I've always hated cleaning up the chips and occasional long spirals after/during doing a project . Today I picked up a 3 gallon "shop vac" unit at WallyWorld , around 36 bucks , for just that task . My machines are going to have a lot less chips layin' around now . It's really cool how all the chips go right to the bottom , and the bigger stuff that might clog the hose (I'm using the "crevice tool" to limit size) will collect on the end of the tool to be easily removed and dropped in the trash container . Definitely worth the price for me . YMMV .
Chip cleanup
Aug 16, 2022
Last reply: 3 years ago
5 Replies
I have been amazed at the pile of chips that build up on the base of the big mill and in the chip pan of the lathe. Very quickly too. I'm used to mucking out the CNC mills, but the manual machines can generate serious piles of chips as well.
A shop vac is a help... but I have burned one up already. Salvaged the motor just the other day to go in my copper recycle barrel. (The plan is to make aluminum bronze in the foundry.)
They do not make vacuums as strong as they used to. When I was a kid my Uncle Paul (mostly a fine wood worker in his shop) had a giant canister vacuum that would suck up and dispose of pretty decent size wood blocks. It would easily draw in sawdust at twice the distance of any modern ShopVac style vacuum I have seen. Last year when I was in Ohio to visit I should have asked if that beast was still around.
Around ten years ago I spotted a "TECO" (T. Eaton Co.) shop vac at a yard sale, still in its original carton with the oiginal mail order shipping label intact. The seller mentioned that no one was interested since it was for dry pick-up only and he was happy to get five bucks from me for it. Following my standard practice of installing an adapted thrift store vacuum filter bag over the cloth filter, I noticed that the mechanism was date stamped August xx, 1971 (I don't recall the exact date)! This Vacuum has been parked in the laundry area for the last ten years where it is used to clean the dryer lint trap, debis from puppy haircuts, people haircts beard trims along with general worshop cleanup as well as a couple vehicles. Second son says "that shopvac really sucks!"
What I like about this one is the size . It will fit under the lathe when I'm not using it . This one is a 3 gallon , I almost got the 1 1/2 gal unit but the box was pretty beat up and it was the last one they had . I'm glad I got the bigger one . We have a big shopvac , but it's a pain in the ass to get out to the shop , and I just don't need that much capacity or power .
Amazing. This guy discovered a vacuum cleaner.
And now I feel so f***in' special ! But you're still an asshole .
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