shop-vac Model: 9341411

reible · Post by **reible** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 11:32 am

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone here has this model????

They sell them at Lowe's but the local store doesn't carry them so I can't actually look at one. The best I can do is look at:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=p ... 97-9341411

I think it will do every thing I want but it would be interesting to hear anything good or bad about this model. I have money allocated based on this one so this is about the most I can spend, something lower priced would be fine. I also have plans for using the blower so the HP needs to be in this range... so yes I'm open to other ideas with these constraints.

Ed

doug45601 · Post by **doug45601** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 12:43 pm

Haven't had that exact model but in the past I did purchase the ShopVac at Lowes for my father.. It worked as well as my Craftsman for awhile but parts became harder and harder to find (filters exp) Although most of the time Lowe's did carry replacement filters.. They eventually stopped stocking the filter needed.. Supply and demand I would guess.. Now forced to buy filterers for the unit via the internet.

All the shop Vacs sold at Lowes are made off shore as well as the Sears Craftsman but at least the Craftsman has better support for parts and filters.

Not trying to turn you against the Lowes ShopVac's but keep in mind, Lowes will drop a product and product support very quickly if it's not a big seller. I was an allpliance manager for Lowes for awhile and had customers on my back all the time because of Lowe's policies..

reible · Post by **reible** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 1:29 pm

Interesting comments. My son an ex Sears hardware and service employee said never ever buy a sear shop-vac. They got lots of returns and angry customers... so a different perspective, perhaps an indication that shop vac's in general are problematic.

My current shopvac I got at a garage sale back in the early 70's for $5 (well broken in at that point) and I've kept it running for a long time but it is becoming harder and harder to find parts to fit... they have long since stopped having parts that fit per the service manual but a few places who repair vacuums have been able to find bearings and brushes for me in the "back" somewhere. The bags it took have also vanished so I have had to make some changes just to keep it working. The last time I had it apart the hard plastic inside were starting to crumble... so I think this might be at about the end of the useable life cycle. Yea not quite a shopsmith but it certain has impressed me that it has lasted this long. The next one will never have to last that long for me... maybe for one of my kids but certainly not me.

What I will do after your information on Lowes is to see if filters are used by different models like the ones sold at HD, Menards, Farm and Fleet. If they are then I would not be stuck finding them at a Lowes.

Thanks for the comments,

Ed

doug45601 wrote:Haven't had that exact model but in the past I did purchase the ShopVac at Lowes for my father.. It worked as well as my Craftsman for awhile but parts became harder and harder to find (filters exp) Although most of the time Lowe's did carry replacement filters.. They eventually stopped stocking the filter needed.. Supply and demand I would guess.. Now forced to buy filterers for the unit via the internet.

All the shop Vacs sold at Lowes are made off shore as well as the Sears Craftsman but at least the Craftsman has better support for parts and filters.

Not trying to turn you against the Lowes ShopVac's but keep in mind, Lowes will drop a product and product support very quickly if it's not a big seller. I was an allpliance manager for Lowes for awhile and had customers on my back all the time because of Lowe's policies..

doug45601 · Post by **doug45601** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 2:42 pm

Before taking on the APPLIANCE MGR JOB at Lowes I too had a job at Sears in the Tool Dept and sold lots of Sears ShopVacs.... and yes will have to agree that the Sears ShopVacs are also in a catagory of throw-together-mass-produced-low-quality-off-shore.. VACUUMS.

Again, I'm not trying to push one product over another as I've had over the years 3 Sears models... one just flat wore out and one just flat out died before it's time! and one is still holding up pretty good... My Jeanie lasted about 18 months

Keep in mind however, a shopvac is not intended to be a saw dust collector!

8iowa · Post by **8iowa** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 3:04 pm

I've had several shopvacs in the past, mostly the type that has the paper filter held in place with a plastic ring. I finally got tired of the noise and "bit the bullet" - I purchased a Fein Turbo II. This shopvac is heads and shoulders above all my past vacs. It also has the neat feature of hooking up with your orbital sander. If your sander has a vac pick-up feature, the Fein will suck up virtually all the sanding dust.

The Fein has a 5 micron polyester filter bag that can be cleaned up with a whisk broom when you empty the cannister. It is also very quiet when compared with other vacs.

reible · Post by **reible** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 5:07 pm

I'm sure it is nice but it is not in the $179 or below range... I just can't budget that amount for what I would be using it for. However even my old vac gets most of the dust from the power tools that have that hose capacity. And I tend to run it and them outside so what fine dust does escape goes into the breeze.

I also have a "dust collector" with 20 gallon chip collector for major dust creators. For the winter months I can't work in the garage anyway so I generate no dust. If I ever build a shop I would keep the dust collector outside then too. Just makes since to me.

Ed

8iowa wrote:I've had several shopvacs in the past, mostly the type that has the paper filter held in place with a plastic ring. I finally got tired of the noise and "bit the bullet" - I purchased a Fein Turbo II. This shopvac is heads and shoulders above all my past vacs. It also has the neat feature of hooking up with your orbital sander. If your sander has a vac pick-up feature, the Fein will suck up virtually all the sanding dust.

The Fein has a 5 micron polyester filter bag that can be cleaned up with a whisk broom when you empty the cannister. It is also very quiet when compared with other vacs.

fjimp · Post by **fjimp** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:51 pm

If you want a real shop vac check out the fein models. I bought one and have trouble believing how anything that powerful can be so quiet. The one problem with mine is it keeps disappearing from my shop. My wife thinks it's the best vac in the house. fjimp

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:51 pm

Hi Ed!, I'd really like to be able to help more, but all I know is what I've read, and experienced.

Myself - thinking that all shop vacs are a pain, because their filters quickly plug, got an education from this forum. see http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthr ... t=Shop+Vac for a start. Look at post #15 here.

Here's some more - http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthr ... #post19879 There is more pics and discussion, but you can find them by searching chrispitude posts.

If you are after more info. on this type of Dust Collection, contact chrispitude. Being one of those engineer guys, he has done very interesting research into the cyclone addition and the subject of making a shop vac perform. It's good stuff!

BTW, the specs of shop vac you are looking at give more CFM than the DC3300. Sounds like it would work well. However the addition of a cyclone to this machine, would put you over budget .

Best Wishes!

reible · Post by **reible** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 11:46 pm

Hi Chuck,

Thanks for the interesting reading. I don't have funds this year for more then the $180, however I don't know if you saw the post on this:
http://www.dustdeputy.com/
This could be an addition at another time if I find I need it. A second use of the system for me will be the blower output so I really don't want to mess with the machine itself to much.

Ed

charlese wrote:Hi Ed!, I'd really like to be able to help more, but all I know is what I've read, and experienced.

Myself - thinking that all shop vacs are a pain, because their filters quickly plug, got an education from this forum. see https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=1750&page=2&highlight=Shop+Vac for a start. Look at post #15 here.

Here's some more - https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?p=19879#post19879 There is more pics and discussion, but you can find them by searching chrispitude posts.

If you are after more info. on this type of Dust Collection, contact chrispitude. Being one of those engineer guys, he has done very interesting research into the cyclone addition and the subject of making a shop vac perform. It's good stuff!

BTW, the specs of shop vac you are looking at give more CFM than the DC3300. Sounds like it would work well. However the addition of a cyclone to this machine, would put you over budget .

Best Wishes!

bobgroh · Post by **bobgroh** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 5:20 pm

I've had a ShopVac (5 gallon model - 3.5 peak HP (that means downhill with a tailwind!)) for about 6 years. A Christmas present from the family - still going strong. It was bought from ACE Hardware locally and they still stock bags etc for them. I suppose that in 10 years that might not be so but by then I'll probably want a new one anyways! They are pretty inexpensive.

I have found that the ShopVac (using both the internal filter and the dust bag) works pretty good at controlling dust.

For my very small and low usage shop, I am thinking seriously about teaming up my ShopVac with a Oneida Dust Deputy. The Dust Deputy will catch the majority of the stuff and the filter in the ShopVac will catch some more and then I might very well simply cut a hole in the garage side and vent the ShopVac outlet outside through a dryer vent. With the cyclone and the internal filters in the ShopVac, hopefully the dust size will be down considerably and I can get by with much lower air velocity.

Delta has some nice dust collectors and, of course, we have the SS unit. But that is quite a bit more - both in size and in $$. But I do need better dust control!