Shop Vacuums
I started using a Kärcher WD5 premium industrial vacuum cleaner as dust collector in my shop which we used while doing the renovation of our house. Quickly I had ideas to use a cyclone to better separate the chips and sawdust. I ordered a cyclone from bangood but finally used a dust collector from Triton.
That setup works fine but of course has its pros and cons. Finally everyone has to decide for himself what it good for him to use. The WD5 Premium costs about CHF 200, and the DCA300 can be ordered online for round about CHF 75. Let’s say that solution is in the range of CHF 250-300 depending on where you order it. The biggest disadvantage for me it the shop space occupied by those two and the capacity of the dust/sawdust collector cannot be easily seen. The hose is relatively thin but for most of the power tools I use ok.
After some thinking I decided to buy a Festool shopvac with compatible cyclone. Initially I was thinking to buy a cheaper dust class L vacuum but at the end I bought a Festool CTM 26 AC. Some might think that is a bit too much for a DIY basement workshop but I thought to invest into my health and get the class M vacuum. Of course the CTM 26 does not come bundled with the cyclone which I had to order separately. Following the statement “Every device is better with Bluetooth” I added the Bluetooth remote module to the vacuum. The new vacuum setup consists of the following parts :
All assembled together occupies much less space than the previous setup. Costwise it is of course much higher.
Finally I’m very happy with that setup. Compared with the Kärcher setup is it more powerful and the amount of shop space occupied is much lower. I can see the level of dust/chips collected in the transparent bin easily.
Adapter
Searching on Thingiverse for different types of adapters I always stumbled across the rLab Unified Dust Collection System. I did print one or the other adapter already but have not realized the potential of that system.
The system contains a good amount of adapters for different hose sizes and even fittings to interconnect them. At the end I was lacking the suitable end parts to connect the hose to my different machines. I overcame that issue by picking a simple 3D design tool and changed available designs or even combined two different ones to extend the rLab system adapters to my needs.
Based on the provided design from the rLab system I did create the following designs using Tinkercad and printed them on my Prusa Mini 3D printer. The following listed I have printed with the Prusa Mini 3D and I use them in my shop. The additional rLab designs I have created can be downloaded from my Thingiverse Account.
Hose
For the connection of the dust extractor and the machines I use a 2 and 3m long hose, which I ordered in Switzerland from Peter Hefti AG. The article number is 11.11115-050-101. The hose has a 50mm inside and a 56mm outside diameter and cost about CHF18.40 without MwSt. and shipping cost.
On both ends of the hose I added the hose end fittings which are supplied as part of the rLab Unified Dust Collection System The STL file I printed is named “hose_end_fitting_V4.0.stl”.
The hose with the 3D printed hose end fittings attached:
Adapter for the Festool CTM26
The STL model can be downloaded from my Thingiverse account. When this adapter is attached to the vacuum cleaner or the cyclone you can easily attach the previously equipped hose to it and the machines that need dust collection.
Adapter for the Triton Jointer TSPL152
For attaching the hose to the Triton TSPL152 jointer I have directly attached the “Straight_Sleeve_fitting_V4.0.stl” which is part of the rLab Unified Dust Collection System.
With a little force the printed adapter can be attached directly to the hose connector of the jointer.
Adapter for the Makita 2012NB Thickness Planer
For attaching the hose to the Makita 2012NB to the CTM/Cyclone combination I modified an adapter contained in the rLab system with Tinkercad.
You can download the model from my Thingiverse account.
Adapter for the Dewalt DWE7492 tablesaw
In order to attach the DeWalt DWE7492 to my dust collection setup I combined two adapters from the rLab system using Tinkercad and added a suitable fitting to the dust collection port of the saw.
You can download the model from my Thingiverse account.
Adapter for my Alduro disc sander combination TBS-151
Since I wanted to be able to attach my disc sander to the same hose system, I created an additional adapter based on an rLab System adapter with some modifications done in Tinkercad.
You can download the model from my Thingiverse account.
Adapter for the router table (Triton MOF001 and Sauter router fence)
For the router table I created two adapters to split the 50mm hose to two 32/38mm hoses. One hose is connected to the Triton MOF001 router and the second hose is attached to the Sauter router fence. I did connect multiple rLab system connector with Tinkercad and added a mounting plate to fix the connector to the 30x30mm aluminum slot profiles.
Y-Adapter connecting the Triton MOF001 and the router fence
You can download the model from my Thingiverse account.
Adapter for attaching a 38mm hose to the router fence
You can download the model from my Thingiverse account.
Dust filter
The dust collection on the power tools and machinery in my shop is fine but not enough. The small room in the basement where I have my shop setup contains a small window only. That window does not provide any daylight and using it to get fresh air in is almost impossible. In order to minimize the dust in the air I bought and attached a Record Power AC400 dust filter under the ceiling in my shop
I ordered the AC400 from Maschinenhandel Meyer in germany. I start the filter whenever I go into my shop and work with power tools. When I leave the shop I set the timer of the dust filter to 1 hour, so the filter does air filtering for another hour after I left before it automatically turns off.
