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I'm getting tired of using my dust collector's 4" hose to do quick cleanups on the bench. I don't want to take up shop space with a shop vac. Does anyone use some kind of handheld vacuum of some sort? Any recommendations?

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Steve—

No, not a handheld, but I have a Festool CT SYS, the small corded dust extractor, screwed to a cabinet wall right by my bench. So, there is no shop vac footprint. The hose is right there on a hook, always handy for either plugging into a handheld sander or (more frequently) just passing over the bench for a quick cleanup. Just an idea that might be more useful than a handheld vac.

I use a 1 gallon "shop vac hang up mini" for small cleanup jobs: https://www.walmart.com/ip/1-Gallon-Sho ... um/8477890
I had to replace the hose because the Cockatoo killed the first one.

Ryobi makes an 18volt battery powered model that might be convenient for more money.

We found that the hand held vacs were not up to the job of a busy Lutherie repair shop and went to Shop Vacs. One of the things I might have to do frequently is vacuum inside an instrument. A hand held can't do that where a shop vac with a typical hose still leaves enough open area in the sound hole to not collapse the top I just always remember to keep my arm out of the hole too.

Our commercial shop has cheap Shop Vacs and I've gone through three of them in the last 18 years of doing repairs. My home shop has a Festool CT-22 one of the best tool purchases I ever made. The Festool is 18 years old now and works like new.

I made an extra takeoff on my extraction system next to the bench with a gate and plug in a 2 inch shop vac hose using an adapter. Never found a hand held that was strong enough.

I also have a Festool midi under the bench. Worth making space for.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I use a Black and Decker Dust Buster battery operated handheld vacuum. It's probably 10 years old and works great as long as your not vacuuming large curls and debris that will gets stuck in the inlet. I have an indoor garden/ seed starting lab and I vacuum soil and dried plant debris with it, I dont use it much in the wood shop, I drag my small vacuum hose around. Note that the exhaust from the fan can blow finer pieces when it is on high (its two speed with a Hepa type filter).

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Measure Twice,

Karl Borum

I don't expect to vacuum big curls, etc. I’m looking for something just to pick up nuisance dust that doesn’t require a full vacuum. I was hoping other folks used a small handheld vacuum that they like to use…. Something small I could just grab without having to drag a hose would be great.

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Let us know if you find something. I have purchased several handheld vacs in the last few years and they just didn't do very well so I ended up giving them away.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I have this Black&Decker, but its simple cloth filter doesn't capture fine dust, so not the healthiest option for woodworking (definitely don't use it for cocobolo). I mostly use it for metal chips and general housekeeping. I duct taped a rubber tube to one of the attachments it came with, which is really handy for getting into tight spaces. I've been meaning to 3D print a better tube mount that doesn't pinch the tube so it won't clog so easily, but it works well enough as-is that I haven't gotten around to it.

For wood chips and dust, I just use a card scraper to sweep them off the edge into the plastic bag you can see peeking up back there (ignore the strips of bag material taped to the wall; that's just where I store my milling machine chip curtains when not in use). Of course not everything actually lands in the bag, but when it comes time to empty it I clean up the spill-over as well. My bench is only about 6 inches tall so the mess doesn't travel far, but for a stand-up bench you could build a trough between the bench and a wall behind it to function equivalently.

I use this dewalt battery powered vacuum. I keep it under my bench. Works great. Small. Light. Strong enough for sawdust.

https://www.amazon.com/Dewalt-DCV580H-Cordless-Wet-Dry-Vacuum/dp/B00CP8DF3O/ref=asc_df_B00CP8DF3O&mcid=2d32a018bedb3ad58aa69e2185ebb509?tag=bngsmtphsnus-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=79852149837943&hvnetw=s&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583451676825226&psc=1

This unit looks promising...

https://www.lowes.com/pd/DEWALT/5013541 ... lsrc=aw.ds

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Like others I haven't had much joy with an 18 v handheld. Dustpan and brush is used most of the time.

I do however use the handheld when filing bone since I don't want that either blowing about, or sitting on the bench.

Cheers Dave

Steve, if you get that Dewalt we need pics of you strutting around the shop taking advantage of the belt clip.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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