What vacuum cleaner?

[sunnybob]

I need a vacuum cleaner for my hand held power tools, especially the sanders.
After sanding the oak for the chest of drawers my entire workshop has a layer of dust, right up to 8 ft above the ground. :shock:
I'm looking at buying a ROS for future large sanding jobs but I cant have that mess again. :eusa-naughty:
This is a blank canvas for me, no idea what to look for, or how much to spend.

Bear in mind I can not afford festool prices.

 

[Alasdair]

I got this one on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01IW0PAYA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 it's been excellent and has a power tool pass through function

 

[spb]

And I have this suspiciously identical-looking one, bought when it was around £66. Same as Alasdair's, it works well and has power take-off.

There'll be a number of clones from the same factory around at various price points; you can probably take your pick of them and have the same results.

 

[sunnybob]

Is it worth fitting a cyclone to one of these? how quickly does the dust bag need cleaning?

 

[spb]

I've not felt the need for a cyclone - partly because of my low volume usage, and partly because the vacuum (as opposed to HVLP chip extraction) is generally suited for smaller dust that takes up less space in the bin anyway. I think I've emptied this one maybe twice in the six months I've had it, versus the chip extractor that needs emptying multiple times in a large project if it's used on the P/T.

 

[AJB Temple]

I bought 2 Lidl vacuum cleaners with Power Take Off when they were last in stock. About £50 each. I run one of these with my Mirka Deros ROS quite often and it is very good. (The other one is a spare). No visible dust anywhere.

Also have an older Numatic that is twice the price and not as good. Would not buy that brand again. Bags are a poor fit too.

And a big Festool trade one which is streets better but much more expensive. I bought this pristine, used but almost new from a "tool collector" type for £200. He supplied both sizes of hose. Bargain. But prices have gone crazy.

To get good extraction with ROS etc, the smooth tapered hoses make a difference, but are a bit spendy.

I also have a very good Miele that was replaced in the house and is used for cars etc. Domestic vacuums with pet filtration / HEPA can be excellent and pretty cheap second hand, but capacity is not great.

If you mostly operate in a workshop, then forget portable vacs and cobble up a cyclone with fine filter. My main workshop has a quite large Jet one and this knocks everything else into a cocked hat. DIY solutions can be done pretty cheaply.

 

[novocaine]

screwfists titan vacs have a good reputation, I'm rather pleased with mine.
I bought 50 odd bags for 15 quid from ebay and I'm still on the second bag after a couple of months which includes using it for general purpose during building works.
the little one I have can be used without the bag for wet stuff too which has proved useful when the car has decided to spring a leak.

 

[sunnybob]

I have 4" dust collection on the fixed machines, but my sanding bench is on the other side of the workshop and theres no practical way to run 4" ducting to it.
Plus its a low pressure system that just wont suck anything through a less than 3" hose.
I've tried laying a 3" hose next to the sanding piece but it collects nothing.
Its needs to run well on smaller hose connections down to 22mm, and be easily portable so i can hide it (god knows where) when not in use.

 

[RogerS]

Is it worth fitting a cyclone to one of these? how quickly does the dust bag need cleaning?

I've also got one of those vacs and it's very good. It belongs to my SCMS.

It's not a bag per se but a cylindrical filter. And yes, it doesn't take long to block up. So what I do is remove the filter, take it outside, make sure I'm upwind and knock off the dust.

But it's interesting as I was wondering about a cyclone. I've had a couple in the past but they were more faff than benefit for the type of stuff I was creating (mainly chippings). But I foresee a lot of dust generation coming along so ...

 

[Woodbloke]

I use a Nematic NVD 750 twin motor jobbie onto which I've hooked a small cyclone. The suckage is so powerful if I get it anywhere near my router bits it will quite cheerfully pull one or several out of their sockets where they instantly end up with an almighty 'clang' in the bucket 'neath the cyclone. It's even sucked up a lathe tool rest before now - Rob

 

[Lurker]

The one that I use with my Bosch belt sander is a old upright dyson that I found on a skip.

Folks chuck these away because they have lost their suck. Usually, this is because there’s a blocked filter somewhere. Unless you actually read the instructions when the machine is new they are not in obvious places.

I can happily sand without any other dust protection as the combination grabs every spot of dust.

 

[sunnybob]

People are much more frugal in Cyprus.
They rarely move house and keep everything forever because the prices on new electrical items are so high. I've been looking for a reject for over a year now :eusa-violin:

 

[Nelsun]

ROS really don't need much suckage to be dust free... and too much can be a problem causing swirl marks as it pulls the sander down too much. That's why the spendier vacs have variable power so you can tune them down for sanding and whack them up for dustier operations like routers and saws.

Some household vacs have valves you can open to allow air in and reduce the sucking power. Accessories are out there you can introduce to a hose that do the same, but you're getting to fighting with differing diameters and all that fun stuff.