Trouble with Shop Vac

Fiddleback

Fiddleback

Knifemaker
Moderator
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 19, 2005
Messages
19,960
So I've gone through two shop vacs (actually made by shop vac) in six months. The company replaced the first one, and are now refusing to replace the 2nd.

Are y'all having better luck with other brands? Which?
 
I just got one of the Dewalt quiet (can’t remember what it’s actually called) shop vacs last summer and so far I love it. It’s soooo much quieter than my old craftsman.
 
Or, get a small dust collector from HF or elsewhere and vent it outside. To see what I am referring to, look in the big A under Wen dust collector, or at HF.
They run around $125 . I am sure Etsy and Vevor have them, too.

1769641416099.png
 
Last edited:
I bought one of the Dewalt Stealthsonic also. It is super quiet comopared to any other shop vac I've used. Hepa air filters and vacuum bags are available for it.
 
I had a coworker borrow a shop vac from work, of course he blamed it on his wife, but someone ran drywall dust and no filter until the bearings and motor/commutator was just ruined within a few weeks.

The same happens over long term. The foam filters are not good.

If you can find the hepa filter, even from cross brands, put it in and use a foam prefilter.

A vortex dust bong water trap ahead of it helps too.
Dust Deputy 2.5 Deluxe or similar maybe harbour freight - I use windshield washer fluid and a drop of Dawn to catch sparks, hopefully it doesn't freeze or burn.

Airflow is essential to vaccum motor cooling so very regular filter cleaning is needed.
 
I bought a old Craftsman brand new shop vac back in the day when I owned a contracting business. The first time I fired it up my partner said well that won't last. 30 years later it's my go to shop vac. It still sounds bad on start up. I use it daily in my knife shop.
 
Last edited:
I've had a Ridgid vac for years, and I also picked up a Craftsman vac that looks like it's the same model rebranded. Over the years, the most common failure is a thermal fuse that's wired in series with the motor. This tends to fail if you block the air flow over the the motor, don't clean your filter often enough, or just run the thing for too long. You can purchase and replace these fuses, though it's a little bit of a pain in the ass depending one how your vacuum is put together. Last time the fuse blew on my Ridgid, I wired in a push button resettable thermal fuse and mounted it next to the power switch. Works like a charm.
 
Fiddleback said:
Its got a hepa filter on it, we clean it regularly, both machines the motor failed. I'm full time, have a dust collection system, and the vac is only used to vaccuum up dust.
Click to expand...
I use mine for grinding and shop clean up. I use a 5 gallon bucket dust collector inline https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQJNRQ4N?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title to catch most of the debris before it gets to the vacuum. It helps the hepa bag and filer last a lot longer. For fire prevention, because I used plastic hoses and buckets, I keep a small amount of water in the bottom of the bucket and I wet grind.
 
A simple dust-deputy setup is worth a lot. It helps the shop vac as well as makes keeping things clean easier. The smaller ones work great with even a smaller shop vac. As I have recommended in other posts, if possible, vent the shop vac or blower outside the shop. That keeps even the fine dust out.
The basic plastic dust deputy tops that fit a 5-gallon pail or metal bucket are less than $50 now. The all metal ones are not expensive either. There is no reason a knifemaker should not have and use one. I have one attached to every shop vac in the shops ( four, IIRC.) as well as the main dust collector.
Since most of us use PVC pipe and the standard flex hoses on out vacs, putting an inch of water and soap in the bottom of the dust deputy bucket is wise. If you wet grind, it will collect there on its own.

Equally important is regular maintenance of vacuums and dust collectors. In a hobby shop, maybe dump everything once a week. In a busier shop, daily. Blow or shake out the filters and if venting inside the shop, use a pre-filter on the main filter. HEPA is nice if it works for your type of knifemaking. It clogged so fast on me that I would have to stop to dump the vac and shake/blow out the filter almost every hour when doing handles. The dust-deputy and venting outside solved that. I just use a pleated filter only, now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top