dust collection?

[MATT HASSMER]

i have a small shop (pretty much a shed) & was thinking i could use a shop vac for dust collection. will that work? should i be looking for a particular standard as far as capacity or power?

[Lee Schierer]

Will it work, sure, but generally they are louder and less efficient than a true dustcollector. The filter may clog quickly, but they will pick up dust.

[Travis Rassat]

Depending on what tools you're using it with, a Shop Vac will work OK and can be very helpful, but I would consider it a compliment to a good dust collector. I have one of the bigger 6 HP commercial ones with the 2 1/2" hose that I use for a lot of things.

For example, I like to use it with my jig saw and I also have a dust port for my drill press table. Those are two examples where it's nice because it helps keep the work area clear as I work, thus improving visibility.

Of course, there are situations where it's not ideal - I always use my dust collector with my table saw and planer. I don't know if the Shop Vac would even keep up with those. Nonetheless, even if you did eventually step up to a dust collection system, you'll always have uses for the Shop Vac.

I don't know if that answers your question or anything, but hopefully it's some food for thought.

[Prashun Patel]

It's an oft-pondered question around here. Try searching the forum for shop vac and dc; you'll find lots of good threads that have hashed this out already.

[MATT HASSMER]

well, that sucks. i'm not worried about the sound, but i was hoping the suction might be comparable to a dust collection system; those systems are quite pricey.

[Jim Becker]

Matt, dust collectors don't provide "suction". They work on the principle of moving a lot of air in a given amount of time (cubic feet per minute = CFM) at low pressure (static pressure = SP = "suction") and that moving air, in turn, is what moves the dust and chips. This method is particularly suited to the larger woodworking tools, such as table saws, jointers, planers, etc., that produce a lot of dust and chips. It's less effective with small, hand-held tools with small ports as there is no way to move any real air through them. Shop vacs, on the other hand, work at high pressure (high SP = suction) and move only a small amount of air. They are best for smaller tools that have small ports.

That said, many folks get acceptable chip collection using a shop vac, especially with small, hand-held tools. It's not going to get the fines from larger tools, however, nor keep up well with something like a planer working a wider board. You might be better served using a jointer and planer without a DC hood and just clean up with a broom afterward, wearing a dust mask while milling the lumber.

[Dan Regan]

Matt, dust collectors don't provide "suction". They work on the principle of moving a lot of air in a given amount of time (cubic feet per minute = CFM) at low pressure (static pressure = SP = "suction") and that moving air, in turn, is what moves the dust and chips. This method is particularly suited to the larger woodworking tools, such as table saws, jointers, planers, etc., that produce a lot of dust and chips. It's less effective with small, hand-held tools with small ports as there is no way to move any real air through them. Shop vacs, on the other hand, work at high pressure (high SP = suction) and move only a small amount of air. They are best for smaller tools that have small ports.

That said, many folks get acceptable chip collection using a shop vac, especially with small, hand-held tools. It's not going to get the fines from larger tools, however, nor keep up well with something like a planer working a wider board. You might be better served using a jointer and planer without a DC hood and just clean up with a broom afterward, wearing a dust mask while milling the lumber.

Some intersting food for thought there. I was contemplating the purchase of a 1hp DC unit, and thinking that I could also use that for direct hook up to things like a circ. saw, router ect, for dust/chip collection, but based on what you say above, maybe a shop vac would be a better choice? Right now most of my "work" is done with hand held power tools, but I have plans to add (eventually) a down draft sanding table,band saw and jointer to the fray as well.

Simplisticaly I was thinking of of simple using step down reducers to get from the 4" hose of the DC, to what ever size the tool at hand needed. Or using a "Y" adapter to use a DC to provide dust collection above and below say a router table.

[Steven Wilson]

Yep, shop vac for the small handheld powertools and a dust collector for tablesaw, jointer, planer, bandsaw, etc. I urge you to invest in a quiet shopvac. When you have multiple screeming banshee's in the shop it can be quite uncomfortable to work even with decent hearing protection. I had a Fein Mini that worked well and have since moved on to a Festool CT22 (works real well), either is a vast improvement over the standard Sears shopvac.

[Jim Becker]

Dan, a 1hp DC becomes terribly (more terribly...) inefficient when it cannot draw air from the full diameter of the blower inlet. Stepping down starves the machine for air. For the hand-held tools, a vac is more appropriate and effective. (But noisier...hearing protection is even more important with a vac)

The "premium" vacs, such as the Festool and Fein do have some advantages over the garden-variety machines with lower sound levels, better cooling designs and features such as auto-switching and speed controls. The latter, in particular, is valuable in optimizing the air flow for the job at hand and also can cut noise further. For example, when using a vac with a sander, as you get to finer and finer abrasives, the sander may tend to get "sticky" from, believe it or not, too much suction. Throttling back helps keep the tool moving across the workpiece without having to man-handle it. You can do that with a vent in the hose, but that ads noise in many cases...variable speed gives you the benefit without the downsides.

The better vacs "can" handle chip extraction from some typical small "stationary" tools, but there is a limit to their effectiveness as the tool and the job size increases. And since they don't move a lot of air, fines are not captured as they would be with a larger machine designed for the purpose.

[MATT HASSMER]

i have a table saw (not a cabinet saw), a router, & a RO sander... not much, but i still want to keep the area clean for the most part. like i said, it is literally a shed i'm working in right now & i have very little room. i like the clearvue mini CV06 that you can put on a trash can or bucket & attach to a shopvac. i have little money to spend on a DC & little room available to place it. i'm also just starting out, so i can't justify making that kind of purchase for something that will be a hobby for the most part when i'm not changing diapers, doing my "honey-do" list, working in the yard/clearing the yard, or working.

all of the advice on this thread & other related threads is excellent. the health & safety risks are good arguments for getting a quality DC. i just can't justify making that purchase until i'm a bit more advanced or have more time to devote to woodworking. i just need something to help with occasional projects.

[Steven Wilson]

Then wear a respirator - always. Inadequate dust collection can get expensive when you add up co-pays and prescription costs.

[Prashun Patel]

I use my 16g shopvac with a clearvue mini for my router, mitersaw, and ros anyway. Does a passable job. The clearvue mini is a great thing for keeping the shopvac filters clean. Hardly have to clean my filter but once every coupla months.

For the tablesaw I'd get a canvas or plastic bag to enclose the bottom of the saw to catch some of the dust/chips. Then, I'd make a jig to attach your shopvac to the blade guard. It'll be more effective there than at the bottom of the saw.

A dc at the bottom of the saw cabinet does a good job of drawing in all the spray over that large volume of space. The shopvac can't do that, so yr best bet is to put it as close to the blade as poss before the dust has a chance to spray.

Try very hard to keep the blade guard in place. Apart from the obvious safety reasons, it'll keep the dust localized.


Also, build an enclosed cabinet for your router table. If you're freehanding it, there are vaccuum ports for the major brands that work fairly well.

[Dan Regan]

I know this is Matts' thread , but I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their info, great stuff!

[Robert Malone]

Matt, don't know where you live, but I have a small 1hp DC sitting in the garage
not being used.

[Billy Dodd]

Matt, there are some companies that have the dust collection pipes and fittings for hooking up a shop vac for dust collection. I believe Penn State sells a kit. It sounds like you're tight on cash and if so I would go the shop vac route and either hook up each machine as you use it or do like Jim said and just clean after you finish. But instead of a dust mask I use to use a big fan as an exhaust fan. It would bring enough air through to cool the shop and any dust got sucked out the other end of the shop.

As for a regular DC the dust collection pipe runs a couple dollars a foot and then you have to get fittings like elbows and y'ss then the dust gates. It adds up in a hurry.
Just my pennies worth.