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Okay, I am a convert . . .


hokeyhydro

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If you aimed a leaf blower anywhere in my garage you would be instantly buried in a cloud of dust = cedar, Okoumi, and a dash of epoxy. Everything is coated with sanding dust. My go-to sander has a dust bag but it isn't very efficient. So I( got a small Shop Vac with a 4' hose, added another 8' of hose, and rigged it up to the sander.

Test time tonight: Okay, more electric cords to dodge, and it is a slightly more clumsy to handle, but I sanded, and sanded. The air was clear. The sander itself was still clean, not coated with dust as usual. I was clean! I ran my hand over the sanded surface and did pick up dust, but not much.

The new me - dragging an 1 1/4" hose attached to a Vacuum along with the DeWalt sander, well worth the annoyance of cords and hose . . .

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I'd probably try that but might end up hanging myself in all the cords and hoses..........

Seriously, sounds worth a try.  I use a shop vac on my table saw when working inside.  Makes a pretty good dust collector.  My shop is small so I have to keep my power tools mobile so a regular dust collecting system not very practical.

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Yeah, I'm working out of a "two car" garage = two very small cars. A serious downsize from my former 625 sq ft garage. I use a little shop vac - 2.5 gallon - so the rig is compact. Worth it for sure. I have the larger shop vac riggedd to hook up to the router table and table saw, and for any shop vac/tool combo I wear ear protection.

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http://www.bobmarinosbesttools.com/ro-125-t-locct-mini/p/PM571782/

 

Expensive, but is incredibly dust free, it has to be seen to be believed.  The dust I have left after sanding a panel with this sander can be picked up with a single pass of tack rag.  Makes sanding far less of a chore, plus the dust collection keeps the sandpaper from clogging, so it lasts far longer than on my Bosch sander.

 

Fred

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Phil Thien has a design for a "chip collector" style dust collector that seems to work really well. Plans are on his site at http://www.jpthien.com/cy.htm

 

I used a similar "trash can" set up for my planer, but had a side entry and then a box on top for the exhaust that took a 20" furnace filter. It worked pretty well, but the comments on Thien's forum show that his chip collector does a superior job.

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Another vote for the Thien baffle, I use one in front of my dust collector. 

 

So far I've generated approx 25 gallons of sawdust and have less than a approx 1/4 cup of ultra fine dust in the dust collector bag. I built mine with a side inlet.  Dust collector w/ a Thien baffle works great on the table saw, band saw, jointer, etc but for dust collection on smaller tools like a sander, you need a vac instead of dust collector - the hoses are too small to support the air flow needed for efficient dust collection when using a dust collector.

 

I use a dust deputy cyclone in front of my vac. My father is using a Thien baffle in front of his craftsman shop vac and it works very well there.  Not quite as well as with my dust collector, but it does work as well as the dust deputy I use in front of my vac.

 

Fred

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http://www.bobmarinosbesttools.com/ro-125-t-locct-mini/p/PM571782/

 

Expensive, but is incredibly dust free, it has to be seen to be believed.  The dust I have left after sanding a panel with this sander can be picked up with a single pass of tack rag.  Makes sanding far less of a chore, plus the dust collection keeps the sandpaper from clogging, so it lasts far longer than on my Bosch sander.

 

Fred

Yeah, $846.50 *croak* No thank you, I'll stick with my $29.95 shop vac.
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The tools are definitely not for everyone, thankfully there are lots of brands to choose from. 

 

The only thing I'll add is don't ever try one, because if you do you'll never go back to the inexpensive brands. I originally bought my sander and vac because of one specific job I needed to do and I agonized for quite a while before I finally convinced myself to spend the money and told myself that's the one and only thing I'll of theirs I'll ever buy. Big mistake, over the last few years I've replaced all my lower cost tools because of how much better these really are.

 

But again, they're not for every one and I'm not trying to convince anyone to buy these, just wanted to share the fact that there are alternatives to working in a cloud of dust.  Like choosing a boat, it all comes down to your needs, desires and budget.

 

Fred

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