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Hi Folks!

I'm looking for a shop vac that I can use it in place of dust collection...that is until I can have shop of my own and purchase dust collection system. Small dust collection system will probably do me no good right now anyways because I work out of Airplane hanger that is pretty big.

It will be used for collecting dust from a small bandsaw, drill press, belt/disc sander, and drum sander(don't have it yet).

Having said, what shop vac do you use and perhaps recommend?

Thanks, David

HESH, I already know what you have.

I have the 12 gallon shop vac. Very powerful, but also noisy. I tried it with a cyclone type dust collector with mixed results (marginal performance of cyclone i think). Now I don the dust mask and turn on the
JDS Airtech air filter.

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

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Another vote for the Fein, QUIET, powerful, and auto switching. Hard to beat....... Mikey

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The Biggest Little City, Nevada
www.hammondguitars.com
I love building guitars!

I have a 1.5HP Dust Collector, plus two 12-gallon shop vacs. One is a Craftsman that I bought about three years ago for about $90 - I use it primarily as a dust collector with the 14" bandsaw and a couple of the benchtop tools that have 2" ports. The second is a Ridgid that I bought at Home Depot for $30 when they had it on sale. I use this one for general cleanup. The dust collector has 4" hoses going to the Table saw, PowerMax 10-20 drum sander, and the DeWalt DW735 planer. I also have a Grizzly air cleaner that hasn't been installed yet.

--Steve

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---Steve

I've definitely been very happy with my Festool CT33 so I'd have to throw in a vote for it.

I think something has to be said in favor of smaller footprint vacs in general. I have a small shop vac I found in the street, that someone threw away I guess because the top didn't stay attached too well. It's weaker than this craftsman I have but it works fine after putting a bungie cord on it. The big one is a pain in the u no what and I hardly use it any more. Go figure.

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"Preoccupation with an effect gives it power and enhances the error"
from "Your Owner's Manual" by Burt Hotchkiss.

I've not heard of the Fein - is there only one model? Or what model is yours?

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

Festool has auto-switching too with a delayed turn off of about 5 seconds but I was not supposed to weigh-in here so I will go back into stifle mode......

I have a Shop-Vac Industrial model, but an older one. It has been great. A little noisy, but the suction is outstanding, and it sports, according to the specs, about 165 CFM. The new ones are 185 CFM. An auto switching capability is available at Sears for about $20.00. It has the on/off delay and everything. You can also plug a light into it at the same time with the same delay. With the addition of a ClearStream Gortex filter, the Shop Vac is Hepa clean too. Then if you add a Dust Devil, or a ClearVue Mini, you probably won't have to change/wash the filter more often than every couple of months. I have the auto switch, but I choose to use a remote control starter. That way I'm not having to unplug and plug in anything but the hose. Disadvantage would be that it is a bit large, and somewhat noisy, but not bad. The industrial models have a diffusion type of exhaust that helps with the noise.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I have the Festool CT33 and love it. But bear in mind, a shop vac is not a dust collector. They are designed to do different things. A shop vac - even an excellent one like the Festool - will work well enough for some things (like a 14" band saw, for example), but not for others, such as a drum sander. I read on this forum that a Festool shop vac will work on a Jet/Performax 10-20 drum sander. I tried it. It did not work. Dust was spewing out of the sander. That not only makes a mess and contaminates my air, but it will make the paper clog up faster. Shop vacs don't pull anywhere near the volume of air to be dust collectors in applications where a dust collector is what is really needed.

But get the Festool shop vac, anyway. It rocks! Quiet, powerful, awesome machine. Worth every penny.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

If you want a dust collector that you can wheel around from machine to machine, I would suggest the type of thing described in this article:

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ ... x?id=25263

I have a Jet unit of this type, and it does the job. It's a bit cumbersome to wheel around the shop every time I want to use a different machine (I will upgrade to a real dust collection system, with an Oneida collector ducted to all my machines, as soon as I can afford to), but it is a dust collector and it will work with all my machines, including the drum sander. I thought it might be nice to use the Festool vac for more dust collection duties, since it's easier to wheel around and does a bang-up job filtering out tiny particles, but I quickly discovered its limitations (which are the same limitations all shop vacs have) when it comes to trying to fill the role of dust collector. Ya gotta have them CFMs, and even the best shop vacs, like the Festool, don't pull nearly enough CFMs.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Well Todd that has not been my experience and a couple of days ago I used my Performax 10-20 to thickness over 10 tops in a row and the Festool CT-22 kept my entire shop squeaky clean.

It helps to start with a new bag and to vacuum out the Performax especially inside the drum fins after every top and with these things done it works great for me.

Since you are not getting these results I am wondering if you have the larger diameter, optional Festool hose and not the green one that comes with the machines? The green hose is to attach Festool system tools which is why the machines don't come with cleaning attachments and not a proper vac hose, it's too small and restrictive. Also, in the dust port of a 10-20 are cross pieces that tend to clog with spruce. If you don't clean these out well no amount of dust collection will work well with a 10-20.

134 CFM is plenty for a Performax 10-20 provided that nothing is restricting the CFMs, clean bag, using the Performax as it should be used by not taking off more than .005 - .008ish in a single pass, correct hose diameter, and keeping the thickness sander clean during and after every use.

When I bought my Festool from Woodcraft I attended a demonstration of the Festool "dust extractor." At Woodcraft they had it hooked to a 10-20 and were hoarking off wood and the vac/dust extractor handled it like a champ. This is why I bought it - it was an impressive demonstration.....

"Hoarking"? I don't believe I've ever seen that!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I run a couple Feins for cleanup normally with HEPA filters which I believe are 0.5 micron.
Anything less fine in the filter department is putting invisible dust particles back into the air.
(The kind that get into the lungs)
Problem with this sub-micron filtration is that is plugs quickly.
I believe the Heshtone Immaculate Shop vacs have a "shaker handle" to clear the filter.
Wish the Fein had that feature as they are an otherwise great performing (and quiet) vac.
Perhaps need to install some Dust Deputies?
Nelson Palen

Right-you-are Nelson - the handle is on the back of the machine and clears the filters.

How often, Hesh, do you have to "shake it"? (The handle, that is)
I'm being serious here, will it run for quite a while between shakes?
Nelson

Hi Nelson - Yes the handle that clears the filters needs to only be pulled in and out perhaps once every 10-20 minutes of continuous use or if I notice that the machine is not sucking well which rarely happens if the bag is not full.

Here is a pic of the handle - it's the large green thing:

Hesh, the one time I tried using my 10-20 with the Festool vac (mine is a CT22 as well, by the way, not a CT33 as I had said above), the only thing I did differently from everything you said is I didn't clean out the cross pieces in the dust port of the 10-20. There may well have been some clogging there, and that may explain why it didn't work for me. I haven't been in the habit of cleaning that out as regularly as I should, because it is not an obvious issue when I use my Jet dust collector - that is, even when there is some clogging there, the dust collector pulls plenty of air through to take all the dust away with no problem. Thanks to your reminder, though, I'll be more vigilant about keeping that cleaned out, so the dust collector can do the best job possible.

So, I'm glad to hear that the Festool vac is working well for you with the 10-20. I have to say, though, that I would still be reluctant to recommend it to others for that purpose. I can't say for sure, but I suspect that even if you're not getting dust coming out as you sand, that the Festool vac is just barely pulling enough CFMs to keep the dust moving out the dust port. If so, it may not really be adequate to do the best job of reducing loading of the paper, which is the other important role of a dust collector on a drum sander. Even the smallest portable dust collector I know of pulls 500 CFMs. The amount of CFMs the Festool vac pulls is really very little compared to a dust collector, even if it's among the highest CFMs for a shop vac.

That's my two cents.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Todd unless I am missing something you didn't answer my question which hose you have for your Festool. I have two, the green 1" that comes with the machine and the silver, optional hose with about a 1.5" ID at the accessory end coupling. If You are attempting to use the green hose with a 10-20 there is no doubt in my mind that it will not work well - the green hose probably restricts nearly half the CFM's of the machine and is intended for direct connection to Festool system hand tools.

The hose diameter is critical to one's success when using the CT-22 dust extractor with a small thickness sander as are the other house-keeping things previously mentioned.

This combo, the 10-20 and CT-22 work great for me and also provide an attractive solution for folks with small shops or shops in the living areas of their homes. As such the recommendation from me stands and I won't hesitate to recommend this combo to folks in the future. I am sorry that your mileage varied.

BTW I had a 500 CFM Jet dust collector, tried it with the Performax and determined that the Festool with lower CFM worked better for me so I got rid of the Jet.

Yeah, Hesh, I was using the larger hose. That was one of the things I meant when I said "the only thing I did differently from everything you said is I didn't clean out the cross pieces in the dust port of the 10-20".

Anyway, we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one and go on our merry way.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Fair enough Todd.