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Machine Shop Vacuum for Swarf

Machine
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kstrauss

Super User
I use an ancient Ridgid shop vacuum sucking through a DustDeputy cyclone separator on a 5-gal bucket to attempt to keep swarf -- mostly aluminum with some plastic -- under control. This mostly works but the vacuum doesn't have sufficient "suck" to pickup balls of fine swarf or clumps of the curly stuff and ensure that it gets through the hose. I think that a more powerful shop vac may solve the problem but I'm unsure of how to choose. The adverts claim "6HP peak" (but drawing 10amps so unlikely) and other nonsense. Since everything is trapped by the DustDeputy I don't need a large container on the vacuum.

Recommendations?

Does anyone use a BusyBee or similar dust collector on metal bits?
 
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I used a Craftsman "5hp" shop vacuum for many years just until recently when I upgraded to a similar sized "Vacmaster" from Princess Auto. I've always vacuumed up huge amounts of oil swarf with them. Yes the interior of the hose gets greasy grimy and I have occasional hose plugs but for me it works well. I keep a separate hose end tool for vacuuming out vehicle interiors as my shop one gets too greasy and dirty for that.
 
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kstrauss said:
I use an ancient Ridgid shop vacuum sucking through a DustDeputy cyclone separator on a 5-gal bucket to attempt to keep swarf -- mostly aluminum with some plastic -- under control. This mostly works but the vacuum doesn't have sufficient "suck" to pickup balls of fine swarf or clumps of the curly stuff and ensure that it gets through the hose. I think that a more powerful shop vac may solve the problem but I'm unsure of how to choose. The adverts claim "6HP peak" (but drawing 10amps so unlikely) and other nonsense. Since everything is trapped by the DustDeputy I don't need a large container on the vacuum.

Recommendations?

Does anyone use a BusyBee or similar dust collector on metal bits?
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My rigid works fine for everything but big clumps and very long swarf.

Rather than HP of the vacuum consider increasing the velocity of the airflow. Think of tornados, larger objects need greater wind velocity to move in order to overcome their inertia.

Decreasing a section of hose while maintaining the same airflow volume increases the velocity of the airstream.

This is why nozzles come with vacuums.
 
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Good timing on this as I'm looking for ways to keep swarf under control.
A traditional dust collector is likely not a good choice for a couple of reasons.
1) they pull the material over the fan and so there's a good chance a massive tangle would occur. And depending on the fan material potentially sparks.
2) they operate on a high volume, low pressure basis vs a shop vacuum which is a low volume, high pressure. That high pressure is what you want in this case.
 
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David_R8 said:
Good timing on this as I'm looking for ways to keep swarf under control.
A traditional dust collector is likely not a good choice for a couple of reasons.
1) they pull the material over the fan and so there's a good chance a massive tangle would occur. And depending on the fan material potentially sparks.
2) they operate on a high volume, low pressure basis vs a shop vacuum which is a low volume, high pressure. That high pressure is what you want in this case.
Click to expand...
a cyclone between the dust collector and the nozzle prevents anything getting tangled in the blower.

dust collector fans have sufficient static pressure to serve the same purpose, but the hose dimension needs to decrease to increase the velocity.

that said, for metal swarf I prefer a vacuum, a cyclonic separator and a 15 gallon blue polyethylene barrel. They can be tapped to drain off waste oil... and are not too heavy when about 1/3 full of swarf.
 
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TorontoBuilder said:
a cyclone between the dust collector and the nozzle prevents anything getting tangled in the blower.

dust collector fans have sufficient static pressure to serve the same purpose, but the hose dimension needs to decrease to increase the velocity.

that said, for metal swarf I prefer a vacuum, a cyclonic separator and a 15 gallon blue polyethylene barrel. They can be tapped to drain off waste oil... and are not too heavy when about 1/3 full of swarf.
Click to expand...
Decreasing the hose diameter on a high volume, low pressure (HVLP) collector significantly reduces the flow which is what makes a HVLP collector work. So not really a good solution.
 
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David_R8 said:
Decreasing the hose diameter on a high volume, low pressure (HVLP) collector significantly reduces the flow which is what makes a HVLP collector work. So not really a good solution.
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Except you are no longer seeking to move large volumes of air for dust removal... I agree that dust removal needs to move massive volumes of air because the motors of woodworking tools throw duct across a wide area that must be effectively captured to capture the dust.

BUT we're not speaking about dust now, with swarf our requirements change. We're now seeking higher velocity air to pick up swarf, a low volume high velocity task. The only issue becomes does the blower have sufficient static pressure for to move higher velocity air through smaller section of duct.
 
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If you just want a better bigger one, My main criteria would be sound. The quieter the better. Second would be bag availability, and cost. They're all similar in suckage and fake HP, but nothing is more annoying than a whiny shopvac. Air tools, maybe......

I have a big shop vac, but use my little "buckethead" more in the shop as it's smaller and easier to empty. It doesn't get the big stuff, but I sweep and scoop that up anyway. Or just grab it with hands and toss in the garbage. For the price (~$40) I've been pretty happy with it.
E9c6NAUl.jpg
 
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Dan Dubeau said:
If you just want a better bigger one, My main criteria would be sound. The quieter the better. Second would be bag availability, and cost. They're all similar in suckage and fake HP, but nothing is more annoying than a whiny shopvac. Air tools, maybe......

I have a big shop vac, but use my little "buckethead" more in the shop as it's smaller and easier to empty. It doesn't get the big stuff, but I sweep and scoop that up anyway. Or just grab it with hands and toss in the garbage. For the price (~$40) I've been pretty happy with it.
E9c6NAUl.jpg
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I had not heard of these till 10 seconds ago. Very cool!
 
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Mostly machining, very little woodworking. I use a few vacuums - a decent Ridgid shop vac (6.5 HP? B.S.) and a couple of cheap handheld Shark vacuums. One rechargeable, one 120 VAC. The Shark vacuums clog quickly but are very easy to empty, and you can usually pick them up for a song at the Value Village boutique. Surprising amount of suction on the little Shark vacuums, and when they die it’s no big deal to find a new one.

IMG_6452.jpeg

Experience has shown me that the rechargeable ones show up at thrift stores because they wont‘t charge, but the batteries are usually OK. The charging circuit board isn’t protected at all, and get fried by dust. I remove the charging board and just replace it with a resistor and a simple on-off switch.

The Ridgid vac gets used when I do a full shop clean, it’s better on the floors than the little Shark vacuums.
 
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I use an older Rigid 5 HP vacuum that has a fairly small container. It uses a paper element filter to stop dust from going through the blower and motor. I was wash and dry the elements and reuse them. Best to do that in the summer when you can leave them out in the sun to dry. I made my own cyclone bucket from 5 gallon plastic pail with a snap on lid. Just used some ABS plumbing fittings through the lid of the bucket to match up with my vacuum hoses. I had to buy a second vacuum hose for the input to the bucket. Works fairly well at sucking up swarf, but does plug once in while. The 2nd hose has screw on end fittings so it is fairly easy to deal with a plug up.
 
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Darren said:
I use this one: https://www.homedepot.ca/product/ri...f-blower-and-accessories/1001200972?rrec=true

Its a beast. It works great for swarf.
Click to expand...

I use a big one just like yours to clean the shop.

I use it's smaller brother for swarf. It has a smaller diameter hose which helps keep the velocity up to pick up steel chips and suck them out from under a vise. I made my own hose nozzle that fits the T-Slots and gets into tight spots better.


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Has a 5hp (claimed) motor and really does do a great job on small swarf. I manually put the big swarf in two big garbage cans (one for steel & one for aluminium) and take it to the scrap yard. I don't get much for it, but at least I know it really does get recycled. Stainless, cast iron, brass, & copper go in smaller 5 gallon pails.
 
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I use a Dust collect cyclone and hepa filter with about 1600cfm, for Aluminium scarf I use a steel garbage can converted to a cyclone as a prefilter.

Anything remotely sparky or hot is arrested in a steel pail without draw. Any spill over is collected later.

Why? Dust explosions are extremely scary and I don't want to be on the news or a Darwin Award winner.

Also keep in mind wet fine Aluminium scarf under the right conditions can be considered flammable, thank you WHIMIS.

The best advise is consider anything that is fine particles as flammable and potentially explosive, this should keep you out of trouble.
 
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Thanks for everyone's comments! To clarify a few points:
I mostly use a nozzle with an oval end that just goes into the T-slots on the hose. The nozzle probably increases the flow rate but is also a problem -- clumps of swarf blocks the end of the nozzle.

My cyclone does a very good job of dropping the chips into the 5-gal bucket. Almost nothing makes it to the vacuum so its filter is not an issue.

Noise level is not a huge problem since I only run the vacuum during the very occasional cleanup.
 
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