How to connect a ShopVac to SS?

[chrispitude]

Hi all,

This is a repost from my garage shelving thread, but I thought it made sense to include here too.

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I've received my dust collection cyclonic separator designed to fit onto a RIDGID shop vacuum. On the particular model vacuums it's meant for (WD1665/WD1670), the motor is detachable to use as a blower. They made use of this and provided a way for the motor to attach to the cyclonic assembly like so:

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The nice thing about this is that it reuses the vacuum's collection canister so it can be easily rolled around the shop on its casters. The cyclone separates the collected bits into the canister, and the clean air is pulled straight up and through the U into the filter chamber. Since virtually everything has been sent into the canister except for clean air, the filter in the filter box doesn't get dirty and doesn't clog up.

Here is a view from a different angle:

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You can see the big square box which is the filter box. A standard RIDGID filter mounts in that box and provides final filtration for air being pulled into the motor and exhausted into the shop. I put a fine filtration filter in there since I don't need to worry about plugging it up with sawdust. There is even an observation window on the top of the filter box:

[ATTACH]1822[/ATTACH]

although it's not much fun to look in since the filter stays clean all the time.

How well does it work? Well, I generated about 1/3 a canister's worth of sawdust during the birdhouse project. There is not a spec of dust, not even fine dust, on the filter in the filter box. The cyclonic separation works exceptionally well. As cuts are made, you can actually see the spiral of sawdust make its way down into the collection canister. It's really neat to watch. The end of the hose slips right into the dust collection port on the Shopsmith. It probably doesn't have the collection power of larger dedicated dust collectors, but it works extremely well for me. The cyclonic separator is designed to be hung by the PVC U pipe on the top, so I put a bike hook on the ceiling by the Shopsmith and I hang the separator out of the way while the shop vacuum performs its normal shop/floor cleaning duties.

You can read more about the RIDGID Conversion Lid at this link.

Please feel free to ask any questions!

- Chris

[pascalore]

Take the hose out of your vacuum and plug it into the port on the Shopsmith. It fits. All you need is another hose adapter like the one you have on the other end of the hose. Either get another hose with one or I asked Shop-Vac for a replacement and they are sending me one - free. This may not work twice. One thing I will do once I get it is fill the gap between the 2 1/4" big hole and the 1 1/4" small hole making a smooth transition. And using the small hose should keep suck pressure good.

Check 'General Woodworking Forum', "I made it, What is it" for an example.

P.

[8iowa]

Keep in mind the fact that the shop vac will collect chips, but will not filter out the fine dust down to 5 microns (24" hood) or 1 micron (42"hood) that the DC3300 will do. This may be a health issue if you are working with the many types of wood with toxic dust.

[regnar]

Just incase you guys haven't seen this before but this hose you can get different adapters for it and it works great for other things. I use some of their smaller stuff to pump coolant onto my mill. Here is the link. http://www.modularhose.com/Loc-Line-25- ... 8Ta38Nchr0

[chrispitude]

Hi,

I am using a CleanStream filter:

http://www.cleanstream.com/filters_wetdry.html

along with the ClearVue cyclonic separator. The separator ensures that the filter doesn't get overly clogged and lose suction, and the CleanStream gives high filtration for whatever microscopic particles that do actually make it through the separator. The CleanStream page above cites 99.97% efficient at 0.3 microns, which is good enough for my peace of mind even if they are stretching it a bit.

- Chris

[pascalore]

300007 2 1/2˝ to 1 1/4˝ Reducer $4.61 - order from Shopsmith.

I found this after getting one *free* from ShopVac.

P.

[pascalore]

300007 2 1/2˝ to 1 1/4˝ Reducer $4.61 - order from Shopsmith.

I found this after getting one *free* from ShopVac.

P.

[dusty]

Does this work for you ?

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