Hi folks, first time here although I have lurked in the shadows for some time
I've asked the following in another arena but thought I would throw the subject open to a wider cross section of woodies.
I sold my big woodworking gear and large dust extractor a couples of years back, in preparation for a move to a smaller workshop. Unfortunately the move never happened. Since then I have been replacing stuff as and when finances permit. To date all my machinery , Lathe, miter saw, table saw, router table and other smaller powertools all have either a 1-3/4 in ( 40 mm) or 2 inch (51 mm ) outlets.
Some time ago I built a Bill Pentz design cyclone for my powertools and it works extremely well, better than 98% collection with a filter change needed once every 18 months or so. Having trawled a few YouTube vids, it seems that most shop vac based systems are based on a 2 inch system.
However one thing I see is what appears to be a larger diameter shop-vac hose supplied in Northern Hemisphere shop vacs than ours here , which tend to run to 35 MM ID So to my first question; what is the average size hose ( I.D. ) on your shop vacs? and why do they use different hoses?
I have a choice of either 40 mm or 50 mm inexpensive waste pipe I can buy for the system and this leads to my second question; how much suction loss would there be using the larger pipe compared to the smaller diameter?
From what I've seen to date leads me to the conclusion that even with 50 mm (2 inch) pipe there still seems to be a pretty good level of suction on moderately long runs of 18 or 20 feet ( 6 or 7 meters ).
The three options I am looking at are the following.
Nilfisk medium ShopVac.
Arges Wet & Dry 30 L
Toolshed Pro Vacuum Cleaner
All three of the listed items come with the auto power function that is for me a least a major plus as I can set up power-points to each machine to auto start dust collection. All 3 units appear to have very good suction with the Nilfisk being the strongest of the three.
The Toolshed Vac is a cyclone system with 4 stage filtering which I think robs it of some of its efficiency, whereas the other two are a more standardized system.
One thing that was outstanding on all of them was how quiet they were when operating. None were more than 70db, I tested them with a decibel meter. In fact the background noise in the shop was 67 db and none of the vacs sounded like they were exceeding the ambient noise levels, which I have to say impressed me considerably. I'm currently using a bag-less household vacuum cleaner which when I tested it was running at 84 db and the shop vacs are way quieter than that which will be a welcome relief in the workshop.
And so to my third question; which shop vac would you choose and why.
Remember that filtration isn't a major concern as I'm running the cyclone.
I've asked the following in another arena but thought I would throw the subject open to a wider cross section of woodies.
I sold my big woodworking gear and large dust extractor a couples of years back, in preparation for a move to a smaller workshop. Unfortunately the move never happened. Since then I have been replacing stuff as and when finances permit. To date all my machinery , Lathe, miter saw, table saw, router table and other smaller powertools all have either a 1-3/4 in ( 40 mm) or 2 inch (51 mm ) outlets.
Some time ago I built a Bill Pentz design cyclone for my powertools and it works extremely well, better than 98% collection with a filter change needed once every 18 months or so. Having trawled a few YouTube vids, it seems that most shop vac based systems are based on a 2 inch system.
However one thing I see is what appears to be a larger diameter shop-vac hose supplied in Northern Hemisphere shop vacs than ours here , which tend to run to 35 MM ID So to my first question; what is the average size hose ( I.D. ) on your shop vacs? and why do they use different hoses?
I have a choice of either 40 mm or 50 mm inexpensive waste pipe I can buy for the system and this leads to my second question; how much suction loss would there be using the larger pipe compared to the smaller diameter?
From what I've seen to date leads me to the conclusion that even with 50 mm (2 inch) pipe there still seems to be a pretty good level of suction on moderately long runs of 18 or 20 feet ( 6 or 7 meters ).
The three options I am looking at are the following.
Nilfisk medium ShopVac.
Arges Wet & Dry 30 L
Toolshed Pro Vacuum Cleaner
All three of the listed items come with the auto power function that is for me a least a major plus as I can set up power-points to each machine to auto start dust collection. All 3 units appear to have very good suction with the Nilfisk being the strongest of the three.
The Toolshed Vac is a cyclone system with 4 stage filtering which I think robs it of some of its efficiency, whereas the other two are a more standardized system.
One thing that was outstanding on all of them was how quiet they were when operating. None were more than 70db, I tested them with a decibel meter. In fact the background noise in the shop was 67 db and none of the vacs sounded like they were exceeding the ambient noise levels, which I have to say impressed me considerably. I'm currently using a bag-less household vacuum cleaner which when I tested it was running at 84 db and the shop vacs are way quieter than that which will be a welcome relief in the workshop.
And so to my third question; which shop vac would you choose and why.
Remember that filtration isn't a major concern as I'm running the cyclone.