Hi,

Realised yesterday after a hobby project using African blackwood created more irritating than expected, I should start looking at using dust extraction with power tools even if I’m wearing a proper respirator.

Any compact shop vac recommendations, either corded or battery?

Must be compact enough to to easily store in a cupboard and powerful enough for general shed/greenhouse use as well. I’ve got Dewalt 18V XR batteries, but their cordless one didn’t do well in the Project Farm test.

Karcher look good as do the b and q own brand but its a big thing

best suck for your buck in my experience (man with too many hoovers) is the Fein Dustex. Better suction  than any other brands and very simple, tough, well engineered construction

the 25lite one is compact but boxy so it holds plenty of crud without taking up too much space. I don’t see a great deal of benefit in cordless – I’ve got the old style dewalt one but got it more because it’s good for sucking up water and can also be used as a blower. But it doesn’t have very good suction, even running from the mains, the hose is Impractically short sort and the filter system needs a lot of clean up when it gets emptied. The shapes not great either – small but lots of curves mean it doesn’t hold much for it’s size and doesn’t pack or stack well either

theres a real space saving benefit in small workspaces of a dust extractior that is flat on top

Ive got two Titan ones from Screwfix and a Karcher one.
The bigger of the Titans and the Karcher both have power tool take-off sockets and are both excellent to be honest.

They both have tons of suck. The Karcher lives under my mitre saw permanantly, and the Titan I take to job sites with me.
Very handy having the power take off.

To be fair the small Titan one I have is powerful too. It’s a bit smaller than a Henry and about half the weight!

What you could do in your workshop set-up is to make a cyclone separator system, then you can use a smaller vac, take it away to other jobs and not have to worry about emptying it too much.

Karcher Vac

Bigger Titan

Smaller Titan

Cyclone separator

I have an aldi one with power take-off but they only do them a week a year. The Titan ones at screwfix are meant to be fine.

I got a Record Power AC400 (a few other brands do very similar) and it’s good at catching the finer dust in the air, even if you’re using other dust extraction. Don’t have a thick layer of dust on everything any more. https://www.recordpower.co.uk/product/two-stage-air-filter-with-remote-3-speeds-and-time-delay

Peter Millard reviewed the Aldi site vacuum..

Thanks for the replies, will have a look at them in a bit more detail especially the Aldi one.

The bigger proper shop ones would be amazing if I had the space, my wife isn’t the fan of our Henry vac so couldn’t get away with adding another.

This was along the lines of more why I hand in mind, might even be able to get away with just having a dry function.

I have an aldi one with power take-off but they only do them a week a year.

To save the wait..the same machine is sold by Shappach and can be bought in Toolstation 

theres not guarantee Aldi will ever sell them again

Checked out the links that people kindly provided. Looks the Titans/Kercher are great but are going to be too big to easily stash away in a cupboard or under my bench.

The reviews for the portable Bosh one or Shappach aren’t that great in terms of suction or the bags.

Looks like two are in the running, either a mini 8l Numatic + adapters from Axminster or a proper dust extractor. Numatic hose looks more robust and it smaller but the cardboard openings on the v-tuff might not like being stored in a shed.

Any other options to consider?

https://www.powertoolworld.co.uk/v-tuf-15l-m-class-800w-mini-dust-extractor-inc-accessories

https://www.axminstertools.com/numatic-psp-180-11-vacuum-cleaner-508317

Can you move your existing henry to the workshop then buy a more suitable house vac?

^That.  Henrys are not much cop in the house but fine for what you want

I did consider that, but it’s the same size as the Titan ones. My working space is a 10×8 shed which means it’s pretty packed already.

Long story but I had to promise to let my wife choose the next house one after the Henry breaks irreparably (going on strong at 5 years and counting 😉), but that will end up being an expensive Dyson upright thing which actually isn’t suited to how our house is laid out.

I also do most of the hoovering so may have a vested interest in keeping the Henry around as long as possible…

v pleased with the Titan, though the newer revised ones seem cheaper and nastier than the first models. i dont know how many knocks the plastic will will take. mine lives under the bench at the mo, so fingers crossed…..

Its also good for vacing up puddles, as it has a float switch in side, a drain port at the bottom of the tank.
Its also got a hose fitting on the exhaust so you can use it as a blower, which is pretty handy.

Dont even consider getting one without a Power take off if youre using it for hand tools.

I was looking for a similar thing recently and have even less space (no shed) so it had to be small.

After much deliberation, I went with the Makita DVC750 cordless dry/wet vacuum. It gets some good reviews (apart from average suction) and i had Makita batteries already. Had it a couple of weeks now and I wouldn’t say Im amazed (yet). Its way louder than I expected and the suction is ok (but maybe it doesn’t need to be that great for saw dust). Fits on my Mac allister track saw and katsu router fine and functionality it is very neat and works well. Also very solid.

The similar Milwaulkee gets good reviews, so might be worth seeing if there’s a battery adapter available for your Dewalt batteries.

Alternatively, there’s a very small corded vac in Lidl at the mo for 30 quid. Get that and one of those e-on power down plugs for Power take off.

Its way louder than I expected and the suction is ok (but maybe it doesn’t need to be that great for saw dust).

Dust collection success is more to do with the design of the tool than the vacuum. I have a Festool Cleantec vacuum and it’s not the greatest suction but it works well when the tool has been designed to maximise dust extraction eg Festool or Mafell. Lots of cheaper tools seem to just stick a dust port on at the end of the design process as an after thought with no real thought to how well it will work. E.g. I have a Bosch track saw and that just fires sawdust out in all directions so the vacuum has no hope of getting it all (it gets maybe 80%). The Mafell equivalent has a completely enclosed blade, forcing all the sawdust towards the exhaust port so gets maybe 95%.

Ordered a Fein Dustex 25l in the end with floor kit from Axminster, have just enough space by my work bench with a bit of rearranging and flat top is handy.

The new style Titan ones don’t have a power take-off unless you go for the big 30l models.

Thanks for all your helpful suggestions.

The fein is supplied with a few bags but if you’re filling them frequently you can buy a fleece pre filter that lets you use it bag less. Cracking choice though.

How could I forget, but I’ve got another vac too (the one you’ve chosen looks really good)

This is quite embarrassing really. I must have some kind of vacuum addiction as I realise that I’ve got 6 vacuum cleaners. 😳
How did that happen?
Maybe there’s some kind of support group.

I only own two things made by Festool. Not a big fan of them, but the CTL SYS vac is brilliant. So powerful. It lives under my bench so is there and ready to connect to everything I’m working on at my bench.

It’s basically a systainer form. It has a really small bag. I run mine through a cyclone so the bag in theory doesn’t fill up. In practice it does fill up as I forget to check enough.

@kayak23 – Might be selective wallet amnesia! I am occasionally afflicted with the same condition… 😉

That looks just the job if you have a workshop and are also working as a fitter in people’s houses where it will only see dry use.

I realise that I’ve got 6 vacuum cleaners

Well everyone has to start somewhere 🙂

Get a cyclone bucket to catch the dust and then the actual vacuum cleaner is less of an issue as long as it has good suction. It is only providing the vacuum as the dust and debris stay in the bucket.

I use the wife’s old 1600W vacuum stuck out the way under a bench connected to the cyclone bucket. I then either have the host connected to the bucket or connected to some push-fit plastic tubes I has fitted to the ceiling of the garage with connection ports across the garage so there is always one handy with the pipe coming down from the roof so it isn’t in the way.

Vacuum out of sight and cyclone under the dart board with pipes allowing me to vacuum anywhere I need to.

I forgot. I’ve got one of these little blowers too.

You can stick the nozzle on the intake which makes it 7 vacuum cleaners. I Defo have vacuum addiction 😂

The dustex is very good but a Henry works just as well. Festool vacs are brittle crap.

i bought a small (for them) vac from here 15 years ago

http://www.sturdyvac.com/

when I needed an asbesdos vac. its extremely powerful and still works perfectly today