Best shop vac

KDC · Post by **KDC** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:10 am

What is a good (brand name) for a DUST COLLECTOR system?

mbcabinetmaker · Post by **mbcabinetmaker** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 8:35 am

If you can afford it go with Festool. Choice of 4 sizes and they use bags that are easy to empty do not loose suction and you never have to bang the filters clean.

jimsjinx · Post by **jimsjinx** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 9:15 am

If you are talking about a shop vac, I have had a Ridgid brand for 17 years, and it still works great. If you mean a dust collector, I went with a unit from Harbor Frieght. It works very well, and you can modify it easily to remove larger chips and dump them in a separate container. jimsjinx

Gene Howe · Post by **Gene Howe** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 9:59 am

I've had a 16 gal. Craftsman for years and it does a great job. But, OMG is it loud.
As Jim suggested, the 2 HP DC from Harbor Freight is an excellent buy and does the job quite adequately. I vented mine outside, doing away with the need for bags. An inline garbage can separator is a must, though. It catches the chunks before they can damage the vanes in the unit. Most of the fine stuff drops in, too. So, there's actually just a minuscule amount of dust vented outside.

8iowa · Post by **8iowa** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 10:09 am

The best vacs, and most certainly the quietest, are the Festool and Fein. Another big plus that they have is that you can "plug in" your orbital sander, attach the hose, and the vac will suck up virtually all the dust as you sand. Both manufacturers now offer a variable suction feature that fine tunes this dust pick up feature.

I have the Fein Turbo II. It comes with a 5 micron polyester filter, but HEPA filters are also available. A downside is that the attachments are metric and the handy dusting brushes are harder to find. Another disadvantage is that you wife will like this vac so well that it will often be in the house rather than the shop.

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 10:23 am

"A good brand"?
How about Shopsmith?

.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 11:10 am

robinson46176 wrote:"A good brand"?
How about Shopsmith?

.

Shopsmith stopped making Shopvacs years ago, they still make dust collectors but no Shopvacs.

Fein and Festool are the best. The rest will deafen you if you run them long enough.

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 12:58 pm

What ever one ya get MAKE SURE ya get one with low noise level.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 1:08 pm

beeg wrote:What ever one ya get MAKE SURE ya get one with low noise level.

Never heard of one of those!:p

KDC · Post by **KDC** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 1:19 pm

Yes I am wanting a dust collector that will be hosed to my different machines (SS and others).... and yes I want one that is somewhat quiet.

Thanks all!

Shopsmith Forums

Best shop vac

BEST and quietest DUST COLLECTOR

Shop vac