Shop Vac Help!

[Arc Light]

Question for the group, my poor shop vac is getting a workout.  I have had to bring it back from the brink of death twice now, and the table saw dust is a little too much for it.  Are there any tricks or tips with Shop vacs and dust collection?

I understand there are work shop dust extractor systems, however I am dealing with a garage and a budget and the shop vac method is all I can afford at this point.

On a side note I came across a very cool idea to create a down draft dust box that fits into your table saw extension.  Your shop vac connects to the box and it helps to control the dust when hand sanding.  Attached are the photos I came across.  The top of the box is perforated and you hook your shop vac up to the box and away you go!


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[Canuck]

My personal opinion is that it's practically useless to try and catch/trap all of your tablesaw dust, I used to use a dust/chip collector but found it rather useless for that purpose...now I simply let the sawdust drop through to the floor and clean it up after it's accumulated...I did notice you have your washer/dryer in the garage also, perhaps you should completely enclose your 'workshop area' with poly...the dust really does get everywhere

[Roby]

I tend to agree with John.  My tablesaw has an enclose based with an actual bottom panel for connection to dust collectors hoses, but I never use it.  I just let the chips fall where they may, and clean up afterwards.  But then again, I am lazy that way. 

In this hot weather, my tablesaw wants to overheat, so I have taken off the back panel and hang a fan there.  I have noticed with proper positioning of the fan, most of my dust falls neatly down the shute for the dust collector, and I can catch it in a bucket.  But I am even too lazy for that, and the bucket overfills and goes onto the floor before I feel like dumping it out.

[Chinnomotto]

The wall on my garage opens up as a lean to, so I do the sawing and lathing  in the garden, no dust problem. So my neighbours hates me, can't win them all

Saw a pic where someone uses a council garbage bin, in between saw and dust extractor. He reckons the big bits settle into the bin first. Maybe it helps

[Arc Light]

Thanks Guys!  John I found those pics online, my wife would kill me if her cloths were full of saw dust!

[LEAP]

I too used the shop vac for dust collection for a few years and found that if you used a small cyclone like on this page
http://www.billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm
between the vac and the tool most of the dust and all of the larger chips collected in the can and never made it to the vacume. I spent the money and bought his small cyclone but anyone with a little sheet metal working skills  could make their own. It also helps to clean the filter on the shop vac quite often as the fine dust from sanding clogs the filter quickly and makes the motor work harder.  I highly recommend anyone who is working with wood to read this web site he has done a lot of research on the health risks of wood dust  and will scare you into taking good care of your lungs through using a dust collection system.

[Trooper]

I was having a similar problem where dust from the tablesaw was going EVERYWHERE and I was either too busy, or too lazy to clean it up.......mostly the latter........and just kept working around the growing pile which kept scattering around the rest of the workshop with the breeze.  I decided to make this dust chute up, out of off-cut ply, for underneath the saw keeping the sides of the chute as steep as possible to encourage the dust to 'fall' to the bottom.  I also made a plastic plate for the back of the saw around the motor, but I rarely use it now as I find the lower chute collects the extreme lion's share of the dust.  Now I just hook the 4" dust extractor hose up to the elbow at the base of the chute and it does all the work.  I found that the extreme majority of the dust problem was being dumped directly down (where the chute is now), a much lesser extent escaping out the back (around the motor) and only a very minor amount coming up onto the table top.  With just the shop Vac I'd use the chute AND closing up the back gap around the motor as much as possible without restricting the height and tilt adjustment of the saw. 

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[Roby]

What needs to be made is a dust collector with a trash compactor or tractor bailer attachement designed to it.  Then you would end up with little solid blocks that you could use as fake firelogs, or mulch, or better yet bails to stack and grow mushrooms on. 

[Chinnomotto]

Thanks Guys!  John I found those pics online, my wife would kill me if her cloths were full of saw dust!

Man, get rid of the wife and the 2 white thingos, thats the space where the future lathe sits

Then your workshop is complete, and Paradise awaits

[Arc Light]

Thanks Leap for your comments on the Cyclone, I had never knew such a thing existed.  I did some digging and came up with a tiny version here http://www.dustdeputy.com/  Looks like a cool idea!  I know that this will not be as good as a workshop extractor setup, but it may just save my shop vac.  Looking on the web there are also many home made plans for the same idea.  When I get the time I may order this, or attempt making my own version.  I figure incorporating some of the other ideas of the group and this idea may just help to reduce the amount of dust in the air!

Thanks again to everyone for there comments.

[Roby]

Chinnney's Idea -

The modest platypus has not mentioned it, but I got an e-mail from him with a perfect idea.  Design a waterbath that all vaccume hoses bubble through.  Small particles will be caught in the water.  No filters to clean or change out, but as long as the water is properly adgetated into a mist when the air is blown through, it should grab and collect small dust particles.  You just change out the water from time to time.  

I picture Chinney setting in a kiddy pool, working on a lathe, with all dust being sucked down a hose and bubbling up from the bottom of the pool and getting caught in the water.  

Perhaps it is not practical, but old time car air filters had an oil bath to clean the air intake that used the same principle.  Seems like it would work to replace dust collectors, provided you had a big enough waterbath.  Plus, it would increase humidity, which we all know is good for woodworking tools.  

Still a brilliant idea from Master Chimmoto.   No wonder he is God.

[STP]

I used a Shop Vac for a long time myself before buying a better dust collector.  I made a square bin that allowed the chips to settle, which saved me a lot of time emptying out the ShopVac.  I mention this because a square enclosure will also work to let the big chips drop out of the air stream going through - but the cyclone action does help more.

Woodcraft and Rockler (and maybe Lee Valley) sell a special lid that fits on a 30 gal metal garbage can.  I moved to this later - the way the air is routed though, a cyclone is set up and all the big chips drop into the can.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=4310

The other thing I really hated about the ShopVac was the really loud noise!  I made a baffle box to muffle the sound a bit - and learned the hard way that you don't want to use fiberglass insulation inside the baffle box to dampen sound.  Seems like a total no-brainer now, but I didn't realize right away that blowing the exhaust air from the vac would spread glass fibers all around int he air...  The basic idea is to make the air take some path through the baffles which will make it bounce off of some sort of insulation (egg crate foam or newspaper stapled on baffle walls in a corrugated looking pattern) - but without creating back pressure.  The air should flow through the baffle box easily without needing to be forced through - or you will restrict the amount of vacuum that the vac can draw from the other end.

I wish I still had the baffle box to send some photos along.  However, the dust collector I have now is much quieter, and I gave the baffle box and square chip bin to a friend still using his ShopVac...

For whatever all this is worth, maybe it will conjure some good ideas, and at least prevent you from using fiberglass insulation like I did at first!

[Arc Light]

Thanks for the post Scott, I also have a shop vac that is much louder than my saw, the baffle is a great idea, but I will stay away from fiberglass    The Trash bin top is also great, I will check out Lee Valley in Canada for that product!

[Canuck]

Yeah, thanks Scott 

Peter, check out Busy Bee; http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/picture10?NTITEM=B2407
They have the 'cyclone' garbage can tops as well and likely much cheaper than Lee Valley 

[Roby]

The cool thing about those trashcan systems is you can catch the bulk in the can, but run the exhuast out of the workshop so there is no need for air filters.  IF you don't use the elbow piece, then I figure that it would also just run the dust all the way trhough leaving very little in the can to dump, and instead just leave a pile outside.