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In-compatibility of tools and vacuums for small tool dust collection

6K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  rjcshop 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I am new to Lumber Jocks, so this topic may be an old one - if so, just ignore it. My gripe, and question concerns the incompatibility between portable hand tools and shop vacuums for dust pick up. I have numerous portable power tools, saws, routers, sanders, etc., that have the potential for dust pickup, but rarely is the pickup orifice sized to fit a "typical" vacuum. Even within the same manufacturer, the tools and vacuums are incompatible. For instance, I have a Fein Dust Extractor and a Fein Multi-master sander. The dust pickup for the sander is a different size than the vacuum! Crazy. Porter Cable's drywall sander does not fit Fein, Wap, nor Craftsman. Maybe it fits the PC vacuum, but I already have more vacuums than I want, so buying another specifically for the drywall sander is not going to happen. I have one of their random orbit sanders, an older unit that works terrific. I ordered the dust collection accessories for it and found the hose is a unique size and nothing fits it which means I'm back to duct tape, which actually works ok, but is klutzy and makes switching between tools a major pain.

The shop vac I find most worthless for hook up is the Wap - their hose fits nothing! The Fein is a bit better, and of course the Craftsman 2.5" hose is fairly typical, but again, it fits nothing without an adapter. Some adapters are available but the ones I've found are poorly designed with an abrupt corner instead of gradual transition.

Oneida makes a nice little cyclone called the Dust Deputy that works well, but again, doesn't fit any of my vacuums - The inlet on my Dust Deputy is 2". The Craftsman vac (probably one of the most common on the market) is 2.5" which means you cannot connect the vac directly to the cyclone - they offer hoses with various cuffs on the end, but not a 2.5" hose that has a 2.5" cuff on one end and a 2" cuff on the other end, which means you must use an adapter to connect a Craftsman vac to the unit. Seems silly to me since the specific purpose of the Dust Deputy is to act as an in-between for the shop vacuum and the tool.

Routers are equally bad - the Fein extractor almost fits one of my routers (Triton), but none of the others Elu, B&D. Craftsman. So I'm always duct taping fittings together - a real pain.

Another gripe - many sanders that have dust bags (totally useless in my opinion) do not have a decent means for connecting a vacuum hose, of whatever size to them. The Makita small block sander is typical - nice little sander, does a great job, but has a rectangular outlet for their dust bag, which collects about 1% of the dust. When I cobbled up a connection to my Fein vac, the sander worked much better, and collected ~90% of the dust, so why don't they offer something better? Surely I'm not the only person who has found this problem - round hoses do not connect to a rectangular fittings! Then of course there are sanders like the Porter Cable Sandblock that has zero dust collection - so I guess the Makita is better than that. This is why I finally bought a down draft table - it solves the problem most the time.

If any of you have found good inter-connect parts that enable better interface, please let me know. Thank you.
 
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#3 ·
sorry to say, but it sounds like you have every incompatible possibility out there.

I have a ShopVac vacuum, and it fits pretty much everything with a 2.5" fitting. I have a Dewalt sander that has a ROUND connector that fits straight into the shopvac hose. I also have a dewalt sander that has the square connector to the bag - which is NOT aimed at being hooked to a vacuum. the only thing I need a fitting is for my PC circ-saw which has a 1 1/4" fitting for vacuum, and the Bosch Router, for these 2 I use a 2.5-1.25 adaptor that fits right on the hose, and plugs into the tool - no tape required.

some tools are designed with dust collection in mind while others are not, some mfg use different fittings and sizes which not always work with other brands. just the nature of the beast.

I'll usually make sure a tool fits my DC before I purchase it.
 
#4 ·
You'd be surprised what you can do witha decent hot aair gun with a lot of this stuff thats jus a "hair" off.
The rest I usually machine to fit on my wood lathe.

Remember the Europeans use the much simpler metric system so their parts fit thier parts.
We use the proprietary system here where you have to buy and $8.00 part ( worth 50 cents) to hook up your specific sander and it wont work with any other. <g>
Bob
 
#5 ·
It is a little frustrating to have so many different hose and port sizes out there, but I haven't run across any situations that an adapter or some duct tape won't handle.

I'm not sure I understand your problem using a Dust Deputy with a Craftsman shop vac. The DD has a tapered fitting, and the shop vac hose slides over it with a friction fit. This is my primary dust collection system, and it works fine.
 
#6 ·
CharileM - interesting to hear your comment on the Dust Deputy. Is your unit the original steel version or one of the new plastic ones? Makes me wonder if I have an early version prior to a redo by Oneida - mine is a straight 2" port on the top and a 1.5" port, also straight on the side (tool side). Unfortunately I bought two of these, so my problem is doubled.
 
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