Shop vac recommendations

[chucketn]

My recycled house type upright vacuumbit the dust today. The armature is burnt and the brushes are aboutgone. I need some recommendations for a replacement for the shop.Mostly metal work so needs to be powerful enough to suck up swarf,but not get it into the workings.

I intend to build a cyclone typeseparator to put inline with the vac to help prevent metal dustgetting into the motor . What is the minimum power required? Will 3HP be enough?

On a budget of course! I have acollection of tools and hoses saved from various other vacuums so Ican adapt down to 1 1/2” accessories. I'm looking at 3 hp ShopVacmodel from Wally World. Around $60.

What are your favorites? Anyone build asimple cyclone separator?

Chuck

 

[Tin Falcon]

IMHO a 3hp vac is plenty . any shp vac should be good.

as far a building a cyclone separator

http://www.woodcraft.com/product/2021015/26326/oneida-diy-molded-dust-deputy-cyclone.aspx

this one is $40 bolt on a trash can kitty liter tub bucket bareel whatever.

this one fits like a lid on a five gallon plastic pail . $25


http://www.woodcraft.com/product/2004310/8939/mini-dust-collection-separator.aspx

thaey also have third one that is a trash can lid.

tin

 

[portlandron]

Don't go with "SHOP VAC" brand. They will not sell/supply repair parts you need to purchase a complete motor unit if you have any problem

 

[Sshire]

IMHO I'd ONLY buy a Shop VAC. Their customer service is second too none. Never a question about replacing parts. Even some out of warranty.
My 2 cents but I don't think I'd fault a brand because they won't sell every individual part. Since we don't know how most companies do business, it's difficult to understand why we'd have to get full assemblies instead of the 50 cent widget that we need. We do live in a disposable society. Fortunately, we (forum members) CAN fix stuff and make the 50 cent parts because we have thousands of dollars invested in machinery and tooling, and countless hours invested in learning to use said machines.
Most people's home toolkits consist of a screwdriver and hammer.
Rant over.

 

[aarggh]

I can attest to the "Dust Deputy", the opaque cyclonic unit in Tin's post. It is a lifesaver, although in OZ they are $200, they are fantastic! I use mine for the cnc machines, as well as the mill and lathe, and general vacuuming/cleaning up. Virtually nothing ends up going into the dust extractor. And experimenting I've found with mine I don't need a massive amount of suction, I've been able to turn my dust extractor down to around 25-30% power, and it still works fine for all the machines. When researching the various models on the market to buy, I found a number of shop tests from various woodworkers/machinists that consistently showed the Dust Deputy to be the highest performer. It's worth it's weight in gold, it's just a brilliant unit!

cheers, Ian

 

[jack620]

Another vote for the Dust Deputy, although I only paid $67 for mine in Oz. Who did you buy yours from Ian?

 

[MachineTom]

In 40+ years of using shop vacuums, I've worn out two Sears Craftsman vacs. Although the second was actually, blown up by an employee, using it to suck out gas vapors from a fuel tank.

So the third one is 16 gallon with a 2.5" hose. Strongly suggest that you use the 2.5" hose the 1.5 will drive you crazy with chips jamming the hose, The big hose will jam, but it takes more, and clears much easier. Chips do not go through the motor or fan on a canister type vac, so that is not an issue. Also if the vac has the big hose, you should not use the little hose as it does not flow as much air as the vac wants to pull.

One of the things about Sears products is you can get parts without difficulty for quite a few years. The Cyclone helps with sawdust, not sure its really needed with metal chips since so much less volume is generated. Just think a saw kerf in a 2 x4, .130 wide 1.5 x 3.5 a saw cut in metal .030 wide .250 x 2, Anyone here regularly cut 2 x 4 steel? not likely.

 

[chucketn]

I am revisiting building a cyclone as metal chips/dust were the demise of my house type upright in the shop. Interesting that you recommend the bigger hose. I would have thought choking the 2 1/2" hose down to 1 1/2"-1 1/4" hose would have increased pickup power. Looks like a standard shop vac from Lowes with a home built cyclone will be the answer.
Thanks everyone for their input.

Chuck

 

[Tin Falcon]

if you do a lot of cast iron the dust deputy should come in handy . and it will certainly keep most of the dirt out of the vac.
tin

 

[aarggh]

Another vote for the Dust Deputy, although I only paid $67 for mine in Oz. Who did you buy yours from Ian?

Carba-tec (which I'm not overly enthused about), I tried to get it from Rockler or another supplier, and they referred me back to Carba-tec as the distributors. $200 was just an absolute rip-off, but between that and the Festool refill bags, I had no choice really. I just love the unit though, saves me having to periodically vacuum out my Festool dust extractor with my El-cheapo Ryobi to save on bags!

cheers, Ian

 

[jack620]

I got mine from Carba-Tec too?? I also have a Festool vac. The cost of bags in Oz was the reason for getting the cyclone.

 

[MADJACK]

I have one of the larger home depot shop vacs and it works great for me.

 

[itowbig]

In 40+ years of using shop vacuums, I've worn out two Sears Craftsman vacs. Although the second was actually, blown up by an employee, using it to suck out gas vapors from a fuel tank.

.

Ok what kinda knuckle head did u hire . used it for gas vapors WOW what a maroon

 

[Ca-g]

I bought a Shop Vac a few years ago from Bunnings. Plenty of suck, but after a short time the motor rotated inside enough to pull its leads off. I fixed this but the cost of the filters is about 60% of the original cost of the vacuum. Bunnngs no longer have the filters so when this one is gone I will need to buy another vacuum. Something without filters or bags would be nice...

 

[ConductorX]

I got a 5 gallon Shop Vac (brand) from my company for my 5 year anniversary present. As an anniversary present I thought "This Sucks!!" It still works great. I use it mostly for dry work but it works good for water too.

BTW I now have 22 years with the company. My 20 year gift was a framed 4x5 picture of a gas station, that gift really sucks.

"G"

 

[Tin Falcon]

Was in Delaware this morning and stopped by the woodcraft store. BTW a well stocked store for woodworkers . Many very nice but expensive tools as well as more moderately priced imports.

I purchased the DIY version of the dust deputy. It is the cyclone separator only and a nice little instruction manual.this is the $40 one so have to provide hardware gasket container etc.


The kit comes with a container and all the small parts. and is $90

Tin

 

[portlandron]

I don't like Shop Vac brand. They will not sell repair parts you have to by a complete new motor/head assemble if you only need a switch or brushes.

 

[Tin Falcon]

Don you said the same thing in a post 4 months ago!!!

A caravat on the dust deputy.

you will have to buy some hose and adapters to go with it.
standard small dust hose is 2 1/2 inch and the DD fittings are two inch so looks like another trip to Delaware.
10 ft of clear hose is on sale for $16 and adapters are a couple bucks each.
Tin

 

[ShopShoe]

I bought a Shop Vac brand vacuum over 30 years ago and it died after five years of heavy use picking up just about everything imaginable. I was upset that it didn't last. Back then it cost me 30 dollars. I figured I got lots more value from my 30 dollars than any other option would cost me. I have since owned eight shop vacs and bought three more for places I worked. some were not branded "Shop Vac" but were identical in every way. So they die. I consider that I get value out of them while they are alive. I have also fixed a few and have combined parts here and there and made accessories for them that the company doesn't sell.

The cheaper plastic ones are often on sale around here and that's where and when I'll buy. They sell a heavy-duty stainless-steel unit that I have been tempted to buy, but I haven't because it's too big and I'd trip over it in my shop. It's probably still the same motor and a 50-cent switch inside.

I have no doubt the Festool and the Porter-Cable and other units designed to work with woodworking tools are well worth it, but for the metal shop I can't see it.

Currently I have three shop vacuums: One in the shop set up with foam filter and finer over-filter and with about an inch of oil absorber in the bottom used to vacuum the metal shop and clean the car interiors. (the oil absorbant is NOT because I suck up flammable material, but to make cleaning the tank easier: when I dump it out I am left with a clean tank bottom.) In the house, another Shop Vac is used for cleaning wherever the carpet vacuum won't reach and for other utility uses. That one has an aftermarket pleated HEPA filter so it doesn't belch dust back out when we're cleaning (which is a major downside to all of the basic shop vacuums as they are sold.) Vacuum Three is reserved for cleaning up large wet spills. It only has the foam filter.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope it is helpful.

--ShopShoe

 

[chucketn]

I'm supprised this thread is still getting replies. I guess cause I didn't update with what I got.
I bought a large, 16qt I think, Shop-Vac unit at Lowe's and bought the 3 yr waranty protection. I mounted it on a home made cart, with a home made 5 gal. bucket version of the cyclone dust separator. It seems to work great. I use it for swarf as well as wood shavings and sawdust, and ordinary garage dirt.
I added some cast iron scrap to the cyclone just to give it enough weight to resist the hose pulling it off the cart. The clyclone id made with 1 1/2" pvc plumming parts, an elbow and straight coupling.
After several months of use, the 5 gal bucket is over half full, and the vac canister has about a cup of fine dust and some paper from a shredder I tore appart to unjam. the canister has some very fine dust on it like a houshold vac heppa filter would collect. Vac power is still high, though I do get some bearing noise when it first starts.
I haven't emptied the cyclone yet because I think I sucked up some center drills in it.
Some day i'll empty it on some newspaper and sift through the junk before dumping it.
Chuck