Ridgid Shop Vac Dustopper cyclone project

[DynaGlide]

I recently picked up a Ridgid Shop vac for use in the garage / water cleanup around the house. I have a CT26 and a FLEX but the CT26 is pretty much stuck in my shop with a work center mounted and the FLEX I prefer to keep in the shop as well.

There's a guy over on YouTube who came up with a pretty cool mobile cyclone solution for the Dustopper product: .
Unfortunately, or fortunately in hindsight, Ridgid re-designed the feet of their NXT vacs and his setup no longer works. I tried adapting it with Fernco fittings but it was too wobbly. Brain spark. I screwed a HD bucket in place where the handle is meant to go to hold the 2nd bucket + Dustopper.

Here's the vacuum I bought: https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-12-Gal-5-0-Peak-HP-NXT-Wet-Dry-Shop-Vacuum-with-Filter-Hose-and-Accessories-HD1200/304006023

Dustopper: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Dustopper-High-Efficiency-Dust-Separator-12-in-Dia-with-2-5-in-Hose-36-in-Long-HD12/302643445?NCNI-5

Waiting on one more elbow to finish. I got that off Amazon thanks to the video comments from John Builds It video: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002YCT9BS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The whole thing is rock solid.

Matt

 

[08G8V8]

I built a setup like his video a few years back. It sits next to my drill press and also use it for general cleanup around the garage.  Works great.

Good solution.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Big Taco]

How do you keep the 2 buckets from being stuck together?

 

[Banana]

I like yours better than the videos, it’s simpler while the attached bucket performs double duty by also preventing collector bucket implosion.
You can add self adhesive sponge foam to inner lip of Dustoppers for a better seal.  I thought it helped some then migrated to a rubber seal (old stock) for a 6 gal metal bucket. (FLEX setup)

 

[ChuckM]

How do you keep the 2 buckets from being stuck together?

Getting stuck is good -- two buckets means the inner bucket won't collapse.

 

[DynaGlide]

Thanks everyone. FWIW I hear you can buy really thick leftover pickle buckets from Firehouse subs for $2-3. Proceeds go to Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation. I have a few in my area and I'll stop in next time I'm near.

 

[Hotwheels]

I have a couple of Ct22's, one for the Kapex and another dedicated to the MFT for sawing, sanding, and routing.  Since I'm now working in a basement shop I'm more attuned to dust that comes from various other non-Festool machines and I do a general cleanup after spending time in the shop to limit sawdust accumulation.  I have one of the smaller Rigid vacs and it needs to be emptied often so I have been looking for another vac.

Do you still like the combination of the Rigid 12 and the dust stopper?  Looks like a good setup that does not take up that much room.

 

[ChuckM]

As a satisfied user of the early version of DD  (with a Craftsman vac), I came across this video, which has convinced me to give the DD 2.5 a try. An order has been placed ($55 US or so) with a local merchant.

 

[afish]

a heat gun on the pvc poles would probably work better than the fernco's and cheaper too.  your setup looks good too. just fyi incase you use bags the ridgid bags are junk compared to these for fine dust and only cost a couple bucks more.  so far no blow outs with these bags. I have been doing a lot of concrete grinding and use 2 6hp ridgids in parallel hooked to a dust deputy then 20 of hose. with that set up it will keep up with a 10" edco diamond grinder.  not sure of the cfm's with both vacs but it feels like close to double.