5-gallon shopvac addition

[DaveW]

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=9586

Has anyone tried this? If so, how well does it work?

Also, given the recent discussion about the Oneida dust deputy, and other shop-made cyclones, does this have an angled intake to create a cyclone effect? (It doesn't look like it but what do I know...) If not, would adding an elbow help it to that effect?

(yeah - a lot of questions - I'm not really looking at getting it or anything right now; just curious if it works (and if it could work better))

[sweensdv]

Given the fact that most, if not all, of the fine sawdust will pass right through this and into the shop vac I can't see much of a practical use for something like this. A table saw, planer or jointer will fill that 5 gal. bucket in no time and you'll constantly be emptying it.

[JTimmons]

I used one on my shopvac before getting my DC and it worked great.

At the time I was using it, I was cutting a lot of MDF and surprisingly enough most of the fine dust was staying in the 5 gallon bucket.

As far as it filling up quickly when using a planer and jointer it does, but so do most things including the 33 gallon seperator I got on my DC now. It just makes it a little quicker to clean out and gives you more capacity.

I was using a foam filter on my shopvac for the dust that made it into it.

Edit:
The one I bought had an elbow in it, but I got mine from Woodcraft and paid $19.00 for it. Not sure if the HF version has one or not. If not, it shouldn't cost much to get a PVC elbow at Lowes or HD.

[LCHIEN]

I think that the lower your airflow the better these things will trap dust and chips.

But if your airflow is low then you will have other problems including poor collection at the tool and particles left in the hose and possible jamming.

A good collection system with very good airflow, e.g. from a Big dust collector will scour the 5-gallon ones and most of the 30-gallon ones totally clean.

With a small shopvac, the separators will drop out a lot of the chips and dust simply because the airflow velocity is not high enough to keep them moving. So you if all you have is the vac, and you use the separator, then you get a small advantage that you clean the bucket often but not the shop vac.

Just for fun the other night I jointer/planed 2 sides of a 4' 2x2 that was rough cut. By the time I got it smooth I had filled up a six gallon Shop vac.

[JTimmons]

Not sure if it matters, but the shopvac I was using at the time was a 6 hp 12 gallon, just to give you an idea it wasn't a small shopvac. Airflow was great, didn't notice a change when hooked up to the separator. As far as my 30 gallon is concerned I am running the HF 2 HP DC and I think the airflow is great (despite some opinions on the size of the HF DC fan size).
The guys at the local Woodcraft are also using the 30 gallon on a Delta DC and from what I hear and see it works great for them. Small amounts of dust make into the bottom bag in both mine and the Woodcraft DCs. I have emptied my trash can twice and have yet to empty the bottom bag. In fact using the clear plastic bags I can still see the bottom so very little dust is making it back.

Just my 2 cents, it's a small investment as far as the woodworking is concerned so give it a try. Nothing else HF has an excellent rep for returns.

Edit:
Now with a 5 HP DC, couldn't say how the seperator would work, if that is what Loring is referring to.

[messmaker]

I have the item in question. I have yet to use it with any sucess. The 5 gallon bucket was clean as my plate after dinner.

[SteveJ]

I have a six gal. shop vac hooked to my ts3650 and when the filter is clean it will catch a lot of the dust. The problem is the filter clogs up too fast. When this happens a lot of the fine dust gets blown into the air. I usually put the bucket in the doorway and let it exhaust outdoors. Obviously, this isn't a great setup but it's better than letting the dust blow free into my shop.

Steve

[DaveW]

Thanks everyone for the posts so far...

I guess the short answer that I'm gathering is that no - it won't behave as a cyclone (I had my doubts, but no harm in asking, right?); and it may help with catching the larger chunks, but the small dust will go through.

hmm.. for the small dust, would some water at the bottom of the bucket help? i.e., it'd turn into gunk, but would it contain the dust?



The original motivation behind my post was - after looking at some of the shop-made cyclones here on BT3 (using round concrete forms etc), I wondered - why wouldn't the cyclone concept work with a 5-gallon bucket?

[Salty]

I was going to get one of those to try but couldn't find one in either of the stores closest to me. Also, I didn't want to spend $7 in shipping for an $8 item. I'm glad I didn't find one.
Recently I took my shop vac apart to clean it and to lube the bearings. I could only get to the bearing on the brush end of the motor but that was apparently the one making the noise and it quieted it down. I sure wish they had used sealed roller bearings in there instead of brass bushings.
Anyway, I had recently bought a new filter and some more of the paper filter bags. For about $3 each these seem to do a great job. I get virtually no dust and no debris at all in the tank. I just yesterday threw away the one I had in there and put in a new one. For my little workshop that seems to work just fine. Next time I may try to open the end of the bag, empty it and reseal it....yea, I'm cheap!!