Another dust question

Carefully cut them open along an existing seam. Stick them shut agian with shipping tape or duct tape.
If you can get a separator can between your vacuum and your machine most of the big crap will drop out sparing the bag.

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

I’ve been using the shop-vac (16gallon) before getting a dust collector, and I still use the shop-vac for smaller tools (router/sander/circular-saw) and for general cleaning of the shop(garage). it worked great, and I think the only limitations for it are usage with tools that are chip generating like the jointer, planer, and table saw (At times). other than that – it works pretty well, but you do have to empty that bag every so often.

here are a couple of tips:

1. use a bigger shop-vac than that 10gal. I use the 16Gal and it was $70 – not too bad.

2. I do not reuse bags! the whole idea of the bag is to capture the dust AWAY -I do not want to play around with that bag and bring all that dust back…lol

3. consider using HEPA filter for your shop-vac, this will significantly improve your dust control!

4. consider using one of those (rockler/leevalley/woodcraft) trash-can-cyclone accessory, that will keep larger chips in the trash-can and out of your shop-vac bag (also easier to clean out).

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

bob’s idea for a seperator is a greatone. He could probably tell you better than me whether there is a dropoff in suction power, but for attaching to tools, that may not matter much.

One option might be to forgoe the bags. You could put the pleated filter on and then stick another supplemental filter over that (shopvac.com sells these). Then your dust will just end up in the canister. Dump the canister into a trashbag from time to time and you may be set. The only problem is that I think the bags help filter the air. I’m not sure how vital they are. Just some thoughts, but I agree with purplev. The larger vacs hold a lot more material, but the bags cost about the same. In the long run, you may come out ahead with a larger vacuum.

One thing I used to do when I depended on Shop Vac for part of my system was to put nylon pany how over the filter.
I helped keep the larger particles from plugging up the vanes in the filter and reduced the strain on the motor.
I used to just take the whole machine outside and knock the filter against the trash can. The panty hose will last a long time if you don’t wear them dancing.

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

I’ve never used bags with a shop vac. I guess thay make emptying a bit easier, but I don’t see the need to spend the money. I also do not see how using a collection bag would help filtration any… that’s what the filter is for.

I empty the cannister into a plastic bag periodically, as HokieMojo said. Just be sure to do it outdoors so as not to intrduce additional dust to your shop air.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

I use a rigid vac with all of my hand power tools and router table fence. I use a Clearvue mini-cyclone with the vac and it separates literally everything before it gets to the vac canister. It works beautifully. Onieda also has a mini-cyclone separator which you can purchase directly from Onieda or at Woodcraft stores. Either one works great at seperating even the finer dusts keeping your filters and bags clean which keeps the air moving at maximum efficiency.

-- JD - Sand Springs, OK - "You can't steer a car that isn't moving..." Unknown

Thanks everyone…I will probably invest in a new machine as the one I have does not work without a bag…blows everything through the little vent holes in the top. I can use this one for around the shop cleaning. Thanks again…you (all of you) are the BEST!

-- Ellen on Cape Cod

Ellen,

If you intend to stay the shop vacuum route (my route as well)

I would recommend a Ridgid with a CleanStream filter. Plugged into a trash can with a Thien Separator.

See this link for the Thien design.

http://www.cgallery.com/jpthien/cy.htm

There are dust collectors and there are vacuum systems. They don’t do the same thing. The ShopVac is a good tool to vacuum up materials that have made it to the floor (and to keep some of them from getting there). They do nothing for cleaning the air that you are about to breathe. For that, I strongly recommend that you consider some sort of dust collection system that will help clean the air you breathe.

There are many available in a wide range of prices.

I use a Shopsmith DC3300 and am very pleased with its performance in my small garage shop.

-- Making Sawdust Safely

I also use the DC3300. It may very well be the best small shop dust collector as it only occupies about 4 sq ft of floor space. The plastic collector bags can be reused dozens of times.

-- "Heaven is North of the Bridge"

It’s OK if you use Hepa Filters in your shop vacs but they have to capture 99.97% of the dust as small as 0.3 Microns in diameter to work well. I have a Ridgid and a Craftsman and bought Hepa Filters from the companies that made them.
FYI – A sheet of printer paper is about 25 Microns thick.

-- Only the Shadow knows....................