Shop Vac, Filter Box, Dust Deputy

glenn bradley

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I've had a couple of prototypes of this design to I guess I should just call this one version 3. Like the previous versions the blower and filter will use a box as opposed to the shop-vac style barrel as sold. The innards of the filter box will be laid out later in this thread. Right now I am making use of some free plywood so the originally planned 3/4" and 1/2" material will all be 3/4". The whole rig mounts to the wall so the added weight is not going to bother me. This seems familiar so I hope I am not repeating myself in my old age. It will be something like so:
DD-Idea-ver-3 (1).jpg
The filter box will st next to the DD as shown. The blower goes on the hole in the front. The box below holds a few of the plastic shoe-box-like containers that are part of my standard storage and organization containers.
I forgot that some of the design was to originally handle a 5 gallon busket. I am chainging to a floor standing barrel. I made some parts I didn't need and some parts too large. Glad the plywood was free.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (2).jpg
I use the metal collar from the DD kit to layout the holes for t-nuts.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (3).jpg
I drill and counter bore on the bottom to make the t-nuts flush. This is so they will not interfere with the 4" port I will attach to connect the hose.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (4).jpg . DD-Idea-ver-3 (5).jpg
A good start. I will update as I go.
 
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You will find that the Dust Deputy gets almost everything, and the filter in the shop vac will likely only need blowing out every few years. At least this is what I have discovered. This means that the huge container on the bottom of your shop vac is almost unnecessary, and reducing it's size somehow, is a good idea. The amount of sawdust that my Dust Deputy on my Shop vac collects is about as much and is as fine as what builds up on your living room furniture, if you or the wife don't clean it for 6 months.

I have two Dust Deputies, one for my Shop vac, and one in the line ahead of a repurposed whole house vacuum that I saved from the neighbor's extensive remodeling project. It is now installed in my shop along with the in-the-wall plumbing and inlet ports. I use it to collect from all of my finer sawdust producing machines, scroll saws, sanders, etc. The Shop Vac Dust Deputy has a 5 gallon bucket for collection. The Dust Deputy on the central vac unit has a 20 gallon metal repurposed grease barrel for collection. I get to dump this barrel about once per year, and it's usually only 1/2 - 3/4 full. The central vac exhaust is to the outdoors, so the last time that I looked in the collection container on the bottom of the vac unit, it only had table dust that I could wipe off the container sides with my finger, so I'm considering just removing the fabric filter and letting this ultra fine dust just vent to the outside. At least, by venting it to the outdoors, it won't ever get into my lungs.

Charley
 
My experience mirrors yours Charles. Since 90+% of the spoil goes into the collection bins my barrels fill proportional to my use. My filter boxes on the other hand only collect a teaspoon or so about twice a year.
 
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A little more progress. The DD mounts fine with the metal collar and the rubber-ish gasket.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (6).jpg
The inlet hose (horizontal one in the pic) will go to a hose reel once installed in the new shop. The one here is just an example and is dropped to the floor for the pic.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (7).jpg
The dust port and hose connections work well.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (8).jpg
The filter box shown here is one of my prototypes. The new one will be smaller; as small as I can go without creating any restrictions.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (9).jpg
The hose connecting the DD to the filter box is just a scrap I had lying around; again, just for the pic. The port on the new filter box will be positioned for the smoothest arc between it and the DD. I also need to percolate on the collection bin. This one fits the footprint but, the whole fixture will actually mount lower to allow the hose reel to be mounted above . . . like so.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (10).jpg
And yes, that hose reel is a garden hose reel I snagged from the 3D Warehouse and scaled up. It's just a representation ;-)
Time to make a new filter box . . .
 
So in its final destination, will it be lower to the floor?

If not, I'd be tempted to put the bottom of the DD at the bottom of the tote storage below it and use a sweep elbow to the vacuum from the top of the DD to the side of the vacuum box. Also point the inlet of the DD into the room to make it a bit more compact yet for storage around it.
 
Bumbling forward . . .
Cut the hole for the filter and rounded the edges.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (11).jpg
Used a circle cutter for the exit hole. The hole for the blower is larger than my circle cutter so, a quick trammel out of a piece of scrap.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (12).jpg
I have a long nose pencil that fit te hole just right to confirm my measurements.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (13).jpg
And you know the rest.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (15).jpg
Marked for possible later use.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (16).jpg
Jig saw close to the outer edge.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (17).jpg
Bearing guided bit to clean up.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (19).jpg
This gives you the general idea of the internals.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (20).jpg
 
I know this looks a bit odd but I decided to go hard-pipe between the DD and the filter box. I hadn't planned on this initially so I had no measurements. I cobbled the thing together and used the PVC pipe to measure the intake position. Then I clamped the whole box to the DP and cut the hole.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (21).jpg
Murphy must've been napping. It worked great.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (22).jpg
Ah, the finishing room . . . otherwise known as right next to the DC bag and the screen door. Good thing I am just using up some aging shellac and these are shop fixtures.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (23).jpg
You really lose all the stress of finishing when it . . . just . . . doesn't . . . matter :D.
 
Close enough to call it done. The weather stripping I planned to use (in my head) turned out to be open cell so the test was done without an airtight seal at the motor or filter access door areas. Pretty darn tight but, I will add a closed cell stripping tomorrow. I have used my circle cutters more in the last couple of months than I can believe.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (24).jpg
I brought an old shop vac in that we use to clean up outside. It had about a gallon of dirt, chips, twigs, leaves and other miscellaneous junk in it. I used the new setup to suck all of that out of the barrel.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (25).jpg
And here's what the filter chamber looked like after that.
DD-Idea-ver-3 (26).jpg
I think I will confirm this as a valid "Version 3" :thumb:
 
That came out great, Glenn. I really like the hose reel idea. I wish I had the free wall space available in my shop to do something like that.
 
I love the design, i currently have the cyclone one from Home depot but would love to make a box for it to go on because i currently have it dragging around on my Festool CT vac.
 
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