Shop-Vac & Cyclone Cart
One of the first things I bought when I was finally getting my new shop organized was a Dust Deputy Cyclone for use with my shop-vac. This is an essential addition to any workshop vacuum, in my opinion. The reduction in clogged shop-vac filters was well worth it. Of course, having the Dust Deputy bucket strapped to the vacuum wasn’t exactly ideal. This was especially the case with my Ridgid shop-vac. I’d had this vacuum for a couple of years and one of the casters wasn’t rolling very well. Making a cart to combine the two only made sense at this point.
My first attempt at a vacuum cart was simply okay. I found the plans for it at Woodsmith Shop and thought this might fit my needs, given my shop-vac was a bit on the bulky side. In the end, I was not happy with this cart, as it didn’t have any onboard storage of all of the hoses and adapters I had. I was also growing frustrated with having this huge hulking shop-vac with a large capacity which wasn’t really needed.
Woodsmith Shop Vacuum Cart
***UPDATE: October 2018***
I opted to go with a cart fashioned after the one made by Jay Bates at Jay’s Custom Creations. For one, it took up much less of a footprint than my Woodsmith one did. Secondly, there was ample room for all of the vacuum attachments that I had accumulated over the years. Other than a couple of small modifications, my version of the shop-vac and cyclone cart was pretty true to Jay’s original design. After a while, however, I was not caring much for that huge hulking Ridgid shop-vac anymore.
Jay Bates Shop-Vac & Cyclone Cart
I saw a video that Evan & Katelyn made for their own dust collection cart. It wasn’t so much the cart itself that caught me eye, although their cart got me thinking about changing mine. It was the small wall-mountable vacuum they were using. It’s made by Vacmaster and it was exactly what I had been looking for in a small vacuum. It even had a remote control switch to turn the vacuum on and off from the hose. I quickly ordered the vacuum and made the necessary changes to my cart to accommodate the new vac.
***UPDATE: May 2019***
This suited me quite well for a good year and a half. The vacuum was still performing well for what I needed it to do. However, one day I went to check the filter on the vacuum. Honestly, I think it was the first time I had taken the filter out of the vacuum to inspect it since it was put into service in my shop. Not surprisingly, there was a TON of caked on fine dust attached to the filter. I went outside and cleaned it off with my air compressor and it seemed to yield greater suction than I previously had (shocking, I know).
The filter on this vacuum was not rated for removing the really fine particles of dust I was looking to capture, and there wasn’t really an option for a HEPA filter with this vac. I began my search for a HEPA vacuum that wasn’t going to break the bank. Low and behold, Vacmaster had a HEPA vac that was reasonably priced. Acme Tools had the vacuum at the best price that I could find so I bought it through them.
In addition to the vacuum change, I was really fed up with the large array of hoses and attachments that I had accrued for both the Ridgid and the small Vacmaster vacuum. I needed so many adapters to get everything to fit together I was getting lost. Once I got the new HEPA vacuum, the attachments that came with it were all that I needed. To put this vacuum’s attachments to better use, I decided to get a hose reel and hose from Rockler.
The cart needed a couple of modifications to make room for the hose reel and the vacuum. Overall, the cart wound up with a bit smaller footprint than before, and I was able to get rid of all of the small compartments I made for the other shop-vacs’ hoses and attachments. The Vacmaster HEPA vacuum is great. It’s not much louder than the smaller Vacmaster was (another great thing about that one), it has greater suction, and it has HEPA filtration.
This cart is still in use to this day, with no further changes on the horizon.
***RETIRED: August 2022***
I have retired the most recent version of the shop-vac cart. In fact, I’ve gone ahead and sold the entire setup. I decided to go with a Makita 11 Gallon Wet/Dry HEPA Filter Dust Extractor/Vacuum (VC4210L) instead. It has a bit smaller footprint than the old cart, is much more maneuverable/less unwieldy, and actually provides better overall performance (not to mention it is MUCH quieter). Given the fact that I also have a few cordless Makita tools that I frequently use (router and track saw), it was a no-brainer of a purchase.
I’m very happy with the Makita dust extractor thus far, and I look forward to many years of its dutiful use.
