Does anyone have any suggestions for UK suppliers of dust extractors please?
I do not want to do a DIY one as time is suddenly become very precious now, so am looking to buy something in. I’m unsure if I need a cyclone unit as well, but have seen things like
As small as possible which contradicts having as big a collector as possible
As simple as possible.
Portable.
Everything I have read seems rather circular and seems to think I know what I need whereas I’m after a muppet introduction. Do I need a cyclone unit or will the dedicated ones ‘just work’?
Any help welcomed. Anything you have brought that works for you would be good to know about.
(For some reason, Amazon links are not displaying as pictures )
You can use just a shop-vac (like your second link) but the fine dust rapidly clogs the filter and reduces its suction effectiveness. Adding a “second stage” between the dust source (the MPCNC) and the vacuum attempts to capture the dust before it gets to the vacuum filter. Options for this second stage range from cyclone separators to separator bucket tops to diy thein baffles to 5 gallon buckets with a couple of pvc pipe elbows. The common feature of them all is to slow the dust down so it falls out of the airstream in a separate container from the main body of the shop vac.
For an easy turn-key solutuon, I’d look at a shop vac plus molded cyclone (e.g. dust deputy) that bolts to the top of a 5 gallon (20 litre ?) bucket.
Thanks for the information. From what you are saying, it appears that the ideal solution is a simple, powerful and cheap suction pump with a cyclone ‘second stage’ to remove the actual wood dust as it’s heavier than air. It makes little sense to spend a lot of money on the suction pump for features as it’s ‘just’ sucking air. So I’d be better off working out how to plumb a simple and powerful vac (with filters removed?), a cyclone separator and a extraction bucket into my MPCNC.
Keep the dust filter in the vacuum. That will catch the very fine particles that make it through the cyclone. You’ll need to clean it occasionally, but not nearly as often as you would if you didn’t have the cyclone.
There’s a class of shop vacs available in the US that are smaller and more boxy like this one or this one. Note these are links to look at the shape, not a recommendation for a specific model - apparently there’s some premium cost driver I don’t understand since the prices seem to vary a lot.
Since you don’t need the holding capacity in the shop-vac itself, one of those might fit under your table better.
I’d also suggest a fine dust bag in the shop vac. I pulled my filter out because I don’t think it’s doing anything anymore, but there is plenty of fine dust that can get through those filters, and that’s the stuff light enough to hang around for a while so you can breathe it. I had quite an amazing sculpture on the wall by my shop vac exhaust. The bags are under 10 bucks each (sometimes as low as 5) and they last a really long time because most of the debris gets caught in the separator.
That’s exacly the sort of things I’m looking at. I have circa 55cm (20" or so) under the table so a small vac is essential.
I’ve worked out I can put a 30cm (12") bucket system on the side of the table so it doesn’t stick out and with a vac under the table, it’s all self contained. Most systems seem to use this approach
or contrary to what I have just said, building one myself. The cheaper home made buckets seem to suffer when the capacity is reduced by more than 25% unless you put a baffle in which again reduces the suction capacity. I’ll see if I can find a review of the Triton with some numbers attached to it.
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