New shop vac filter

nothungry3 · Post by **nothungry3** » Tue May 07, 2013 10:16 pm

I bought a Shop Vac drywall filter bag for my 25 year old, 16 gallon shop vac. This thing is amazing! The flow rate thru the vac is insane. The suction is so high that my floor picker-upper attachment sticks to the floor. I haven't put much time on it, so it may clog up over time, but right now it's amazing.

berry · Post by **berry** » Wed May 08, 2013 7:57 am

Mine sticks to the floor or rubber matts too, so I wrapped a couple of cable ties around the floor attachment, creating a gap so the attachment doesn't grab. I also drilled a 3/16" hole in the wand and cover it with painters tape, if there's too much suction I pull the tape off and bleed off some of the suction.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Wed May 08, 2013 1:47 pm

What was on the shop vac before the 'dry wall bag'?

I assume the new bag has a larger surface area?

nothungry3 · Post by **nothungry3** » Wed May 08, 2013 9:07 pm

JPG40504 wrote:What was on the shop vac before the 'dry wall bag'?

I assume the new bag has a larger surface area?

The fan inlet has a foam cylinder and a paper filter element covers that.
The new filter unrolls into the vac cavity. The surface area is easily 20 - 30 times larger.

keakap · Post by **keakap** » Sat May 18, 2013 5:45 pm

Sounds like you have the ShopSmith Shop Mate vacuum, or "SQDCS". I've had mine about that long too, but I was lucky enough to pick up the "stock" cloth filter and cage setup when I got it.
The vacuum is and always has been awesome with this thing, and doesn't seem to change a bit right up to when the whole can is full.
But wait a sec, are you sure the capacity is 16G? This can is about 1-1/2' by 2', I thought it was about 30 G.
? Anaway, says ShopSmith right on the motor housing label and on the can. Funny, 'cause when I axed SS a couply years ago about fittings that would fit it, they disavowed not only making it but even selling it! (I bought it from the ShopSmith Store in Calif.)

A Best Buy, fer sher!