Mike do you have a DD front end on the sanding station also? Which model Rigid vac are you using? Is the vac loud? My old, 1970's Craftsman screams. I would like to retire it but it works.Originally Posted by Mike Henderson
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Mike do you have a DD front end on the sanding station also? Which model Rigid vac are you using? Is the vac loud? My old, 1970's Craftsman screams. I would like to retire it but it works.
Last edited by George Bokros; 01-12-2017 at 3:25 PM.
George
Making sawdust regularly, occasionally a project is completed.
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I don't have a dust deputy in front of my vac for the sanding station, only for my miter saw. I have a bag in the vac as well as the regular filter.
The vac isn't too loud. When you go to Home Depot and look at the Ridgid vacs, they used to have a label on each one indicating the noise level - I don't know if they still do that. I chose a vac that was quieter. It's much quieter than a Shop Vac (brand) vac that I also had but got rid of because of the noise.
My set up is several years old so I don't know if the model number would be valid today.
Mike
[To give you an indication of the noise, I can't hear the vac over the noise of the sander. If I want to check if the vac is running, I take the hose off the sander and feel for suction.]
Last edited by Mike Henderson; 01-13-2017 at 10:19 AM.
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
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Thanks Mike. I will check them out at HD. Interesting that they do not post the decibels on their website.
George
Making sawdust regularly, occasionally a project is completed.
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I have the Fein Turbo II that I installed the HEPA upgrade in. I LOVE THIS THING!!!
I built a rolling cabinet for it compete with an Oneida Dust Deputy, storage for all the tools (and even a landing pad for my sander), a hose wrap, and a built-in retractable extension cord.
It is quiet and powerful, the two things you want in a vac. Not to mention that it has a built-in tool activation. Just a great all-around machine.
Vac-Cart 1.jpg Vac-Cart 2.jpg Vac-Cart 3.jpg Vac-Cart 4.jpg Vac-Cart 5.jpg Vac-Cart 6.jpg
I had to hunt to find a retractable extension cord where the retractable part is the "male" end instead of the "female" end but it works great.
Connecting the vac to the Dust Deputy the way I wanted to took some finagling. I wanted to be able to use the standard clip-on Fein hose. But, even though Fein shows the Dust Deputy used with the Fein hose, they had no adapter for it. The technical department didn't realize the marketing department was showing it that way and said they were going to have them change the advertising, although I don't know if they ever did. So... What I did was buy the "female" component part from Fein, then I used epoxy and amalgamating tape to adhere and seal the part to the Dust Deputy inlet. It works great.
Last edited by Stew Hagerty; 01-12-2017 at 5:10 PM.
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Stew Hagerty
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They didn't have the decibels posted - just a rating that indicated the relative loudness. I suppose the reason they don't post dB is that there may be many ways to measure it and a competitor might use a different technique to appear quieter.
Mike
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
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I have 5g ShopVac and a 12g Ridgid. The ShopVac is just as loud as the Ridgid. Both are hooked up to a dust deputy. The Ridgid stays put at my face frame station. The ShopVac is on a mobile cart like Stew's. I used 1-1/2" PVC to hard plumb the line to the shop vac so the fines travel a little easier.
The 5g is a cheap vac ($63 on Amazon) and gets used a LOT. It's was on for about 7 hrs total today sanding doors. I've had it since 2015. When we burn it up, I'll just buy another. Using a Festool 150/5 ROS, we sand doors 120 then 180. We can sand a couple hundred doors before we need to dump a 5gal bucket of fine dust (wish I had a widebelt, but it's on the list). About every 2 months we clean the filter. It's usually dirty enough to only look discolored.
-Lud
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I also use a Rigid shop vac sucking through a dust deputy. It isn't a big one, maybe 6 gallons. It pulls about 8 amps. It has a quasi HEPA filter (HEPA fabric but not HEPA rated) and an auto-on switch, this one:
http://www.rockler.com/i-socket-110m...FdM8gQodquMFxg
I plugged a power strip into the tool side of the switch so I can leave several tools plugged in at once. I switch between a 20 foot 2.5 inch hose ($20 at Home Depot) and a Bosch 5 meter hose. The 2.5 inch is better for vacuuming, small scraps do not plug it like they do the smaller hose setup. It is also what I use for the table saw and router table. CMS, RAS, sanders, and track saw get the Bosch hose.
I built a little cart for the shop vac and DD but it doesn't move much. The hoses are long enough to reach most everything in my small shop.
If you will use the new vacuum with quiet tools the db rating of the vacuum may make a difference. All the tools I use with it - except a Festool hand sander - are noiser than the vacuum. So I don't see the point of a quieter vacuum. But I look at the Fein's sometimes.
If you get a nicer vacuum that has the auto-on switch, make sure it's rating is compatible with the tools you will plug into it. I don't remember the brand but I noticed in a review a rating that would handle a sander but not a track saw. The switch I linked above will work with 15A tools. I do it. It will do that on a 20A circuit. The two tools I am hooking to that circuit (the vac and my track saw, table saw or CMS) are rated to pull over 20A but the switch apparently staggers the startup such that it works.
Last edited by Jim Dwight; 01-12-2017 at 6:49 PM.
[OP]
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Well this thread exploded ! Thanks for all the replies. Seems that I either pay big bucks for festool or fein or figure out my own system by assembling various components.The uses that I most want this for are small power tools (ROS,possibly a router if I build a sub base for edge work ,etc. ) The other main use I need is for clean up in homes where I do finish work and renovations. For this use quiet is far better,also a vac that does not spew dust back out helps keep customers happier. So no one has used a bosch vac ? I remember a review somewhere that they had a filter shaker that was supposed to work well. My current vac is a 20 year old craftsman that refuses to die,I think I may hasten it's demise with my shotgun. Thanks,Mike.
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The only thing I remember from the FWW vac test was the Bosch was over 10dB louder than the Festool and the Festool had low CFM, mainly since the Festool comes with a smaller hose (27mm) than the Bosch (~35mm). The 27mm hose is perfect for a sander but a 35 or 50mm hose is better for some other tools.
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Festool is the best with Fein a very close second, not enough difference to matter and I own one of each. These also have the tool switch which means you don't have to turn on the vac, just the tool such as a random orbit sander.
But the best value by far is the Ridgid from Home Depot. Make sure it says "SNR" on the unit, that stands for Scroll Noise Reduction on the unit and it is much quieter than their other vac. This is a well made unit and if I needed another this is what I would get, for 1/3 to 1/4 of the price of the Festool or Fein.
With any of these vacs you will have to spend some more to make them a full service unit with a cyclone and a cart.
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I called Ridgid about 6 years or more back when I had to replace a shop vac to check on noise and the 14 gal was the quiet one at that time. I suggest you call to check with them now for later design. I have a Dust Deputy ahead of the shop vac that works very well to remove the majority of dust and all shavings ahead of the vac such that I clean vac filter about every 5 times I empty the DD bucket and vac filter is still pretty clean. I do not have a lot of sanding dust going to the shop vac since I also have a Oneida cyclone for a lot of the sanding dust. I would recommend a DD ahead of any shop vac.
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I went through the same as you.
I have a Fein Turbo 1, as it was quieter/smaller/cheaper than the Festool at the time.
Later, I bought a used Nilfisk Attix 8 from ebay as I wanted something with better cord control/HEPA than the Fein. This is the same model as the current Mirka vac.
Now, I'm lusting after the Festool, as their Deluxe Dust deputy rig on a CT26 is extremely well thought out, stable, and ready to go.
Being me, I'll probably either make my own rig up something with my existing vacs (and metal dust deputy) or buy a CT26 and keep the Fein for a dedicated Mitersaw. IMHO, I like the Nilfisk best as a pure vac (manual filter clear, cheaper hepa filters, cord storage, about as quiet as the Fein, very powerful, easy to transport, extremely tough). Festool has the best integrated system. Fein is the best price/performance model--especially if you get an older one with vacuum modulation.
The Dust deputy works great, but the plastic version cracks after a few years. The metal version is pretty awkward with fittings.
If I had to go over again, I'd probably buy the clearvue mini instead.
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In answer to a query above, I have had the Bosch Vac090s for a year now and am very happy with it. Relatively quiet, great power, has a HEPA filter available (I use it), outlet that switches on the vac when the tool is triggered, and, most importantly, it will roll over its own cord without hanging up or falling over. I thought it had all the advantages of of the Fein/Festool vacs at a slightly better price. I hook it up to a Mirka sander, festool track saw and other tools without difficulty-- the only tool I had trouble with was an older Bosch sander, where none of the hoses I had would match up. That sander died, so I stopped worrying about it. I got a reusable fabric bag for it that seems quite efficient, almost nothing gets through to the HEPA filter.
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I went and looked up some current prices for the setup I have (Post #15 in this thread). About $80 for the vac, about $50 for the iVac control, and about $17 for the router speed control, for a total of $147.
That does not include the cost of the cost of the dust bag that I put in the vac, in addition to the filter. About $17 for a set of three bags.
I went that way because it did what I needed and it was quite a bit less expensive than a Festool vac. The Ridgid vac is quiet enough that I can't hear it when the sander is on, which is good enough for me.
Mike
Sanding-station1.jpg
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
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Mike,
For job site cleanup you might consider the DeWalt battery operated vacuums. They are quiet compared to shop vacs, and very portable, and the battery will run them a surprisingly long time. My son has one of these and I'm seriously considering one, even though I don't do much field work any more. It's a wet/dry vac too and has the ability to connect a hose and straight pipe pieces, so you don't need to bend over to vacuum the floor.
Charley
Last edited by Charles Lent; 01-13-2017 at 11:34 AM.
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