Dust Deputy... this thing works!

minhster · Jan 17, 2011

I posted up a few weeks ago and asked for feedback from owners and only got a hand full of replies. I decided to pull the trigger anyways and I'm glad I did! Before I went on with the "install" (if you can even call it that), I cleaned out my shop vac and it was GROSS! The filter was clogged with dirt, metal shaving, saw dust, and styrofoam. I had to scrub the whole tub down with simple green and use a scotch bright.

For those of you that didn't know, Home Depot carries a variety of filters for shop vacs. They have the typical paper filter and it went all the way up to a Hepa "Material" Filter (not a true HEPA though). They were close to $40 a pop (which I bought anyways, cant put a price on health) so I was glad that the Dust Deputy would prevent a claimed 99.99% of dust to even reach this filter to begin with.

Here's with the review:

The Dust Deputy came package nicely! I was expecting a plain brown box but received a nice retail worthy box instead.

Installation took me about 2mins at the most. All I had to do was tighten down a few bolt and put a form gasket in between.

I was already in the market for a longer hose so I went out to lowes and picked up a 12' commercial grade vacuum hose. While there I also picked up a PVC 90 degree elbow and some clamps. I always though it was pretty stupid that they made the top port straight up.

Instead of using the short hose that came with the Dust Deputy, I decided to use the 8' hose that came with my shop vac to connect my shop vac to the dust deputy, This gave me even more length that I wanted (I hate having to move the shop vac around).

I wasn't working on any projects so my garage was pretty clean. I decided to just vacuum the misses' car to test it out. This stuff ended up in the bucket...

and nothing ended up in the shop vac (the water was left over from from I washed the tube)...

Even though I haven't tackled a big project yet my first impression were great! While vacuuming you can see the "vortex" effect even in the bucket itself. It's pretty cool to watch. I noticed that suction power went down a tiny little bit but I'm pretty sure that might be related to me having close to 20' of hosing on it. The power is still stronger than I ever really need it to be. I'm pretty sure I could pick up a bowling ball even if needed to... ok, maybe not THAT strong but it sure feels like it.

Overall, GREAT product. I couldn't be happier. Dumping out the 5 gallon bucket is 20x easier than dumping out a 12 gallon tub.

rieferman · Jan 17, 2011

Agreed, these work well.

As I posted in your original thread, if anyone wants to make one of these on a budget, just google "Thien Baffle". It accomplishes the exact same thing for about $10 in parts (as opposed to the $99 price tag I usually see the full DD kit for). Another benefit, in my opinion, is that the baffles are not as tall as the cyclones.

Side note: Putting both the shop vac and the separator (either cyclone or baffle) underneath a mobile shop cart can be an efficient way to wheel the things around. As a plus, the top of the cart can then be used for sanding/cutting/holding whatever other tools you need for the task at hand.

m.james · Jan 17, 2011

Where can you find them?

minhster · Jan 17, 2011

http://www.dustdeputy.com/

tcianci · Jan 17, 2011

And the reason you would want a 5 gallon bucket full of **** VS a shop vac canister full of **** is?

rieferman · Jan 17, 2011

The point is to save your filters from clogging thus better suction.

Edit: often used with dust making tools such as hand sander or circ saw

Buford T. Justice · Jan 17, 2011

tcianci said:
And the reason you would want a 5 gallon bucket full of **** VS a shop vac canister full of **** is?

You beat me to it. x2

ghnl · Jan 17, 2011

tcianci said:
And the reason you would want a 5 gallon bucket full of **** VS a shop vac canister full of **** is?

The shop vac's filter stays clean. Thus it does not lose suction as the bucket fills up.

It would be ideal to have a small but powerful shop vac to use with the cyclone set up.

edit - m u s t ` t y p e ` f a s t e r . . .

tcianci · Jan 18, 2011

I dunno, as far as I can see, it still falls into the lame column. The shop vac filter will still fill up eventually as it is designed to catch the minute particles that cyclonic separation can't. So you end up with the fine **** clogging the filter as usual and the big stuff stuck in another bucket...a stroke of genius (for the guy who markets the thing). You can buy a boat load of shop vac filters for what one of these things cost and then wash them out when dirty. I have been re-cycling shop vac filters for years this way. The real issue with shop vacs is they typically don't have much more filter area in the big units as there is in a smaller one. So by the time you fill the canister, the filter is way past it's peak performance. Suprisingly, the best shop vac I have ever owned was is a Ridgid from Depot. I paid 19 bucks for it, 9 gallon I think, with a filter that goes from the motor to the bottom of the tank! Huge surface area. This vac ususally fills up with stuff before the filter clogs...it's been a great machine

ddawg16 · Jan 18, 2011

If you do a lot of wood working like I do....the main filter gets clogged up quick.....

But what is as bad if not worse is when you go to clean the vac filter...pull the top off, flip it over....all it takes is one little bump....**** goes everywhere....

If it means I only have to empty is half as often....it's worth it....

pds0006 · Jan 18, 2011

ddawg16, I'm right there with you. Hated the thought of having to open up the vac to TRY and clean the filter without swallowing half of it. I've had the same Dusty Deputy for a year now and I have no had to clean my filter once. And I have been using my shopvac way more now that I have the DD so it isn't just lack of use. I don't know the science/physics/whatever behind it but it does work and for my $99 it's worth it not to have to even look at a filter for a year or more.

MichaelP · Jan 19, 2011

To me, it looks like that instead of one canister I have to haul around, I will have two with one of them tipping over every time I pull the hose.
In addition to that, it'll be more hoses cluttering the space.

Maybe for those who don't need to move their vacuums or are ready to have yet another cart it'll work fine. Surely it'll work as a DIY mini dust collection system. But I don't see it being a convenient shop vacuum. I'd better suffer rare cleanings of a regular vac than struggling with the clumsy setup every time I vacuum.

rieferman · Jan 19, 2011

You say "DIY dust collection" like it's a bad thing... Most people I know DIY their dust collection, and to be honest, for some applications (woodworking being one) a 2 hp or larger dust collector is great for some tools, but you really truly need a shop vac for other tools (such as hand sander). The type of suction you get from a dust collector vs. a shop vac are different (try to vacuum the floor with a 4" or 6" dust collector hose, then try the same thing with a shop vac). Anyways, since both are needed in some shops, the goal is not to have to have a clogged filter every 1/2 hour. A pre-separator like the one shown will make a huge difference in that respect.

edit: but, if you're not clogging your filter a lot, this is probably not for you. But that doesn't mean it's a dumb idea or any other such nonsense.

srmofo · Jan 19, 2011

Do you mind posting a few measurements from the dust deputy?

minhster · Jan 20, 2011

MichaelP said:
To me, it looks like that instead of one canister I have to haul around, I will have two with one of them tipping over every time I pull the hose.

The dust deputy is actually designed to be mounted to you existing vac (see picture below) so technically you still end up with ONE unit (although now bigger)

I personally chose to keep them separate because I wanted the extra hose length so i wouldn't have to lug the shop vac around. I've since put casters on the bucket and it does not tip at all even when I tug on the hose.

As people have mentioned above, the MAIN purpose of the dust deputy is to prevent the filter from getting clogged. I've used the vac all week and my new filter still looks brand new. Typically after 2-3 uses my filter will look like it's been used for a year already.

srmofo, if you can give me a good reason for giving you the dimension I will. But from my guess, I think you are going to attempt to make your own. There are post on here about buying american made products and it just wouldn't feel right for me to give out dimension so people can make a knock off when the product is designed and built in the US. The cyclone itself only sells for $60 anyways so it's not like it's that's expensive. Please support american made products! :beer:

srmofo · Jan 20, 2011

Gimme a break :rollseyes: we're on a forum of diy'ers and you think Im going to build one? Nothing gets by you, does it? I was just hoping to take some trial and error out of the process. Thanks for the help.

$60 for the whole unit would be acceptable to me or if it was made from steel, $60 for some blow molded plastic is not. I can build the funnel for maybe $5 in metal and 1/2 hour of time....or better yet just stick with the thien baffle and leave it alone....That was made in the USA too....by me.

MichaelP · Jan 20, 2011

Minhster,

If it serves your needs, that's all what counts.

Rieferman,

I've never intended to say that a DIY dust collector is a bad thing. My point is that I don't see this setup being convenient as a regular shop vac (the one that is frequently moved around). I can, definitely, see its advantages as a mini dust collector for woodworking machinery: table saws, router tables, etc. It may also have some advantages as a shop vac for woodworkers. I fail to see a need for it in any other type of workshop. But, again, if it works for you, it doesn't matter what I think.

Ed ke6bnl · Jan 20, 2011

srmofo said:
Gimme a break :rollseyes: we're on a forum of diy'ers and you think Im going to build one? Nothing gets by you, does it? I was just hoping to take some trial and error out of the process. Thanks for the help.

$60 for the whole unit would be acceptable to me or if it was made from steel, $60 for some blow molded plastic is not. I can build the funnel for maybe $5 in metal and 1/2 hour of time....or better yet just stick with the thien baffle and leave it alone....That was made in the USA too....by me.

I plan to make one using a red emergency cone I picked up. turn it upside down and put in one of my many 7 gallon plastic bucket and some cutting ED

Jackfre · Jan 20, 2011

I bought one when they first came out and it is metal. I've been happy with its performance. Mine is a basement/garage shop so anything I can do to eliminate dust upstairs contributes to a happy household. I like wood and hate sawdust. I have a 1 1/2 hp Delta primary dust collector, A JDS200 filter box for airborne, which has been excellent and the shop vacs. Of the shop vacs, I prefer the Fein and the Festool. My Festool circ saw ties directly into the vac so the vac runs only when the saw does and it does an excellent job at getting the dust off a circ saw, which I thought was impossible.

I can see how the DD can be considered superfluous as you can just keep cleaning the filters as stated, but to me dust collection is a package deal and the DD has found its place. Also, yes, with a bit of metal and the heli-arc rig, I could fab one of these up in a few hours.

Matt M PA · Jan 20, 2011

If this could be used in between the vac unit for themblwst cabinet it would be a help.

Emptying the Vac35 (I think it's called) is a rotten, dirty, dusty job. I even converted into the TP unit that is more like a HEPA piece...but being able to not take it apart as often and just dump out a bucket would be great. Thinking some more...perhaps if it would work in this application one could use a standard shop vac as opposed to the more costly specific made blast cabinet vacs.

rieferman · Jan 20, 2011

srmofo, if you want to build one yourself, just build the thien baffle. I can tell you from actually having built one myself (in my case for a full fledged dust collector.. but the principle was originally designed on a shop vac scale) it WORKS, it's SMALLER in height, it's CHEAP to build, and it's EASIER to fabricate than a cyclone. Sorry, I'm a broken record here, but I just wanted to be sure you know the option is there.

(side note: and the thein baffle does create a neat cyclonic action anyways, so it's sort of fun to watch ha ha)

PM me if you want tips on the construction, otherwise in a couple weeks when I build my shop vac versions, I'll post step by step.

Kwjeep · Jan 20, 2011

rieferman said:
The point is to save your filters from clogging thus better suction.

Also emptying a 5 gallon bucket is easier then emptying a (in my case) 16 Gallon shop Vac

Todd.Brock · Jan 20, 2011

I agree filters clog. I love Shop Vacs for their purpose but HATE lugging them around. This deal seems like a good idea with the need. A couple years ago I found a K&N type filter, meaning reusable/washable filter on the internet. It was made of gore-tex and was about 35 bucks. I thought that was a decent idea. I hate buying 15 throwaway filters from Sears. I do find myself putting the filter in a trash bag and shaking all the dirt out side to get some more life out of them.

nava1uni · Jan 23, 2011

the main purpose of the cyclone, besides keeping the shop vac filter cleaner longer is that is filters out more dust that you would be breathing. Thus keeping your lungs cleaner. Harder to shake them out and clean them. This keeps your lungs working longer and causes less damage to them.

z28toz06 · Jan 23, 2011

Nobody has mentioned the hazards of inhaling that wood dust or the danger wood dust poses as a fire hazard. With a room full of that dust floating around and an ignition source, you can have quite the little fireball occuring. the water in the dust deputy helps keep that ignition source unavailable. 60 bux is cheap insurance if you ask me.

minhster · Jan 23, 2011

z28toz06 said:
Nobody has mentioned the hazards of inhaling that wood dust or the danger wood dust poses as a fire hazard. With a room full of that dust floating around and an ignition source, you can have quite the little fireball occuring. the water in the dust deputy helps keep that ignition source unavailable. 60 bux is cheap insurance if you ask me.

Agreed, except that it doesnt use any water :bounce:

Bib Overalls · Jan 23, 2011

I wounder how it would work with a blast cabinet? Some blasting media produce a lot of dust. Performance is always being degraded by filter overload. Something worth trying.

ghnl · Jan 23, 2011

Bib Overalls said:
I wounder how it would work with a blast cabinet? Some blasting media produce a lot of dust. Performance is always being degraded by filter overload. Something worth trying.

I use my Dust Deputy with my blast cabinet (made similar to plans sold by Tip Tools). The DD works fine with the blast cabinet.

JOHNMAN · Jan 23, 2011

I made one specifically for my blast cabinet. So far it works well. Now I just need to clean up the shop vac and the cabinet. It actually works much better than expected. The filter (suction) does not diminish like it used to. I believe once I clean it up, it will stay cleaner.

My only issue is with the lid on the 5 gal pail. I need to figure out an easier way to remove the lid yet still maintain suction.

Total cost = $20.00

jhelrey · Jan 24, 2011

I'd like to see how it works with sheetrock dust. That stuff eats filters!

wbclassics · Jan 24, 2011

While looking for some CFD software tutorials, I found this CFD example on Cyclone Separators. On one of these dust collector threads someone asked how they worked, so here you go - with multi-color visual aids.

rieferman · Jan 24, 2011

Above it was mentioned that a cyclone benefits air quality, that's not true. The air quality is totally dependent on whether you are exhausting outside (100% expulsion of dust from your space) or through a really good filter (like .5 microns or so... those 30 micron filters are basically dust pumps). All the cyclone(or cheaper and identical purpose thien baffle) does is keep the filter clean longer.

All the cyclone does is keep the filter clean longer.

Also, dust in the air is not a real explosion hazard for home shops. The conditions needed for a dust explosion are so extreme, it would require a severe industrial application where they completely ignore all regulations. It's not a realistic set of conditions in a home shop. Google it for tons of scientific articles on the topic.

As for drywall dust... I would use a water filter system for that task. The cyclone works on gravity... that is, heavy particles (including dust) fall into the container, and the rest exhausts. Drywall dust, I would fear, is all so light that it would all exhaust and clog the filter. But I haven't tested that theory.

rickairmedic · Jan 24, 2011

Johnman unless I am seeing things wrong your setup is backwards . The air should enter the seperator into the cone then exit through the lid into the shopvac. Your setup looks like the shopvac is hooked directly to the funnel.

Rick

srmofo · Jan 24, 2011

Family handyman had a article on lids for 5gal buckets. They snapped on tight and the center unscrewed. They claimed a water tight seal, so it should hold some vacuum. Ill try to find the name when I get home tonight. Iirc they were only $5 each.

Dolfan · Jan 24, 2011

I have a smaller basement WW shop and did build one of the 5g Thein design separators. It worked pretty well and did reduce greatly the amount of dust that reaches the filter. In my case I became frustrated with having two things on the floor connected via the hoses. With minimal space it just became a pain for me, although it did work. If I had more room I'd probably make one for my Rockler wall hanging dust collector as it is a stationary solution.

What I hope is that one of the Shop Vac companies decides to incorporate a "cyclone" type first stage right into their design to reduce the filter clogging and keep the suction at a high level. I'd pay a bit more for a vacuum like that, I'll bet I'm not alone.

JOHNMAN · Jan 24, 2011

Look again

rickairmedic said:
Johnman unless I am seeing things wrong your setup is backwards . The air should enter the seperator into the cone then exit through the lid into the shopvac. Your setup looks like the shopvac is hooked directly to the funnel.

Rick

Denominator · Jan 24, 2011

Funny to me, maybe not for others! In norwegian Oneida, translates to something like certainly NOT!

minhster · Jan 24, 2011

JOHNMAN said:
My only issue is with the lid on the 5 gal pail. I need to figure out an easier way to remove the lid yet still maintain suction.

Total cost = $20.00

They sell "Pail Openers", I haven't personally used one so I dont know how good they are. I have a few 5 gallon buckets around the shop and most are freaking hard to open but the one that came with the Dust Deputy opens VERY easily. Maybe shop around for one that opens easily?

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brianpgriset · Jan 24, 2011

You know I bought something similar to this for sanding drywall and it didn't work worth a darn. I might have to try to retrofit it to use with my shopvac.

Davi · Jan 24, 2011

minhster said:
They sell "Pail Openers", I haven't personally used one so I dont know how good they are. I have a few 5 gallon buckets around the shop and most are freaking hard to open but the one that came with the Dust Deputy opens VERY easily. Maybe shop around for one that opens easily?

I believe you can also get an adapter to make the lids screw off. Their called gamma seals

Dust Deputy... this thing works!

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