Sander -> ShopVac best results?

[photostu]

I just purchased a Makita BO5041 ROS and have the necessary tubes/adapters to connect this to my Rigid ShopVac that also has the faux cyclone that sits on top of a 5gal bucket.
When I connect the tubing plus the step down adapter, the bucket starts to cave in a bit cause I'm starving the airflow. I can still feel suction from the end of the tube, but I'm not certain its working all to well, cause I'm still getting a good amount of fine dust on my work surface as I'm sanding. What am I doing wrong in this process? Thoughts?
I can post pics later if need be.

 

[Charles Lent]

I think your hose and sander might have too much restriction for the vacuum that you are using. Look it over to see if there is some kind of narrow area in them that is reducing the flow possibilities.

For a collapsing bucket, the best solution that I've come up with is to stack two or more buckets together, but actually only use the top bucket for collecting the saw dust. Doing this will increase the wall thickness of your dust collection bucket, reducing it's tendency to collapse when the vacuum is running. I have a re-purposed whole house central vac unit and when I first tried using it with a Dust Deputy and 5 gallon plastic bucket, I collapsed the bucket in just a few seconds. I needed to stack 3 of the red buckets (see below) stacked together to get the strength that I needed. I now use a 20 gallon metal drum under the Dust Deputy that's connected to the Central Vacuum unit.

I also found that the Red recycled pickle buckets available from the Firehouse Subs chain are stronger than those
white, blue, or orange buckets (more ribs around the upper 1/3). They are sold for $2 each and the money collected goes to the local fire and rescue depts. Unfortunately, they will make your shop smell like dill pickles for a few months. Nothing, but leaving the buckets open and outside in the Sunshine for a few weeks seems to get the smell out. I tried many cleaning solutions.

Charley

 

[sawman101]

Interesting question. I am following this post as I decide how to collect dust from 5" ROS without plumbing into DC system. Thanks for your ideas Charley!

 

[photostu]

Thank you for the thoughts. I thought that the port on the ROS looked kinda small and its the most obvious flow restriction point. But I don't see any other sanders with exhaust ports that look significantly bigger than what's on my sander.
I'll look into the pickle buckets from Firehouse Subs and leave them outside for a couple of years
The other option is to drop major coin on a Festool dust extractor, not mentally prepared for that yet.

 

[Rwe2156]

Stuart,

I've found collecting small hand tools like sanders to be less than satisfactory with a shop vac. They just don't do well with narrow diameter hoses with high static pressure.

I would recommend the Festool extractor. There is no comparison in its efficiency and noise level.

Like, you I never thought I'd spend that much but when I bought Domino last year, I splurged for the extractor. Worth every penny IMO.

 

[photostu]

Do we get 10% off at Klingspor for Festool?

 

[tri4sale]

The other option is to drop major coin on a Festool dust extractor, not mentally prepared for that yet.

Worth. Every. Penny!!! (and yes it's a lot of them!!!)

And sorry no 10% off for Festool. Not sure if they'll have any discounts on them at the extravaganza coming up, but maybe worth waiting to see, can't remember from years past what was discounted.

 

[golfdad]

Guys I went with a Fein Dust Exstractor on my random orbit Sander and there is no sanding dust with this setup. Worth looking into

 

[photostu]

Which Fein model? Turbo I, II ,etc?

 

[JeffH]

I had the same problem and wasted a lot of time trying to rig up internal bracing for the plastic buckets. Finally gave up and switched to ten gallon fiber drums a few years ago. Problem solved!

 

[sawman101]

One thought Stuart, is to drill a hole, maybe 1/2" in the reducer, to lessen the vacuum in the system, much the same as vacuum cleaners that have that feature as something that has a sliding cover, thereby regulating the inches of vacuum in the system. You could do that with a piece of tape and trial and error. Cheaper than messing around with all kinds of containers.

 

[JimD]

I use a 10amp rigid shop vac pulling through a dust deputy with my sanders, track saw and domino. I do not have any issue with the drywall bucket under the dust deputy. I use a Bosch 5 meter hose to connect to these tools (and also my CMS). The only issue I have is sometimes the suction is enough it is a little hard to move the sander around. I do not notice dust escaping unless the sander is only partially supported by the workpiece. I use the same setup with a Festool hand sander (mostly on drywall) and it is really bad about not wanting to move. But the sander has a port that lets in more air and that helps.

You did not mention the hose you are using but the Bosch hose is not very expensive, I think it's about $30. The large end will connect to the DD without an adapter. My Bosch DEVS 1250, DeWalt track saw, and Domino 700 do not need an adapter but my DeWalt ROS does. I recommend you try this hose. It is roughly equivalent to the larger Festool hose, the 35mm hose, I think they call it. But it does not dissipate static like some Festool hoses do (which causes me no issues).