Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
With all the sanding Ive been doing, Im thinking of building a small dust extraction system, Utilizing a shop vac and a dust separator...there are many homemade versions online, and they all seem to work on the same basic principle, (cyclonic air)...
Im just not sure if I need to get a huge powerful shop vac, or if a smaller one with less HP, will be just as good? Im basically going to hook the vacuum hose to the dust port on my sanders.
Dust is pretty lightweight, so Im not sure a big 5-6HP vacuum is needed, plus the smaller the shop vac, the easier it is to move around.
For a small random orbit sander, a regular shop vac will be fine. You don't need anything fancy. A cyclone is only needed for chip separation, like with a planer or jointer. Figure on cleaning the filter more often than you need to empty the bucket. Some people swear by encasing the filter in an old t-shirt. I've never done that, but it might help with cleaning the filter.
For a small random orbit sander, a regular shop vac will be fine. You don't need anything fancy. A cyclone is only needed for chip separation, like with a planer or jointer. Figure on cleaning the filter more often than you need to empty the bucket. Some people swear by encasing the filter in an old t-shirt. I've never done that, but it might help with cleaning the filter.
Sorry for not being specific, this is for wood sanding...Well, its not so much the filter, vacuuming up really fine material, it will blow alot of it out the exhaust side, and make more of a mess, the homemade versions Ive seen on Youtube, the saw dust actually collects in a separate 5 gallon buck, (not in the shop vac), the shop vac is just used for the suction.
I have looked at Festool and some other 'dedicated' wood working dust vacuums, but they are much more than im wanting to spend, besides a lot of those high end vacuums, only work with that brand of sander. Im using a Milwaukee random orbital and I also have a small corner type finish sander, (the smaller one actually leaves more dust behind, (it does have a dust bag on it, but its pretty much useless), even the Milwaukee dust bag isnt that great.
Dust Deputy kit that fits on a 5gal bucket is a good start. As has been previously stated, cyclonic extractors remove larger/heavier chips and dust- it will slow down the filter/bag replacement.
Attaching a hose to the sander can become cumbersome, and effect the usefulness of a palm sander. If you’re sanding a lot of small pieces/parts, I would seriously consider buying/building a downdraft table.
As you add more machines and expand the dust extraction, you can go to a larger dust extraction machine/cyclonic system. I would strongly suggest if possible to mount it on the exterior of the building under cover- you’ll save your hearing for another decade!
If you want to do some deeper research- there are plenty of websites/forums about carpentry/shops/tools etc. Router Forums, Garage Journal, yada, yada…
I built one very cheaply that works great - a Home Depot ‘bucket-vac’ (using a used 5-gal paint pail) connected to a 55-gal blue poly barrel (removable lid with 2 holes - in / out) then a 25 foot pool cleaning hose to the ‘dust source’. Works great and lets me put the vac/barrel outside- which is the most important part of the setup. Instead of ‘filter paper’ on the vac head, I used a piece of fiberglass screen material held in place with a med bungy cord.
A time or two I needed to extend it another 20 or 30 feet and did that with some sch 40 2” pvc pipe I had laying around - ample duct tape at the joints for the temporary setup.
Best part of the setup is that when the vac-head finally wore out after 5 years of thoroughly abusing it - for only $22 ( on sale) & 2 minutes I popped a brand new ‘bucket vac’ vac-head on the setup!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
