Budget shop vac

[azk404]

Hello

Would anyone have some budget shop vacs to recommend, say under £80, which will mainly be used for floor cleaning and connected to mitre/point saw?

Could also go 2nd hand.

Cheers

 

[akirk]

https://www.screwfix.com/c/auto-cleaning/wet-dry-vacuums/cat810212#category=cat810212&brand=titanTitan from Screwfix work perfectly well - start at 1/2 your budget
I have one - does all the heavy lifting from my lathe / mitre saw / router table / etc. - it doesn't extract everything while the tools are running - but clears up the pile at the end very well - connects into my mitre saw / sanders etc. with adapter kits
I run it without a bag and have no issues

 

[thetyreman]

the one that aldi does is good, ferrex 30L around £70-£80, but VERY loud, I upgraded to numatic recently and it's a world of difference from the aldi one, about double the price but worth it, the bags for the numatics and henry's are very cheap, it runs at a much lower cost and is about half the noise levels, I measured it and it's 68dB SPL A weighted, which is very quiet, the aldi one is 85dB SPL A weighted.

 

[Jameshow]

Wickes blue in at £45 is very good.

 

[scockram]

I bought one of these a couple of years ago, been very impressed with it so far. It's rather noisy but got loads of suction. I've used it a lot up in the loft, to clear up years worth of dust, broken down fibreglass and other general dusty crap, prior to laying down new insulation. I also use it in the workshop for clearing up woodshavings and saw dust. I've occasionally used it for dust extraction with the power take off too..

Einhell TE-VC 1930 SA 30L Stainless Steel Wet & Dry Vac with Power Take Off - 1500W | Wickes.co.uk

I see that Wickes do a smaller, cheaper version, only £60. I only paid £88 for mine, so it's jumped up a lot in two years.

 

[Si465]

I use a Henry, made in England, pretty bomb proof and cheap bags. Use mine with a cyclone to make the bags last even longer.

 

[paulrbarnard]

I use a Henry, made in England, pretty bomb proof and cheap bags. Use mine with a cyclone to make the bags last even longer.

A cyclone is a good idea. I use a karcher shop vac with a cyclone. I don’t bother with a bag in the vac as hardly anything gets past the cyclone.
A general word of caution about noise. A vac combined with another tool really ratchets up the noise level.

 

[robgul]

I use a Henry, made in England, pretty bomb proof and cheap bags. Use mine with a cyclone to make the bags last even longer.

Ditto - with some ducting made from 40mm plastic waste pipe and home-made plastic blast-gates. Works a treat with a cyclone mounted on box about 50cm cube made from OSB with the edges caulked and over-centre clips for the lid to seal and maintain pressure.
I also have a spare Henry hose that I can connect to a blast-gate for cleaning up sawdust on the benches, floor, machines etc.

 

[Si465]

Ditto - with some ducting made from 40mm plastic waste pipe and home-made plastic blast-gates. Works a treat with a cyclone mounted on box about 50cm cube made from OSB with the edges caulked and over-centre clips for the lid to seal and maintain pressure.
I also have a spare Henry hose that I can connect to a blast-gate for cleaning up sawdust on the benches, floor, machines etc.

I haven't made it that far yet!
I could do with a spare hose as mine keeps falling off the cyclone (thus the cable ties!)

 

[robgul]

I haven't made it that far yet!
I could do with a spare hose as mine keeps falling off the cyclone (thus the cable ties!)

Ah - interesting Henry to cyclone pipes!
Mine uses the Henry hose from the vac to the cyclone - and the cyclone is connected to the ducting with 40mm "pond hose" and some connectors my brother 3d printed (orange) - the spare Henry hose is hanging above the vac in the (I now have it attached to its own blast gate in the middle of the bench area, hooked up out of the way and ready for use)

 

[HowdyNeighbour!]

Opinion from a complete newbie with limited experience - I use the Wickes blue one, very cheap at £44 (get the bags and filters off eBay, much cheaper compared to Wickes). Works very well, and ideal to get up and running in a shop on a budget, but just be aware of the limitations of all of these types of Wet & Dry Vacs. In a small, cramped shed shop all the minor niggles (and jet engine noise!) will become an annoyance after a fairly short while. If I was doing things again, I would either allocate more budget for dust management, or adjust my perspective of a cheap W&D vac being a temp measure whilst planning for a better option down the line. At present I am unsuccessfully dropping big hints to Mrs. Santa for a numatic or camvac for xmas!

 

[Jameshow]

Opinion from a complete newbie with limited experience - I use the Wickes blue one, very cheap at £44 (get the bags and filters off eBay, much cheaper compared to Wickes). Works very well, and ideal to get up and running in a shop on a budget, but just be aware of the limitations of all of these types of Wet & Dry Vacs. In a small, cramped shed shop all the minor niggles (and jet engine noise!) will become an annoyance after a fairly short while. If I was doing things again, I would either allocate more budget for dust management, or adjust my perspective of a cheap W&D vac being a temp measure whilst planning for a better option down the line. At present I am unsuccessfully dropping big hints to Mrs. Santa for a numatic or camvac for xmas!

Use a dust pan and brush, finish off with the vac??

 

[scockram]

I can vouch for Henry too. They're excellent machines. I have one for use inside the house. It's quite happy clearing up the wood burner every few weeks.
The more modern ones are lower powered apparently; something to do with EU legislation at the time. I was lucky enough to get a reconditioned older model with the full fat motor from a local vacuum shop that specialises in Henry / Numatic machines.

 

[scockram]

What's a Blast Gate?

Ditto - with some ducting made from 40mm plastic waste pipe and home-made plastic blast-gates. Works a treat with a cyclone mounted on box about 50cm cube made from OSB with the edges caulked and over-centre clips for the lid to seal and maintain pressure.
I also have a spare Henry hose that I can connect to a blast-gate for cleaning up sawdust on the benches, floor, machine

 

[robgul]

What's a Blast Gate?

A sliding "gate" that opens/closes the ducting orifice - you just open the one that has the pipe connected to the machine/tool you are using - it maintains the suction in the system.

I made my own with 8mm plastic sheet and push-fit waste pipefittings cut in half.

Google and select Images - you'll see lots of them - the function becomes obvious

 

[JBaz]

I have a Nilfisk Buddy II 12L which works very well, but whichever one you go for I'd try to get one with a 13 amp socket on it that is wired so that the vacuum starts working when the trigger is pulled on the tool and stops when the trigger is released.

(My Buddy II didn't have this feature, but I was able to swap the switch off the one I was replacing.)

 

[RobNichols]

I use one of these - it is over budget, but you get wet and dry option and a power outlet (which switches on the vacuum when power is drawn). I think it's worth paying a little extra for those two features in a shop vac:
Guild 30L Wet & Dry Cleaner with Power Take Off - 1500W

However, this looks very similar and is inside your budget:
Titan TTB776VAC 1400W 30Ltr Wet & Dry Vacuum 220-240V

 

[Mallymal123]

I use a Henry, made in England, pretty bomb proof and cheap bags. Use mine with a cyclone to make the bags last even longer.

That’s good to hear. I use a Titan shop vac with a cyclone, but it’s on its last legs, so plan to use a Henry instead

 

[azk404]

I think I’m going to try out the 15L Titan vac as I also built a diy bucket interceptor so that should be fine with that with some of the tools for now.

I do have a Henry we use in the house which was great but I didn’t want to spend that much as il be getting a 2/3HP extractor soon as well but bring out Henry when I need to build something is proving pretty annoying

 

[scockram]

A sliding "gate" that opens/closes the ducting orifice - you just open the one that has the pipe connected to the machine/tool you are using - it maintains the suction in the system.

I made my own with 8mm plastic sheet and push-fit waste pipefittings cut in half.

Google and select Images - you'll see lots of them - the function becomes obvious

Ok. Thank you.