Dust Extractor as a general shop vac?

[BobNY]

I recently bought a CT48E dust extractor. I was thinking of picking up the workshop cleaning set for it so I can use it as a shop vac as well. I have a small shop and it would be great to be able to remove my 16gal Rigid vac and have the CT48 do double duty.
My shop is in my 1 car garage and all sorts of things end up on the floor. Leaves, screws etc. Do you use your extractor as a general vac? Is it recommended?

Thanks

 

[Bob D.]

Take your old RIDGID shop vac and make it into a cyclone separator. Don't know which model you have but in general trash the top with the motor and save the bucket with casters. Get a Oneida dust deputy or some other separator and make a top to mount it to and you're all set. That means you have two pieces of equipment to drag around but maybe in most cases when in the shop not. You can leave the vac stationary and depending on how long a hose you place between the vac and bin.

Or get the Festool cyclone and mount it on top of your extractor.

 

[RKA]

You can do that, but you need to be mindful of sharp objects that could pierce the bag.  If that happens you won’t know until your suction drops because sawdust has been packed into the Hepa filters.  Given what they cost, that’s not a good outcome. 

 

[PeterK]

For general floor cleanup the Rigid will be hard to beat. Could you wall mount it and use a longer hose with it? RKA brings up a good point with the bags and risk to filters.

 

[Sparktrician]

For general floor cleanup the Rigid will be hard to beat. Could you wall mount it and use a longer hose with it? RKA brings up a good point with the bags and risk to filters.

I'd add that you could also use the Ridgid as a wet vac in the garage.  [smile]

 

[pixelated]

I use my CT 26 as my general shop vac, works fine. Sucking up the occasional screw has not caused any issues so far, my experience has been that the bags are pretty tough.
A separator would eliminate that as a cause for worry, but you can buy a lot of bags for the cost of  either Festool's or Oneida's separators. If you're an occasional user, the pay off time might be a while.

 

[Cheese]

I use my CT 22 as a general shop vac. It's placed between the Vac SYS, the 14" diameter cold saw & the band saw. So it sees dust collection from Vac Sys sanding and metal retrieval from the band saw & cold saw.

I've never punctured a bag, not saying it can't happen, maybe I've just been lucky over the last 11 years.  [tongue]

The bigger issue I have is not checking the CT 22 bag often enough until it becomes a brick and is then impossible to remove.

 

[AlexThePalex]

I use my CT's all the time for general clean up, but I'm not fond of it because their suction is simply less than from normal house vacs or shop vacs.

I do like their filters though, the exhaust air is much cleaner than with other vacs. I also never punctured a bag with something I sucked up.

 

[cpw]

I use my CT26 for general cleanup; and also am lucky enough not to have punctured a bag.  It is much quieter than a regular shop vac, and just feels easier to move around than my old Craftsman shop vac.  The blue tooth remote on the end of your hose makes a huge difference.  The CT26 it doesn't work well for general cleanup with a D27 hose, you have to use a D36 hose otherwise the hose end will get clogged very quickly.

 

[jeh]

I use a push broom and dust pan for the big stuff then follow up with my CT. I also have a 20 year old Porter Cable vacuum that I will use on anything if I am lazy with the push broom. It is a waste of bags to do general clean up.

 

[Dick Mahany]

I keep my old shop vac for general cleanup in the shop.  I thought about getting rid of it to save space but am glad I didn't.  I had never punctured a bag before............until I found this.  I'm just glad it wasn't the HEPA in my CT36 !

[attachimg=1]

 

[pettyconstruction]

Broom , dust pan and vacuum, rinse and repeat.
The dust separating equipment is great but I don’t like the idea of dumping the box/bag , I like it all sealed up for disposal.
The Ct -26 I have works fine for what is left after the broom.
Charlie

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[BobNY]

Thanks for all of the great suggestions and advice. I think I am going to go the sweep first then finish up with the CT route.
The Rigid will get banished to the basement and brought out if there is a mess too big for the CT.

 

[Bob D.]

Broom , dust pan and vacuum, rinse and repeat.
The dust separating equipment is great but I don’t like the idea of dumping the box/bag , I like it all sealed up for disposal.
The Ct -26 I have works fine for what is left after the broom.
Charlie

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

True, not having a bag is a pain. I wonder if you could borrow the trick on the UDD and run a piece of vacuum tubing from the suction port to the bin (outside of the bag). When suction is applied it will also draw on the outside of the bag. Then with pressure equalized on both sides of the bag and it should stay put. If you look at the Ultimate Dust Deputy that is how they do it.

If my old Craftsman (made by Emerson) shop vac ever dies (been using it for 30 years now), I plan to convert it into a collector bin for a mini cyclone separator.  If I remove the motor from the top I'm left with a round opening about 8 inches in diameter which should work out nicely.

 

[rst]

For years, in my Craftsman vac days, I would insert a bag into the bin, then putting my hand between the bin and the bag, using the vac to suck out the air so the bag would collapse.  I have four DDs now but still use that technique to collapse bags of shredded office papers.  It takes a little practice to keep the bag from sucking into the vac end but still effective.

 

[jamanjeval]

Another vote for adding a cyclone and using the festool. I have a ct36 with the Oneida cyclone and I use it for most anything including cleaning out the car. The cyclone captures most of the dirt and bulky stuff leaving your bag free to act more as a filter and keep the air around you clean. Mostly, I like it because it is so much quieter than the typical big box shop vacuums not to mention the stability and it not tending to fall over when the hose gets yanked. If you’d like to save a bit, many of the hoses and attachments from less expensive shop vacuums will work. I can’t make any specific brand recommendations, but try some out and you may be surprised. I have two hoses from a rigid shop vac, I believe, and I have used them on my ct36 with the festool hoses. The only minus with the festools are that while they are very good at pulling a strong vacuum, they are a bit weak in terms of the volume of air they move. For instance, an upright vacum can sometimes move more air.