shop vac for dust collection

I posted here a few weeks ago on shop vacs and ended up getting the rigid 14 gal mainly because it was considered the quietest in the Rigid line. It is much quieter than my old yellow screamer so I am happy with that and it really sucks (in a good way). I will most likely try the muffler but I have read many mixed reviews on it. So what machines can you plug this into and have it work as dust collection. I am probably going to add a dust deputy to it. I am thinking this for what my shop has:

Delta 14" BS with 2 1/2 port. I think this will plug right up and work fine.

Delta Contractor saw. Not sure what can be done with a contractors saw. I know there are those things that mount under them that you hook the hose to but do they work? I might just use the vac to clean up after this one but that does nothing for dust.

Older Rockwell 46-111 lathe. My thought here is to add a big gulp and a section of hose behind the lathe. then plug the shop vac into it when in use. I am assuming a drop down from 4" to 2 1/2 will be needed and will work ???

I recently sold my jointer but still have the 6" Delta bench top POS for an emergency. Would have to rig something to this but it is hardly ever used as my Stanley Jointer takes care of that work.

Dewalt RAS. Older model and I would need to add something to it.

Dewalt DW733 planer. It has a 4 inch port on it but I am a little leery that dropping this down to 2 1/2 inches will not handle the load??? Any thoughts?

Smaller sanders and such. Should plug and play no problem with correct size adapter.

I have an extremely limited space and this will sit in the corner of my shop and reach everything but the lathe with a 12 foot hose. I will most likely add connectors to the tools so that the 12 foot length of hose plugs into whatever I cobble to each tool. I would of course love to get as many of these tools as I can working but some pose issues RAS/TS and the Planer might overpower it. I do think the rest are doable with some imagination. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated... John

John-
The shopvac (with a preseparator) is good for a sander, a router table, a ras, scms.

The shopvac is too small for a bandsaw, tablesaw, planer, or jointer. A proper 4"+ dc is needed to get those chips and that dust. However, a shop vac is better than nothing if getting a 4"dc is out of the question. I would keep looking on CL for one, though; they come up a lot. To use a shopvac on the t-saw, it's better to connect it above the table - either clamped to the table, or integrated into the blade guard. Same for the bandsaw: don't use the bottom wheel housing port; make a port under the table where the bottom bearings are. If yr planer has a fan that assists in blowing the chips out the back, an effective alternative is to put a 4" pipe onto the ejection port going right into a 1u bag. I have that set up, and it works extremely well. The jointer is tricky, because using it without a dc compromises performance: the chips collect under the table, and eventually start spitting back up onto the blades, which decreases the cut quality. You can use a shopvac for much of the time, but you'll need to reach in there every now and then and vac out the mess b4 it gets too much.


I would not cobble together connectors to make a network. I would rely on the wheels to move the dc from tool to tool. It will greatly improve the efficiency. I've been doing that for years, and it's not really as much a pain in the butt as I originally thought.

A lathe is a wacky beast. Even a powerful DC won't keep up with the chips and shavings that come from a lathe. However, a shopvac or DC with a 'big gulp' style hood positioned near the headstock will do a lot to minimize the dangerous dust. The big stuff can be swept up. I prefer that, actually, since it prevents frequent emptying of the dc bin.

I own a very large Craftsman that claims to produce 70 MPH winds out the backside. It sucks air very fast.... I also own a Festool Vac.

I connect the Craftsman through a small cyclone (Dust Deputy) and that really extends filter life.

I use vacuums regularly to connect to small tools such as sanders, but for the sander I prefer to use the Festool because it is easier to control air flow. For the larger vacuum, you need some way to reduce air flow you so you do nut pull the sander into the wood and leave swirls.

I connect a vacuum to router fence (shop built) and a dust collector to the router enclosure on the router table (also shop built). I have never tried to use the vacuum in a split configuration such as using one vacuum for both the router enclosure and the router fence.

I connect a vacuum to my miter saw (Festool Kapex). It seems to do a better job than my regular dust collector for this application.

I used my vacuum with my old ridgid table saw and it made a difference. When I finally purchased a larger dust collector, I stopped using the vacuum with the table saw.

The vacuum was able to keep up with my Dewalt 735 Planer, which also has a blower in it. The planer generates a bunch of chips, however, so there are frequent bucket emptying when I do that. I now use the regular dust collector for the planer. Another planer without a blower may not work with a vacuum, I can't say.

I use the vacuum with the drill press.

Off hand, I would say that it could not hurt to at least give it a try on each tool.

Thanks guys. A note with the lathe... I only really expect it to be much help with sanding and all of the dust that is spewed during that. I did not think it would have a prayer at catching all of the chips flying off of a log :).

I used a shop vac for years on a similar set of machines. I used a 4" to 2.5" reducer on my DW734 planer and it worked well enough. Just be aware that if you're using the dust deputy with the planer you'll fill up a bucket in no time...like 40 board ft or less. You might want a trash can lid separator for that one instead. With the shop vac, you're really just doing chip collection. The shop will be cleaner, but you'll still eventually notice a layer of fine dust all over everything.

I use a shop vac plumbed to my entire shop. Right now that includes a Ryobi BT3000 table saw (with 2.5" port), a router table extension on the saw (collection via downdraft box), a old-time Skil bandsaw (with 2.5" port), a Dewalt DW734 planer (2.5" port), a Ridgid oscillating belt sander (2.5" port), and some handheld routers and a biscuit joiner, etc.

I previously used it with a 16/32 drum sander (2.5" port, a Ryobi) and an Inca 410 jointer/planer.

It really suits my purposes.

I don't think I'd have any luck on a contractors table saw, without making some sort of shroud. A cabinet saw would be out, as well, unless I was able to plug every single air leak on the thing (which is a no-no with a conventional DC, but a shop vac handles this better). Still, I wouldn't want to try.

I think a key, in either instance, is to use a good air cleaner. A good air cleaner does wonders. Sometimes I do a bunch of hand sanding (you know, just sandpaper folded over in your hand) and am thankful for the air cleaner.

I use the same vac with a Clearvue Mini separator for everything except the planer (I need to rig a bigger bucket). It'll work fine however don't expect it to last forever doing DC duty. I'm on the 2nd one. First one lasted ~6yrs with moderately heavy use. My guess is you'll be wanting a separator, probably sooner rather than later. A jointer for example will fill up a bag pretty quickly. OTOH if you go bagless (filter only) you'll save the bag expense, but things that produce lots of fine dust (working MDF or heavy sanding for example) will clog the filter almost immediately. Also for use with sanders, you'll probably need a way to reduce suction since that vac will definitely pull an ROS down onto the workpiece with too much force. It can be as simple as a few holes punched in a surplus length of hose, or one of those in-line hose bleeders.