Buying shop vac- recomendations?

[Dale R. Hamilton]

Guess I can't stand the dust-coated spiderwebs anymore. I sweep and sweep- most of it just gets redistributed. So, shop vac I want would be powerfull, and have a smallish diameter hose that would be halfway manageable. What are you guys happy with?

[Donn]

Fein is fine with me!

[Bruce Hooke]

IIRC FineWoodworking reviewed small shop vacs not so long ago.

A basic issue will be how much you want to budget for the purchase. You can spend anywhere from $50 to $500. Spending lots of money gets you a really nice, quiet vaccum with all sorts of nice features like integration with dust producing tools and so on. However, the cheap ones do get the basic job of sucking up dust done.

[seayou77]

Dale, The Fein would be a good purchase, there are two grades, the lesser has a larger size particulate filter and it doesn't have the auto on switch for tools. I buy the cheap ones from Sears or Depot, and they get replaced often. The smaller ones save my back the big one is just too much! You are right about the hose, I scavenged a smaller diameter and it really makes the difference. David

[Noah]

I have a standard Shop-Vac model that has proved to be very tough! After 4 years of sanding lots of paint (both bottom and topsides) and varnish it is still going strong. I mostly use it connected to my Bosch random orbital sander. The vac still has enough strength to hold the random orbital sander on the topsides without it falling off (Not running...)I like Fein tools, but I'm not sure that I would spend the cash to get their shop vac. I suppose that noise is an issue, but I always wear hearing protection when using power tools, and a shop vac is no exception.

Good luck,

Noah

[Concordia..41]

Fein - If for no other reason then the difference in decible level - unless you always wear hearing protection...

[JimConlin]

My next one will be the mid-sized Fein. I'd like to be able to vacuum without my earmuffs.

[Hal Forsen]

Fein; your ears will thank you. After many years of working with a Sears shopvac I finally bit the bullet and bought a Fein and I LOVE it, worth every penny. Especially like the way it works with the R/O sanders.
HF

[coelacanth]

I have a smal Fein and a very large Genie-comparable to a big Shopvac.Fein is quiet enough to use in basement shop when rest of family is sleeping, big vac will suck up anything and wake the dead doing it.I wish I had just bought the big Fein...

[Frank Wentzel]

I bought the big (III) Fein two years ago. The max developed vacuum is much better than other vacs I have used but there is a down-side. The volume of air moved is not as great. The extra-wide floor nozzles from other vacs just don't work worth a darn. You must use smaller tools to take advantage of the higher vacuum. I just bought the Fein carpet/woodfloor nozzle at a woodworking show. Close examination shows that it is designed around the operating parameters of the Fein vac and it does a good job. It should, like all Fein accessories (for the multimaster etc.), the price was very high. $31 for a tool that others sell for $8 to $10. The Fein vac is very quiet compared to any others I've used and a good tool. I'm just not sure it is worth so much more than a Shopvac. I told the Fein salesman that they could get a tremendous increase in sales if their accessories were not so obscenely overpriced. He could do nothing but give me a sick grin.

/// Frank ///

[ 04-05-2005, 09:32 PM: Message edited by: Frank Wentzel ]

[Hal Forsen]

The vac accessories from Veritas /Lee valley work very well with the Fein at a much better price.
HF

[Ed Harrow]

I have the little one. It does a great job at dust control when sanding. The small hose will clog (sometimes in the "nozzle", often at the deflector at the inlet to the tank) if you ask it to vac up chunks, strips, etc, etc. The available larger dia hose helps, the the problem remains at the deflector. I've used it with the bandsaw (lets face it, bandsaws, at least old Delta 14", are the bain of dust control) and it certainly helps (I use the large dia hose).

The bags are horrifically expensive. I use a Shopvac bag that is a near perfect replacement, and much less money.

Complaints aside, it is a great little vac, and I can't imagine being stuck with the old Sears Pratt & Whitney model.

[Todd Bradshaw]

I bought a little, rubbery step-down adaptor for the business end of my Fein that's been pretty handy. It allows the use of most other brands of nozzles, brushes, etc. - which normally wouldn't fit the diameter of the end fitting on the Fein's hose.

[Dale R. Hamilton]

Thanks again guys- I ordered a Fein turbo III and the step addapter- will go out to HD and buy their accessories, and buy shopvac replacement bags- Good tip, thanks Ed

[Alan D. Hyde]

Dale, I know you've already ordered, but one more thought for those who haven't:

Furnace repairmen or companies will often sell you or give you perfectly good squirrel-cage blowers and motors from old furnaces they've replaced.

Hook one of these to pull air out of one end of a fifty-five gallon steel drum. Drop a big cloth (grain or other) bag into the other end of the drum and pull it around onto the drum's exterior before replacing and securing the lid, into which you've plumbed a connector for your hose.* You'll have a big cheap handy vacuum that REALLY SUCKS.

Alan

* If you really want to doll it up, you can put the whole rig onto a wood cradle stand you make for it.

[ 04-06-2005, 04:57 PM: Message edited by: Alan D. Hyde ]

[Todd Bradshaw]

Good for spring shedding season, too!
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid163/p39fc4ce741e91f983a09d16fc15cf2e4/f48d1e17.jpg