Another Vac Question

[sxlalan]

I see on another thread that the Trend T30AF is getting good reviews. I am also looking for a shop vac but am a bit put off by the £140 price tag of the Trend. As an alternative I am considering this Earlex model. My main concern is dust filtration. The T30AF seems to do down to 0.3micron wheras the Earlex is on 5micron. Is this an important difference for woodworking or will either be OK? In a good month I only get to spend 1 or 2 days in the workshop so it's not like either item would be getting use day in / day out.

Thanks for the input

Alan

 

[RogerS]

Alan

I have one of these bought from Homebase. Their version (out of the box) came with a paper bag rather than a filter (which is available separately). It works well, the inlet port inside kinks round so you get a sort of cyclone effect.

When it comes to the filter I have to confess that I am a bit mean and constantly recycle mine by sticking it inside a plastic bag and then flicking the veins to release the dust etc. Then refitting it.

The filter fits onto the top cover which also has the motor attached. When you take the top cover off you will notice that there is a build-up of fine dust around the top (probably due to static...which is a bit of an issue with this machine but not overly so). What I tend to do is remove the filter and up-end the top cover over a bin or plastic bag to get rid of this fine dust. The downside is that, unless you have a second vac to clean the top cover etc before you refit things, then when you turn on your vac again, there is a huge puff of dust comes out the exhaust port. But....that could be down to me being mean with the filter. It does clog up very, very, very quickly if you are cutting a lot of MDF.

Would I buy it again solely for woodworking? Probably not..I'd take a longer look at other machines like the Trend perhaps.

 

[George_N]

I have the Wickes version of the Earlex (Look identical but Wickes were a few quid cheaper). The washable filter is about £10 extra but worth it as the paper bag ones are useless. I currently use mine with a Triton dust bucket and it works pretty well. I'm also thinking of making a mini cyclone conversion of the dustbucket I saw on the web somewhere.

cheers

George

 

[Majorlarf]

Hi
I have been hovering (or is that hoovering)in the background for a few weeks now but thought I had to reply to this thread.

I have the lesser version of the earlex model for use in my shed
when we needed a new hoover at work I bought the earlex model you are looking at which I was not happy with & I sent it back
The reason for sending it back was the one at home I use no bag
& everything is fine I tried the same on the upgraded model & this filled the workshop with dust faster than I could hoover it
I would not recommend because of this reason

I then bought the bosch hoover but have found it hard to find a supplier of bags so another lesson learnt make sure accessaries are easily available as well

 

[sxlalan]

Thanks for the tips guys. I think I will fork out the extra cash for the Trend as 1) accessories should be available and 2) reading around it is dust below 2.5 microns that is the most harmful. Thanks for signing up to give me the warning Majorlarf and welcome to the forums!!

Alan