Reduce Vacuum Force?

[Bill Miltner]

I have a Fein Turbo II vac that I use with my handheld sanders. The problem is that it wants to suck the RO sander down tight to the worksurface and that impedes the sanding action.. Has anyone figured out an easy way to reduce the vacuum force of a shopvac in some sort of variable manner?

The only idea I have come up with is to put a splitter on the hose and partially obstruct the flow through the "other" inlet, maybe with a blastgate.

[Brian Vaughn]

You don't have to actually install a splitter. A simple hole in the hose, adjusted to be the proper size (slowly, of course) would work fine. The hole could even be oriented so that it helps pick up any dust that might escape the ROS itself.

[Bill Miltner]

Thanks. I am not crazy about punching holes in the hose. I like thing neat and crisp. Tried punching a hole in the coupling and then having a movable cover ( a piece of PVC pipe with a section cut out) over it, but couldn't get it to work very well as the PVC pipe kept moving around and then falling off.

[Neil Brooks]

In theory, then, you could split the hose, install in inline Tee, and put a cap on the "free" end of the Tee.

Then, you could cut a hole in the cap. By simply having TWO caps, you could restore the hose to -- functionally -- its original, intact status, by switching caps.

[Noah Katz]

How about a router speed control.

Will be quieter, easier to adjust, and save electricity.

[Jerry White]

"Borrowed this" from another forum. This shows the "Y" connection, a standard Fein part. For full vacuum, leave the tape over the hole in the cap....to reduce vacuum, remove tape.

[Bill Miltner]

Noah, can a speed controller be used with a vac? Is it the universal motor that allows its use?

[Bill Miltner]

Several very good ideas, thanks a lot.

[Wes Grass]

When I bought mine they sent me a short length of rubber tubing to stick inline at the sander. The point was to cut a hole in the side of it to bleed off excessive vacuum.

I got my vac from Coastal Tool, but it was 10+ years ago. Might be some chance they have this available still. Might be able to find something at a hardware store that would fit. Otherwise, you'd have to check with various mail order places or McMaster-Carr.

[Josiah Bartlett]

One thing to be careful of- you want the highest speed airflow you can get in the hose, to prevent clogging. A bleed hole will work better if it is close to the tool rather than back at the vac.

I wouldn't put a speed control on the vac motor- it is likely to overheat if it can't run its cooling fan. Vac motors aren't designed to run slow.

[Noah Katz]

Noah, can a speed controller be used with a vac? Is it the universal motor that allows its use?

Yes and yes.

Not sure if overheating is an issue, since less heat is produced at lower voltage/speed.

Good point about the airflow, however, especially if you're using a cyclone separator.