# advice on converting numatic henry into a shop vac



## fanta0575 (7 Jul 2015)

hi fellow woodworkers, i've heard you can convert a henry vaccum into a decent shop vac with an accessories pack, my bandsaw takes a 100mm dia hose. Any hints, pitfalls or general advice out there that may guide me in the right direction?
thanks in advance!☺


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## MMUK (7 Jul 2015)

You do realise that you'll be emptying it every five minutes?


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## Woodmonkey (7 Jul 2015)

Not if he uses a cyclone with a bigger bin


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## Mr_P (7 Jul 2015)

Grayorm made one that works well

quick-cheap-diy-dust-collection-system-video-t69285.html?hilit=hoover


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## Eric The Viking (7 Jul 2015)

We have a couple of Henries, and an Earlex and most recently a Parkside (Lidl). The Henries stay in the house and the latter two get used (read "absolutely hammered") for DIY and workshop use. 

It's not that Henries don't suck well, and they are jolly robust, but they do have a really small capacity.

Anyway, the 4" port on my small bandsaw is only put there to prove the Chinese have a sense of humour. It's pretty useless otherwise. You won't be able to get enough suck if you couple up a Henry to it, because the hose is only roughly 30mm (1 1/4"). The Parkside vac has slightly bigger pipework at 35mm but even that wouldn't achieve a lot. 

If your saw is like my SIP, the port is also in a pretty stupid place at the bottom under the front. It can't clear sawdust from around the guides and the blade, and being 4" serves no purpose as there aren't enough holes elsewhere in the case to give enough airflow anyway...

... I wish I could claim credit, but a friend from this forum, Olly P-J, came up with the answer (I bought my saw from him): Basically, you can use a bit of sink waste pipe (and/or an elbow). to make a very effective dust collector that fits up under the table, just above the bottom guides. Plug your Henry hose into that.

Do a bit of searching to find various threads where we've discussed this earlier -- I did a Sketchup drawing at one point, showing the arrangement.

Several people have tried similar things - it seems to work really well with most small bandsaws. Very little dust gets into the rest of the machine, and it's a simple matter to open the doors after use and clean up any stray dust.

That would be my recommendation, anyway.

E.

PS: You'll get a lot of recommendations for Tuffsaws' blades round here too. In my opinion they're brilliant. Also try Steve Maskery's Compleat Bandsaw DVD for excellent advice on setup and tuning.


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## fanta0575 (8 Jul 2015)

thanks guys some sound advice given!


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