I don't do a lot of wood work but occasionally use a radial arm saw for cross cutting and ripping a few boards. Up until now it was set-up in the barn and I just swept up every now and then, now it will be in my new pole building and I'd like to keep things cleaner. Will a normal shop-vac work very well?
Shop vac works well for my radial arm saw. Has for 50 years and there are a lot of hours on it. Do have to empty the canister on occasion, and not let it fill up as a member found out awhile back.
Suspect he just gets a new shop vac and starts over. ;)
Try one of the dust deputys on a 5 gallon bucket in front of the vacuum. I used one for years on my first cnc router and never had to clean the vacuum filter.
Just open all the windows and doors and fire up the leaf blower, and try to go in the same direction as the wind.
Note: Make sure light stuff you desire to keep is anchored or held down.
That is what I use to clean out the garage.
GAB
Due to the barn setup I needed all the woodworking on mobile benches so I could just pull the table saw, router, etc out to the middle when I do projects. I couldn't do a centralized dust collection for that reason, that and I'm not woodworking every day. I bought the Dewalt Separator DXVCS003 with 10 Gallon Can (cuz it matches all my Milwaukee tools), and a Powertec 70257 Hose Kit. That allowed me enough hose and attachments to set the shop vac off to the side and still connect to all the tools when needed.
If you get static discharges (my setup did for the first month then went away for some reason) you can just put a dryer vent hose around the shop vac hose and allow it to touch the ground. That grounded the hose out enough to stop the occasional zap around the table saw.
I have Grizzly's small dust collection system on wheels. My wood working is in my sugar house, so the table saw and planer are on a moveable table and the jointer has wheels also. When a machine needs using I roll it to a place where it can get the most use for long lumber then I wheel the dust vac over and hook it up. My drill press and double bevel saw are mounted to a permanent bench soooo that gets the shop vac and Rita to clean up dust ;D.
I started off with the shop vac/dust deputy/5gal bucket setup and it works great for std workshop stuff. I also added a larger HF unit connected to a metal garbage can/cyclone lid when I went full time woodworking everyday. both have their place but each works well for what it is intended to do. I would always recommend the shop vac dust deputy as a starting point.
I used a shop vac for years connected to my table saw. It worked well enough, but just filled up quickly and the filter got clogged quickly. As someone else suggested, a dust deputy or other separator will help to increase volume you can collect and help keep the filter cleaner for longer.
I decided to give the Dust Deputy a shot. I just picked it up at Woodcraft store. They are having a $10 off sale until 10/31. I am tired of plugged up vacuum filters. I have not hooked it up yet. I plan to make a side car of some sort to aid with moving it around my shop area which is actually in two different rooms.
I had to look up what a dust deputy was, that's a good simple idea. When I googled it I saw a few brands plus some that just made one, anyone here make their own?