not trip over the damn thing!

Any chance you have enough ceiling height or attic space to move the dusty up?

Pete

No, no space in roof above as the garage shares a common wall with neighbor so the roof ends up very low over the garage.

Originally Posted by BobL

Nailed it!

This OP reminds me of a man trying to bail a leaking boat.
He has a bucket but can't bothered to dig it out so he elects to use a nearby cup.

Not really a helpful answer, I'm sure there are many in my predicament however unhelpful answers like these will just prevent anyone seeking help which as far as I was aware was the general purpose of this forum.

Once the vehicles are in the garage it is very difficult to move the 2hp dusty around as well as the hosing, I don't have room underneath the benches to run hose and I have a panel lift door above which makes suspending for the ceiling impossible.

My power tools aren't all that big. Table-top models, really. I cut and shape seashell & stone as well as chew up wood from time to time.
I run a ShopVac, One tool at a time as I need it. Band saw, scroll saw, drill press, chop saw.

ShopVac bags come in different particle qualities. If you don't know that already, you should look into it.
The "plaster fines" bags are really tight. Possibly even hard of the ShopVac motor but I rarely need to run for more than 20 minutes at a time.
I found the fine bags quite by accident. The regular sawdust bags are common here.

Originally Posted by Dazm

Not really a helpful answer, I'm sure there are many in my predicament however unhelpful answers like these will just prevent anyone seeking help which as far as I was aware was the general purpose of this forum.

Once the vehicles are in the garage it is very difficult to move the 2hp dusty around as well as the hosing, I don't have room underneath the benches to run hose and I have a panel lift door above which makes suspending for the ceiling impossible.

There are indeed many in your predicament and the same answer applies, in that shops vacs are between a factor of 4 and 10 too slow at collecting fine dust generated by WW machinery.
Shops vacs are designed to collect chips and some dust from hand held power tools and that's about it.
Like all DCs shops vacs eventually leak, and many end up spewing out more fine dust than they suck up.
Unless you are prepared to continually coat your vehicles with dust then wood working in a garage containing vehicles makes for an even greater reason to use a DC instead of a shop vac.
Even so, with the DC venting inside a shed you will still end up eventually with a coating of very fine dust over your vehicles.

About the only solution to eliminate dust with any sort of DC venting inside a shed is to use a system like a ClearVue cyclone with their Nanofilter outflow.

In your post, you say "how I need to put my dusty outside" - this is not necessary. A DC can be enclosed in an air tight box and then vented outside through a wall hole, window or by venting it under a roller door by raising the door 150 mm so a 150 mm high panel can be fitted in between the bottom of the door and the shed floors. A 150 mm duct from the DC can then be poked through the panel. This does not have to be permanent but can be put in place and removed as required. I know this is a PITA method (especially if you just want to make one or 2 cuts) but then think about all that dust in your lungs and over your vehicles. It's, as they say, "the price of doing business in a given situation".

If you are interested how about posting some photos of your garage with door up and down and let's see what the ceiling and walls look like.

I have a ClearVue MiniCV (2007 model). I have a CV1800 as well.
I have, on occaision, needed to work in my garage rather than in my shop. Shared building.
I have connected my Laguna 16" spiral head planer to the Mini and my Craftsman shop vac.
The extraction goes very well until the 20 litre (5 gal) waste bin fills. The bin size is my limitation.
The Mini CV or dust deputy do an excellent job of keeping shop vac filter element quite clean so power is not lost through a dirty filter element.
As long as you respect the limitations of the shop vac motor - they run hot - you should be ok for sometime.

Don

Originally Posted by Dazm

Ok I know I'll get all the usual responses about how I need to put my dusty outside etc but the short of the matter is that I can't. I have a 2hp Dusty from Carbatec and I just do not have the room for it, I have a car and two motorcycles in my garage/workshop and trying to store it somewhere and move it when I need it is a pain in the bum to the point where I don't use it most of the time because I can't be bothered.

I don't do a lot of machine work so I'm thinking of ditching the dusty in favour of a good shop vac, it will only ever be connected to one machine at a time.

Yes I know it won;t filter the fine particles that well but neither does my current 2hp unit when it's venting inside and most of the time it does even less as it's not turned on.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Could you fit a mid sized room filter between the end of the panel lift door (when its open) and the garage wall?
this would help to scrub some of the residual dust out of the air -- reducing your exposure time somewhat.

and YES, I get the constraints of limited space, restrictions on poking holes in the wall of the garage, etc

Originally Posted by Dazm

Not really a helpful answer, I'm sure there are many in my predicament however unhelpful answers like these will just prevent anyone seeking help which as far as I was aware was the general purpose of this forum.

Once the vehicles are in the garage it is very difficult to move the 2hp dusty around as well as the hosing, I don't have room underneath the benches to run hose and I have a panel lift door above which makes suspending for the ceiling impossible.

Possibly run the ducting along the wall even just above bench height. There is nothing written that says it must be in any particular place it just has to get the dust outside the shed. it could even run through the roof cavity if needed.

Sorry. Quantity (cfm) does not trump quality (micron dust particle size.) I don't care how you route the pipes.
Chris Parks (#12) got it right = just get the dust pumped out of your workshop.
All of it. The sub-micron shirt is the worst according to the medical people.

Don't for a minute assume that all machine filters are the same.
Smells like some here might believe that. Wrong.

Put the car and bike outside

I would and did leave the car outside but we all have different priorities. I lived in my last place for 25 years and the car was in the garage less than 2 weeks. Tools and machines in it were more important to me. Cars are just transportation to me and sat out in the wind, rain and snow while away from home, so I have no problem leaving them in the driveway when I was home. For others vehicles are their babies and are treasured more than tools. I understand that and respect it. Ideally we need to find some options that the OP can consider.