Do I need a two motor extractor?

[BearTricks]

Morning.

Really struggling with dust lately.

My most used tools are a track saw, routers and RO sander. My lathe gets use maybe once a month and I’m eyeing up a drill press and bandsaw. I’ve also been making moulds for pottery which uses a lot of (I’m assuming very fine) dusty material like plaster and herculite. This is really bad for the lungs and impossible to avoid a cloud of it when I open the tub.

I’ve been managing with a 10 year old Henry and a 3M dust mask which is ok for some work but even with the dust mask on it still gets in my hair and clothes and in the nooks and crannies of my workshop and I’m sick of hoovering for hours.

My plan was to get a Record CamVac with the Axminster 100mm cyclone then a ceiling mounted two stage air filter like the Record AC400 at some point down the line. I’ve seen the cheapest double motor CamVac at about £380 and the next one up for about £420.

Ideally I’d have liked to have spent about £500 on the lot and I’ve seen the Scheppach HW1000, which seems to be similar spec to some of the more basic CamVacs is £119 at B&Q. I have a voucher I can use at either B&Q or Screwfix which would cover the cost of this.

My question is would the two motor CamVac be the right choice, could I get away with the Scheppach, or am
I barking up the wrong tree completely and would a different machine be more appropriate?

Sorry for the long post but thought it best to lay out my dust collection needs first.

Any advice would be good but I’m aware I’m opening yet another extraction can of worms.

 

[Sideways]

For your tracksaw, ROS and Router, a 2 motor extractor won't make any difference. One is plenty.

However, from what you describe, I'd buy the ceiling mount filter first. Record, Axminster, Microclean, Thor are all options. If you can score a biggish one second hand that would be good. Something that will manage 6-10 air changes an hour in your shed will clean the air quickly when you need it to, A low speed option is nice too as these are all surprisingly noisy on full blast.

If you decide to buy a tin can extractor, I'd go for two motors because it will do a better job if you ever buy the bandsaw and you can always use 1 motor at a time.

I've heard camvacs that are annoyingly loud, but I've seen new ones at shows and I believe them to be relatively quite as a breed compared to most and if you attach hose to the air outlets, that reduces the noise even more.
I haven't heard one but because Scheppach are cheap Chinese made products I will guess that they are obnoxiously noisy just like Record Power green and yellow can, the titan shop vacs and everyone else's extractor that is just a cheap generic vacuum cleaner motor sat on top of a tin can. All horrid.

So go with a camvac twin motor or a numatic NVD750 which is the other good one, subject to budget, for future proofing.

 

[BearTricks]

Fair enough. I don’t find the Henry too noisy but anything to keep the noise down is good.

Leaning towards waiting for the CamVac to go back on sale then. Just missed a Yandles sale a few weeks back. The smaller one might even be sufficient given the fact it will be connected to the cyclone and I barely empty the Henry anyway. Trying to do more hand planing and the Henry clogged up immediately when hoovering up some shavings earlier today.

 

[Sideways]

Henrys are good little beasts. The motors are not the most powerful and the tubs are small but they are reliable and quieter than most alternatives. You won't find many options out there that are as quiet as your Henry. That's partly why I wouldn't be in such a hurry to replace it.

The camvac has a decent size drum so frankly I see no point in adding a cyclone to that. You'll lose maybe 30% suction at full airflow if you add a cyclone to any vac as well as increasing the noise so just empty the camvac's drum and save your money and your ears.

You could spend a little money now and get a £30 plastic cyclone and a plastic drum like many of us have done. Use that to extend the usable life of your Henry for hoovering up bulk wood shavings. Use Henry without the cyclone on your power tools as they only make a small amount of dust.

 

[Solicitus]

Putting a silencer on the exhaust valve your camvac, venting it outside, makes a huge difference to the noise level in your workshop.

 

[TRITON]

Microclean

Microclene

Not being pedantic, just he might have probs trying to find 'microclean' on ebay.

 

[BearTricks]

Microclene looks to have rebranded to Thor Filtration these days.

Edit: Forgot to say I’m keeping the Henry anyway as an extra option and for cleaning up DIY stuff in the house.

 

[cmoops2]

Putting a silencer on the exhaust valve your camvac, venting it outside, makes a huge difference to the noise level in your workshop.

Adding a 63mm flexible hose to the CAMVAC motor exhaust port (after removing the white / black plastic 'hat') and locating the other end of the hose outside works REALLY well !

 

[Jackie H]

I have been very pleased with my 2 x motor CamVac, I built a baffle box for the exhaust hoses to run in to and per above it works really well.

 

[BearTricks]

2 motor camvac it is. The microclene filters also look good. They filter down to 0.6 microns I think off the top of my head so looks a bit better than the Record. I’m can get away with a small one in my small workshop.

I think I’ll go for microclene first and wait for the next sale on camvacs or similar.

Do people tend to be run the exhaust hoses through a baffle box and vent them outside?

 

[HamsterJam]

2 motor camvac it is. The microclene filters also look good. They filter down to 0.6 microns I think off the top of my head so looks a bit better than the Record. I’m can get away with a small one in my small workshop.

I think I’ll go for microclene first and wait for the next sale on camvacs or similar.

Do people tend to be run the exhaust hoses through a baffle box and vent them outside?

Baffle box vented inside my small workshop keeps it nice and warm.
On hotter days, I direct the outlet pipe out the door otherwise it can get a little too warm.

 

[Recky33]

As Sideways has said " For your tracksaw, ROS and Router, a 2 motor extractor won't make any difference. One is plenty "
One day you will be looking out for a thicknesser or planner or router table, that's when you will benefit from 2 motors and a 100mm pipe,
If you plan on a Camvac and cyclone go for the smallest 2 motor Camvac as only fine dust will get through to it so no reason for a big bucket

 

[llywmog]

Here is the setup I used with Camvac. I also have a Scheppach filter in the ceiling (same as the Record Power one). Didn't think a cyclone necessary and think it would reduce suction. Successful router dust collection with CamVac

 

[BearTricks]

As Sideways has said " For your tracksaw, ROS and Router, a 2 motor extractor won't make any difference. One is plenty "
One day you will be looking out for a thicknesser or planner or router table, that's when you will benefit from 2 motors and a 100mm pipe,
If you plan on a Camvac and cyclone go for the smallest 2 motor Camvac as only fine dust will get through to it so no reason for a big bucket

I do have a planer thicknesser (the Titan one which is horrible so I don’t use it much) and the router which I plan to mount in a table at some point.