Dust Collectors for Power Hand Tools?

Article - June 15, 2007

This question about dust collectors for power hand tools comes from Robert:

I would like to ask a question about dust collection. I have a small workshop in my garage and have found dust to be a major problem. I don’t have any large machines but I do have small power tools such as routers, circular saws, biscuit joiner, sanders etc. and hope to get a saw bench and a thicknesser some time in the future. I seem I have two options: a dust extractor with 4 inch pipe reduced down to the hand tool size hose or a workshop vacuum. As my wife watches your podcast with me she straight away picked up you saying that your workshop vacuum clogs up sometimes and is adamant that I need a dust extractor, but I am working on the theory that the dust extraction on the tools I have would work better with the greater suction of a vacuum rather than the greater flow of the extractor. I’m happy to be in the wrong; I just would like to buy the correct unit for our needs. Could you give us the benefit of your experience in this matter?

And here was my reply:
First let’s clear the air on terminology. For the most part, a dust extractor is a specialize shop-vac style unit that’s intended for use on small tools. A dust collector is a larger unit designed to collect dust from larger tools. So when you say “dust extractor” I assume you’re referring to a traditional large unit dust collector. In that case, I do feel a dust collector is a good investment, but I would pretty much reserve it for stationary power tools. I don’t think a dust collector is a good option for the powered hand tools. I suppose you could do it, but it think it would be a big pain in the butt. By the time you reduce the diameter down to a hand tool size, the suction wouldn’t be very good and the 4″ hose would be quite annoying to work with. I use a true dust extractor for my hand tool applications these days. I got sick of the shop vac clogging up on me all the time and I upgraded to one of the Festool vacs. This guy is meant for dust extraction from tools and isn’t harmed by the fine dust. Plus, its a heck of a lot quieter than running the cyclone or a shop vac.

So i would say stick with the Shop Vac for now. And if you decide to upgrade in the future, be sure to upgrade to a higher quality extractor like the ones Festool offers. Keep the big dust collector for the big tools. Good luck.

For a more thorough answer to a similar question, check out this article.

Discussion

Jorge Monclova June 15, 2007 11:23 am

Hi All,

I’m been going back and forth between buying a Jet DC-650 dust collector or a large shop vac. I have the Ridgid TS3650 contractor table saw which comes with a 4″ dust collection port, a small Ryobi router table and some basic small power tools (router, sander, etc…). I figured I would buy the dust collector thinking that it would work with all my tools and I would be ready for when I buy the other stationary tools. My question is: If I buy the dust collector, do I still need to buy the shop vac for the smaller tools? If I buy the shop vac alone will it be sufficient for my table saw?

Jorge

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25 June 15, 2007 1:01 pm

As a note they do make bags for the shop vacs that filter pretty small particles. I think they usually call them Drywall filter bags. I’ve been using them for a while now and they work pretty well.

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Tim June 15, 2007 1:29 pm

Our friends at the Taunton Press (Fine Homebuilding this time) have recently written an article/review on â

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Mattias in Durham NC June 15, 2007 1:38 pm

Hi everyone,
In addition to hooking the tool up to a vacuum, I can recommend placing the end of a 4″ dust collector hose within 1-2′ of the sander (or whatever you are doing). A shop vac would not work this way: There is not enough air flow, but a dust collector works great. It even works with a miter saw if you place the hose right up behind the saw. I can usually “smell” the saw dust in the air due to allergies, and with this method there is none. And if you have sunlight, you get the pleasure of seeing the dust move into the hose like if it was magnetically charged.

Mattias

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techie June 15, 2007 2:04 pm

I have found for my movable tools, the shop vac works great. But an addition to the vac (in between the vac and the tool) i use an Oneida Dust Deputy. This thing is so great, i wonder why i never bought one sooner. It uses nothing mechanical (no filters, motors, etc). To separate dusty air before entering the vacuum itself. They claim 99% efficient. I do NOT dispute that claim. I have used 3000 grit sandpaper (dry) for bar tops. And no a word of a lie it prevented every spec of this micro dust from hitting my shop vac filter. I use it for portable thickness planer, slider, and tablesaw with FANTASTIC RESULTS.

They can be found on Oneida-air.com (or just google it). There are gimmicks that claim to do the same thing, but i would be cautious towards those.

lates

P.S. I used have to spend like $20.00 every three months ($60 a year) for new filters for my vacuum, but now i spend only $20 a year. This device will easily pay for itself very quickly! And since there is nothing to EVER fail on the dust deputy (absolutely NO moving parts), it will outlive me guaranteed!!!…

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thewoodwhisperer June 15, 2007 2:31 pm

Hey Jorge. To answer your questions, a shop vac would not be adequate for the tablesaw. And if you buy a dust collector, I would indeed advise getting a shop vac or some other dust extraction system for the smaller tools. Although technically, you could get away with using the dust collector for a while, especially at close range. But you might simply wind up air starving the dust collector. So really, this is one of those times I whole heartedly recommend both.

Now that dust deputy sounds kind of interesting. I haven’t really looked into it but I will check it out.

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Tim June 15, 2007 3:36 pm

I recommend the Fein vacuum systems (spring for the one that you can plug your tool into and the vacuum comes on when you fire up the tool and runs a few seconds after you shut the tool off). I am building a kayak and use it on my orbital sander and it is great on the biscuit joiner when building shelves. Very quiet-lots of power-worth the cost-haven’t clogged it yet.

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Alex June 16, 2007 11:22 am

I just checked out Clear Vue Cyclones to get the model number for their smallest cyclone for use with a Shop-Vac. It’s the Mini CV06. An option for the Oneida if you want. Looks like they’ve got a June sale going on too!

Alex

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Brandon June 16, 2007 2:29 pm

The dust collection robert was asking about can be done with a dust deputy for 200 dollars from oneida. The deputy is a mini cyclone that hooks up to your shop vac and into a five gallon bucket. I don’t have one personaly, but I am thinking of buying one for my buddy who is a poor graduate student with a small shop. He complains of the same problems as robert and I mentioned this to him. THIS IS MADE BY ONEIDA

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Kip Kussman June 17, 2007 1:47 pm

Marc, Dead on answer to his question. Festool would also have been my choice.

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Frank June 20, 2007 8:59 am

I happen to have both the Fein Turbo II and the Festool CT22. Both are great machines but there are a few differences:

The Fein has an advantage because you donâ

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Wally July 27, 2007 1:19 pm

TRY THE DUST DEPUTY FROM ONEIDA…YOU ABSOLUTELY WON’T BE DISAPPOINTED….ALSO FOR SMALL SHOPS LIKE MINE, THEIR 3HP GORILLA DUST COLLECTION SYSTEM IS TREMENDOUS! I HAVE BOTH AND LOVE THEM. THEY BUILT LIKE TANKS…A VERY GOOD COMPANY TO DO BUSINAESS WITH TOO!

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Norman February 21, 2017 7:40 am

Hi, I’ve just recently received a Dewalt DW745 portable table saw for my small home workshop. Now, I want to start getting rid of the dust that I enjoy making. The remainder of my power tools are made up of hand tools, however I’m in negotiations with my Mrs to purchase a bench top planner (probably a Dewalt DW734). Where I live in the Qatar there is no DIY/home workshop type market do everything is either shop made or bought online and shipped at international prices. I have a 1500W home vac and was considering connecting that to the Oneida Dust Deputy cyclone. In your experience, do you reckon this should be ok? The biggest factor is that my entire workshop has to be portable except for the benches which stay outside on my roof. In June 2015 there was a similar question pertaining to the TS3650 table saw with a negative result, are you still of the same opinion?

Regards and thanks in advance,

Norman

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Dust Collectors for Power Hand Tools?

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